Is this common with all hatchery Wyandottes?

Chickenrandomness

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12 Years
Sep 13, 2009
14,435
20
391
Stanley, North Dakota
in my previous batch of chickens (RIP) i had a single SQ GLW hen. she was such a sweet girl

i now own 2 9week old inbred hatchery quality SLWs. and they are exactly opposite of my deceased GLW!!! they are troublemakers! they HATE me, and i always end up in a high speed chace when i want to pick one of them up!

is this common for hatchery quality SLWS? or do i just have hoplessly crazy chickens?
 
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Well, hatchery wyandottes and wyandottes from quality breeders are, from what I understand anyway, not much alike at all. But I would venture to guess that you have two young, undersocialized chicks. My hatchery SLW is nice enough to me, mean to the other hens, and one of the easier ones to catch because she squats for me more than just about any of the others. At 9 weeks, she didn't like to be approached and handled much either.
 
I have 3 SLW. They are ok around me, they do seem a little extreme though. They will stick close to me, but stay just out of arms reach. Whenever I walk by them they squat. All the time. Constantly. It is very annoying when I am trying to stumble out of the coop half asleep in the morning and they are all squatting in front of me trying to trip me. They also like to bully the other chickens a bit, but not too bad. They are mostly talk.
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I got 4 SLW's this year from McMurray. They are all pretty friendly and come when called for seed. They are about 9 weeks old and seem to be turning out pretty well.I am able to pick them up at times and other times, they panic.
 
In large groups I find it common for hatchery Wyandottes not to be the best in personality. I hear great things about them when people have 5 or less of the common colors (GLW, SLW) but I had 10 and they were my least fav. birds. They weren't mean, just very careless of people, not too friendly, rude to other birds, and always stuck in their own "gangs." I'm not saying it is for ALL but I do find it commonly reported.
 
My 14 chicks are just 7 weeks. 2 Wyandottes, 6 orpingtons, 5 red stars, 1 wellsummer. I have really worked hard to socialize his group. All are friendly to varying degrees except the Wyandottes. They will have nothing to do with me and are difficult to catch. They are in their permanent coop/runas of this weekend. They are still figuring out about the coop so I put them in at dusk. The last one caught was, as usual the wyandottes. Took 10 minutes to finally corner and catch them.
 
My first hatchery SL Wyandotte didn't become friendly until she started laying eggs. Then she became very approachable, especially one on one, but she'll stand in the background when I'm "treating" the whole flock. I hatched another SL Wyandotte from a friend's flock, who is pretty much the same way. I love their colors, but my Australorps and Buff Orps are by far the most people friendly hatchery (feed store) birds I have. My breeder birds are a whole different story. I won't get off topic talking about them.....!
 
i sure hope this personality switch doesn''t occur with all chickens; my production white leghorn is such a funny and friendly bird! i have a picture that i took just yesterday of her inspecting my feet
 

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