Losing hope with chicks that hate me 😣

[BigMoma3]

Have you tried sitting on the ground or in the coop with them?

I have been doing this a lot more. They are not hididng out in the corner anymore but certainly aren't coming up to me. We are getting there though

 

[Tamllp2]

Young chicks are fearful of pretty much everything, including you. As they age they will become less fearful of their surroundings and will begin to trust you. Give them plenty of time and just continue to give treats and kindness. At laying age they will be much more friendly! Not all do but many will be friendly and enjoy your cuddles!

 

[Cazook]

in my experience chicks are friendly for the first few weeks then very flighty up until they mature, then they chill out a lot. spending time with them will help, but they will probably get friendlier in a few months

 

[Bonnieboo]

I have five beautiful chooks that I love dearly The problem is that when I got some 3 week old Australorp x Rhode Island Reds. My enormous White Sussex continuously bullied them so I continually yelled at her. Now she is terrified of me and I feel awful that she runs away in fear any time I go near her and my beautiful Hamburg has always been nervous but now she is an absolute ball of panic if I even look at her!
The new chookies are very happy but will not let me touch them. It makes me so sad when I see people who can pick up their chooks...

 

[yakitori]

I don't know whether you can ever expect them to love being handled, but with the help of some positive reinforcement, getting them to eat out of your hand and follow you around shouldn't be too hard.

I got my chicks from TSC and raised mine initially for the sole purpose of taming my guinea keets. For the first 8 weeks I had 3 guineas and 5 chicks in a brooder at night, and an outside pen during the day. One method I used for positive reinforcement was to pick them up every single morning and evening and drop them into a tote with their favorite treats (white millet and dried black soldier worms), while they ate, I would transport them out into the pen. They learned to associate being picked up with getting treats, and eventually even the very flighty and wild keets didn't panic when being picked up.

Here they are at 3 weeks, willing to perch on my hand for treats. These are the same keets that were so terrified of me on day 1 that they huddled up in the corner if I were even in the same room as them.

and here they are in the tote (week 7 i think)
https://youtube.com/shorts/tdxoWkEqjUg?feature=share

I don't feel a particular need to be close to my animals, but I did this for the ease of being able to pick my birds up for health and safety reasons.

I've long given the guinea fowls away (I miss them terribly, but they were just too darn loud!). I have one BSL, two orloffs and two EEs. My chickens don't like being picked up, but they will tolerate it. They've also definitely mellowed out after laying eggs. I don't remember the last time I had to chase down a chicken, they will come over to me automatically when I squat.

If you want lap chickens... silkies are my best recommendations. I bought 3 feathered out silkie/satins towards the end of last year. unfortunately sickness and a hawk attack has now left me with just one. I never handled them much, but they did very well being picked up and petted (guests love them!). My surviving girl even occasionally hops onto my lap to be stroked... best lap breed ever

 

[HausOfEggwards]

Literally no idea if this will work, BUT maybe try playing broody chicken sounds from your phone?

 

[ENJuncker]

I know this has been discussed several times on here ( mostly because I have read the threads and articles myself), and I hate to make just one more post about it, but I am having an internal chicken crisis. Kinda long, sorry.

I LOVE having chickens. We got our first flock Rhode Island Red chicks about 5 years ago. They loved us from the start. I had very young children at the time who the chicks took well to also. They even sat on my husbands shoulders while he was roofing their coop! Sadly we introduced new chickens that had a disease and lost our flock. It was awful.

Now, about two years later we are starting over with new chicks. We have 6 silver laced wyandottes, 6 easter eggers, and 6 black copper marans. All straight-run and 5 weeks old. These chicks hate us. We started them in a raised brooder so we don't tower over them. We reach for them from the side never from the top. We offer them treats, talk gently, walk slowly. Nothing works. I have moved them to the big coop with their mama heating pad if they need it. I let them graze in a chicken tractor in the day. However getting them into the tractor is a NIGHTMARE. The easter eggers are by far the worst acting as if I'm going to kill them. The others follow suit. The black copper marans are the friendliest, but at a fraction of our previous rhode island reds. I squat and reach slowly. I sit with them (slightly ignoring them or simply holding treats for whoever wants to come), but if one accidentally grazes my arm you'd think I had swung a bat at them. They never willingly come up to an empty hand or sit on our laps even if not being touched. I'm doing everything I can think of but they are relentless I know they are still young, but I do not see them making any kind of dramatic change in the future.

My problem right now is internal. These chicks are not enjoyable at all. I feel like they are crushing my chicken loving joy Yes I could watch them all day just doing what chickens do and thoroughly enjoy it, but knowing they view me as the enemy kinda ruins it for me. Any strategies for stubborn, terrified chicks that are hard to break? At what age do they usually "come around"? I almost feel like raising these for meat and starting over.......

So we’re only 2 years into chickens but our first generation of hens (Plymouth Barred Rocks, Buff Orpingtons, and a Dominique) are amazing loving cuddle bugs. This second crew of Wyandottes and Ameraucanas are lunatic girls who behave exactly like you describe your girls. We’ve just taken to calling them the feral heathen class of 2021. So I feel your frustration. Right now we try to ensure they get held (sadly against their will) a few times a week and we are hoping for the best. But if they continue on in this vein, they’ll just be our Valkyrie warrior hens and we’ll leave them to their crankiness.

 

[sewingkitty1170]

I think your chicks are probably scared of you... My first two were terrified when I picked them up at first. But, I persisted with handling, whispering to them instead of talking, and I had to have lots of patience! When they grew up, I could pick them up without any difficulties. They eventually loved me so much that they started to jump up on me and perched on my shoulders when I sat down in a lawn chair. Give them time! They'll come around!

 

[Outta Here]

I know this has been discussed several times on here ( mostly because I have read the threads and articles myself), and I hate to make just one more post about it, but I am having an internal chicken crisis. Kinda long, sorry.

I LOVE having chickens. We got our first flock Rhode Island Red chicks about 5 years ago. They loved us from the start. I had very young children at the time who the chicks took well to also. They even sat on my husbands shoulders while he was roofing their coop! Sadly we introduced new chickens that had a disease and lost our flock. It was awful.

Now, about two years later we are starting over with new chicks. We have 6 silver laced wyandottes, 6 easter eggers, and 6 black copper marans. All straight-run and 5 weeks old. These chicks hate us. We started them in a raised brooder so we don't tower over them. We reach for them from the side never from the top. We offer them treats, talk gently, walk slowly. Nothing works. I have moved them to the big coop with their mama heating pad if they need it. I let them graze in a chicken tractor in the day. However getting them into the tractor is a NIGHTMARE. The easter eggers are by far the worst acting as if I'm going to kill them. The others follow suit. The black copper marans are the friendliest, but at a fraction of our previous rhode island reds. I squat and reach slowly. I sit with them (slightly ignoring them or simply holding treats for whoever wants to come), but if one accidentally grazes my arm you'd think I had swung a bat at them. They never willingly come up to an empty hand or sit on our laps even if not being touched. I'm doing everything I can think of but they are relentless I know they are still young, but I do not see them making any kind of dramatic change in the future.

My problem right now is internal. These chicks are not enjoyable at all. I feel like they are crushing my chicken loving joy Yes I could watch them all day just doing what chickens do and thoroughly enjoy it, but knowing they view me as the enemy kinda ruins it for me. Any strategies for stubborn, terrified chicks that are hard to break? At what age do they usually "come around"? I almost feel like raising these for meat and starting over.......

For me, the best way to tame chicks is to get down on their level from day one, which means actually sitting in the brooder (extra incentive to keep the brooder clean!) But since your chicks are already five weeks, still skittish, and possibly not likely to come around, you might need to consider adding this temporary tactic: Hunger.
I'm not talking about starving the chicks, of course--Heaven forbid! Just removing their food long enough that they have healthy tummy rumbling and their desire for breakfast is stronger than their fear of being near you. Remove their feed one evening (or just several hours for younger chicks) and then sit down in the morning and pour a pile of it between your outstretched legs, using a special call, like a high-pitched"Chick-chick-chick-chick-chick." Hunger trumps fear and they will have to hop on to your legs and then remain close to you to eat.A few days later, you can offer the food by hand. Every time you feed them, make the same call so soon they come running. Soon you can dispense with withholding their breakfast and just do the same with treats.
Chickens don't like to be petted while they are eating, so gradually allow the back of your hand to graze down the side of whoever is closest now and then. Then sometime sit with them with just a little food, maybe a snack. When some linger and hop on your legs, trying a slow, gentle cupping of their body and feather-light stroking. Then at night when they are zoned out, pet each one on the roost.
This all takes time, but it looks like you have been willing to take a lot of time and would really like for them to give you the pleasure of their friendliness. And you're right--the enjoyment is so much more when you have a friendly relationship with your flock. Mine come running, crawl on me, and every morning when I open the coop lid, fly from their roost to the waist-high wall where I'm standing to be petted before starting the day.

 

[holisticliving]

I've heard that the Lakeshore Egger's are a friendly breed. They are sort of like the EE's, but the Crested Cream Legbar is in their back history instead, so they don't have those puffy cheek's.

Ha ha! My Lakeshore Eggers are the LEAST friendly! They literally act like I'm going to kill them if I try to touch them, even though they will come up and eat out of my hand, or even peck me from behind when I'm not looking - LOL! They're a year old now, and not going to change I'm guessing.

On the other hand, I do agree with some of the other comments that you may just need to give them time. Almost ALL of our chicks acted like that when they were little (except for our Speckled Sussex, who has been a darling from early on, but even she was pretty skittish for the first week or two). By the time they were 4 months old or so, they had all calmed down a lot, and even more so once they started laying (except for the Lakeshores). Hang in there - they don't hate you; there's a reason they're called "chicken"...