Kids and Chickens

[paynemom]

I am new to raising chickens and I have 4 kids under 6 yrs old. I am wondering if it's OK for the kids to play with the birds. I try not to let them chase them. The chicks are 4 weeks now, so I'm hoping they will be a part of the family. Do we need to be extra careful with handwashing? The kids don't really get to hold them much, but they love to bug them. How do your families interact?

 

[karri25]

I have a 5 year old who was 4 when we started with chickens. I had to watch her closely but she has "tamed" more chickens than I have! Kids love to hold and play with little cuties. As long as you watch them to make sure that the kids aren't hurting/harming the birds they are great at getting them used to being handled! Also, this teaches them how to properly handle and take care of your birds. You REALLY do have to keep a close eye on them though. Once, I wasn't watching closely enough, Bella gave Pepe la Rue a turn on the swings He stayed on believe it or not but I almost had a heart attack!!! Other than that my kids have learned much from our birds and have helped out enormously! In fact my 10 year old cleans the coop, feeds, and waters every morning. Of course he has more birds than I do
Good luck!

Ps of course make sure that the kids wahs their hands afterwords

 

[Wildsky]

We do the handwashing - but I'm not too worried about it all.....

My chickens are grown now - but it used to be like this:

 

[Frozen Feathers]

DD (who's 2 1/2, we've had chickens from before she was born) "plays" with them when ever we go out. She carries around Silkies and gives them rides in her little toy shopping cart (LOL...that reminds me of someone) and stroller. She has also taken them on the swing or down the slide with her.

The chickens are smart, if they don't like it, they get out.

She's not allowed to hit them, or pull feathers, anything like that to the bird. She knows if they are flapping around to put the bird down, they don't want to be held anymore.

The only really naughty thing she does is will occasionally toss them in the air, which of course she gets in trouble for. It's not so traumatic for the chickens with regular feathers but the poor Silkies.

She has never injured a bird, though and most of my birds are easily handled because of all the attention.

Of course, wash hands a lot and if we are going to be outside a while I keep a little bottle of hand sanitizer in my pocket.

 

[paynemom]

Wildsky, your daughter is just beautiful! THanks for the reassurance everyone. I'm sure they'll be fine. The chicks are really healthy and strong. I just hope the kids will stay respectful. I had a 1 month old chick as a little girl and my brother tried to make it fly and broke it's neck. He always was a bully, though. At least now that I'm all grown up I don't have to worry about him harrassing my chickens!

P.S. How do you post photos? I can't seem to figure it out!

 

[silkiechicken]

How to post pics:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=504

Just wash hands like after petting any other animal and all should be good to go... honestly.. somtimes I forget to wash my hands after playing with them... but don't tell your kids as I'm a bad example.

 

[Buster]

My 3 year old son is quite the little chicken farmer but my almost 2 year old is terrified of chickens. I still take them both out to feed, water and check for eggs. I'd just caution to be very careful with young children and roosters because a good flogging from a mean rooster to a small child can cause a lot of damage.

 

[Wildsky]

Thanks paynemom - my little one is a tad bit annoyed cause the chickens are now too big to be carried around by her!

Jared - good point on the roo - I have a bantum roo and he has had a go at my son (my son is 8) the roo is pretty small, and waits till my son turns his back, then he'll jump at him.
I normally try go in with my son, and my daughter never goes in the coop alone.
We have figured out if you walk toward the roo and TRY to catch or pick him up - he'll keep his distance for a while - so I tell my son to do that every single time... and every now and then I'll catch the roo and let my son hold him and fuss over him a little....

 

[paynemom]

Here's my little girl being sweet with her Buff Orp.

Thanks for the help with the photo uploading!
Sorry, I don't know why the pic is so big! I reduced it to message board size!

 

[CarlaRiggs]

You girls have adorable babies.

Thanks for posting....