Making Social Chicks

[MountainRdCoup]

Hi! So I've always heard people talk about how friendly their chickens are -coming up to them, actually WANTING to be picked up, etc- and I was wondering how I could make my chickens like that. I have a new batch of chicks, and like the others that I've had, I got out all the time and feed them by hand. Unfortunately, whenever the chicks grow up they always end up not being friendly :/. Recently I've tried giving the adult chickens Mal worms, and that has made a big difference, but they still won't let me pick them up and I don't think they trust me.
Any ideas are welcome cause right now the chickens are like this :cd e :cd

 

[Sarahal88]

I am not the person to be giving advice on this because my chickens are NOT particularly friendly. But I have my theories about why. One reason is, I had about 22 chicks to begin with. That was too many for me to be giving individual attention to every single day so they never got tame at all. They will eat from my hands but are ready to flee at the slightest movement. I wonder if people with really tame chickens are only raising a few, making it easier to concentrate effort on taming them?

I also think the breed really matters. I have about 6 different breeds and my buff orpington and golden comet are very obviously the most human friendly. Even my black australorps, who are supposed to be friendly as well, are not nearly as curious about people as my little BO. I call her Golden Fatty because she is the greediest little piggy of the bunch.

I have heard people suggest things like having the brooder up on a table so you don't have to loom over the chicks. I also think it might help to have the brooder set up in a way so that you can catch them easily when you need to without too much fuss - a 'clean catch.' I also didn't do this - my brooder was over 3 feet wide and 5 feet long, which makes it really hard to reach all the way across from one side, so you end up chasing the little gals everywhere before you get the one you want. I think also once they are outdoors, if you can sit among them in their pen and feed them while they perch on you, that's a good start.

But like I said, I totally failed in this area so take my ideas with a grain of salt! I'm ok with my wild chickens though - they do their job, and if I need affection, there's always the dog.

 

[MountainRdCoup]

Thanks for The ideas, your theories make a lot of sense. Currently I'm raising 6 and they're pretty friendly but I would like to keep them that way. I'll definitely try the "clean catch" idea too.
Thanks

 

[teria]

We started with eight chicks, and as they were our first chickens everybody in the family took turns holding and playing with them every day. By May we had learned that three were roosters and one of the hens was a meat chicken, so, we now have four left of the original eight. They are still very social with us, and friendly. In May we got four more to replace those we lost, but, the novelty had apparently worn off in having chicks, so, the handling was much less. They also were moved much sooner from being in our office to in the garage based on the weather being warmer at night than it was when the first set of chicks were brooding. Those four are not as social and more apt to run from us if we reach to rub their tummy.

We are expecting eight more littles next week, and based on this experience we will be handling them much more than we did the last batch.

What we are trying to do with the middle children is to hold them, and talk to them as much as they are comfortable with. Between that and the amount of time we spend in the back yard should help them relax more and more.

I've also heard if you keep a radio or tv on where they are brooding, at least during waking hours, the chicks will be used to the sounds people make.

 

[Hufflefluff]

Our chickens are friendly, but they're supposed to get even freindlier when they start to lay. My family spent a lot of time with the chicks, holding them, picking them up, and hand feeding them. We would also let them out on a little area and on our laps while we sat and talked and petted them, so they got used to our voices and touch. When I was reading a book, I'd take out some chicks, put them on my lap, and read aloud to them. Additionally, whenever we gave them treats, we'd sng-song "Here, chick chick chick! So now whenever they here that, they come running. Another thing that worked with Amelia was to put her on my shoulder and then give her special treats and attention, so now Amelia will jump up on me and let me pet her whenever I sit down. Best of luck with your little darlings!

 

[azygous]

I've been a big proponent of raised, side-access brooders for raising tame chicks, but three months ago, when I got some new chicks, I went with an entirely new approach, and it paid off spectacularly.

I brooded the chicks outside in the run under a heating pad cave system. Not only were the chicks socialized from the very start with the flock, being raised in a pen inside the main run, but I was able to sit in the pen on the ground and the chicks and I were able to bond on their level.

Instead of "catching" the chicks, I would sit still and they would come to me, climbing on my hands and arms and legs and shoulders, learning I was to be trusted. Every session started with curious chicks exploring my arms and legs, and ended with all of them napping on my lap. Heck, it ended with me napping, too. I must say, it was very relaxing, and I made it as comfortable as I could for myself.

If you want to find out more about the heating pad system of brooding chicks, see "Mama heating pad in the Brooder" thread on this forum. I'll never go back to the old brooder and heat lamp system after trying this system and finding so much to love about it.

These chicks are now ten weeks old, and they're trained to come to me, and when I need to pick them up, there's no fuss or "catching". I'm getting three new chicks in two weeks. I'll be brooding them exactly the same way since it was such a huge success.

 

[SilverLacedLady]

My birds are all very friendly. I have a light brahma who we named Honey. She has always been the sweetest. I actually never got to give many of them a lot of one on one attention when they were little chicks. Honey on the other hand was very small for her age (not anymore she's a big fatty) and was getting picked on by the others and would run straight for me to seek shelter from the others. When they all figured out that honey got picked up and hand fed and cuddled they all sweetened up.