just wanted to share....

[mhopson19]

We have 6 2 and a half week old chicks and have been working with them so they are friendly and used to the dogs. Well we had a breakthrough today!! they will now jump on our hand when we put it in the brooder. Anyone else have any good news about their chicks they want to share?

 

[upswife95]

Hello,
I'm new to the "chicken world" as of last thursday! We purchased 3 baby chicks (Buff Orphington, Barred Rock, and Ameracauna) and are excited to get started. We are handling them daily and allowing our Labrador dog to come around them while they are out of the heated pen. Any suggestions for how to get them to be people friendly? What are you doing to help them get used to human and animal interaction?

 

[mhopson19]

Impretty new to raising chickens too. We basically just made sure to set aside some time each day to hold them and talk to them (it feels stupid talking to chicks but it calms them down!). At first we had to hold them in our hands with our fingers around their wings and just held them and talked to them. Then they graduated to sitting in our laps or standing on our hands. One thing that I think really helps is to put some crumbles or treats in your hand and let them eat out of it.

 

[mhopson19]

And for animals we just let the dogs come in and smell them in the brooder. The chicks don't really enjoy it but they scatter a lot less now when the dogs come in.

 

[upswife95]

Okay that's what we are working on as well. Since we have a few weeks for them to get old enough to go outside into the coop we are handling them daily and still picking out a coop with run design.

 

[smhoekzema]

Treats are the best way to make friends. That and lots of gentle cuddles

 

[mhopson19]

Treats are the best way to make friends. That and lots of gentle cuddles

Yep. mine are especially fond of mealworms and cucumbers.

 

[mhopson19]

Okay that's what we are working on as well. Since we have a few weeks for them to get old enough to go outside into the coop we are handling them daily and still picking out a coop with run design.

What kind of coop run are you looking at? We decided on emeded's coop design in the small coop section of this site. We are just making it a little bigger to accommodate more chickens.