The chicken wizard
Chirping
- Feb 18, 2019
- 45
- 58
- 54
As a new chicken owner, i thought it would only be necessary to give some advice to new parents out there who want to imprint their chicks, and ask for advice from expirienced mother-cluckers.
First of all, when i started planning for chickens 2 years ago, i had the mindset of imprinting them. for those who don't know, imprinting is the proscess of a newborn animal, such as chicks or ducklings, recognizing and trusting a parental figure. when done right, an imprinted bird will see you as their mother and form a deep bond with you. however, i had never heard of anyone imprinting a chick before, and i decided to try it.
as a recommendation, i studied intensely on chicken language and behavior as to mimic a mother hen. i would advise to anyone trying this to read How to Speak Chicken by Melissa Caughey, but i'll just give you the basic run down of the most important vocilizations.in order to call her chicks, a mother hen will make a soft doh doh doh noise to call her babies. if she finds something tasty, like a worm, she'll make a loud tik tik tik and her brood will come running. if she spots danger, she makes a soft but distinct screeee opp opp opp to warn her chicks. when the sun sets, she will call them and make a low doo doo doo to take roll call. with this in mind, alli had to do was practice my vocabulary until i mastered the calls.
when we finally bought our 3 20 hour old chicks, we named the smallest nugget, middle sized one patty, and the largest dumpling. As soon as we arrived home i set them on my bed (with a towel) and immediately started to interact with them, making soft noises at the and letting them get used to my face to trigger imprinting. some people will tell you to wait until a week to interact with them, but if you want the chicks to imprint, you must get them young and spend lots of time with them Immediately. the window for imprinting is very narrow, closing in about 34 hours from hatching. my efforts worked and after about ten minutes of making noises at them, the stumbled over to my face and nestled under my chinn, making contented peeps. For the next 5 days, I taught them how to dig, drink, and fly. I am currently trying to teach them to dust bathe.
One issue I encountered was that since the chicks thought I was their mom, they cant fall asleep unless i'm with them and would cry all night if I didn't comfort them, and to make bedtime worse, their heat source is a lamp. So, I did a bit of research and fashioned a divider out of a cat bed,wrapped a towel around it, put it in my bed, and had just made a baby nest for chicks. The nest enabled the chicks to be with me at night without risking getting rolled over. As far as I know, there aren't any serious health risks that could come from this, but if there are, please let me know.
All was well for 4 days after hatching, but when Monday morning reared its ugly head, I found that dumpling had faceplanted into the pine shavings. I took her out, and she was breathing slowly. I tried to call the vet but it was too late. After analyzing her body, I'm pretty sure that she either had a respiratory condition or broke her neck while trying to preen. I was able to bury her under an oak tree, and since its spring in California, i planted some flowers around her. Luckily, we were able to get another chick, who I named honey du to her sweet personality. At first, it seemed to late to imprint her, but she ended up following the other chicks example and now honey loves cuddling with her "mom".
I would have never known how much personality chickens have if I had just left them in a brooder for 6 weeks! Nugget loves food, and she enjoys trying new fruits and treats.
Patty is obsessed with flying, and loves showing off her wingspan!
Honey is by far the most gentle chick in the brood and love cuddling with her sisters.
I hope that my story helps to give insight into imprinting, and who knows. Maybe someone here will try it. The chicks are currently 5 days old and growing quick! I am looking forward to joining the chicken community as the Chicken Wizard(I know, corny) and helping others start their own chicken journeys.
First of all, when i started planning for chickens 2 years ago, i had the mindset of imprinting them. for those who don't know, imprinting is the proscess of a newborn animal, such as chicks or ducklings, recognizing and trusting a parental figure. when done right, an imprinted bird will see you as their mother and form a deep bond with you. however, i had never heard of anyone imprinting a chick before, and i decided to try it.
as a recommendation, i studied intensely on chicken language and behavior as to mimic a mother hen. i would advise to anyone trying this to read How to Speak Chicken by Melissa Caughey, but i'll just give you the basic run down of the most important vocilizations.in order to call her chicks, a mother hen will make a soft doh doh doh noise to call her babies. if she finds something tasty, like a worm, she'll make a loud tik tik tik and her brood will come running. if she spots danger, she makes a soft but distinct screeee opp opp opp to warn her chicks. when the sun sets, she will call them and make a low doo doo doo to take roll call. with this in mind, alli had to do was practice my vocabulary until i mastered the calls.
when we finally bought our 3 20 hour old chicks, we named the smallest nugget, middle sized one patty, and the largest dumpling. As soon as we arrived home i set them on my bed (with a towel) and immediately started to interact with them, making soft noises at the and letting them get used to my face to trigger imprinting. some people will tell you to wait until a week to interact with them, but if you want the chicks to imprint, you must get them young and spend lots of time with them Immediately. the window for imprinting is very narrow, closing in about 34 hours from hatching. my efforts worked and after about ten minutes of making noises at them, the stumbled over to my face and nestled under my chinn, making contented peeps. For the next 5 days, I taught them how to dig, drink, and fly. I am currently trying to teach them to dust bathe.
One issue I encountered was that since the chicks thought I was their mom, they cant fall asleep unless i'm with them and would cry all night if I didn't comfort them, and to make bedtime worse, their heat source is a lamp. So, I did a bit of research and fashioned a divider out of a cat bed,wrapped a towel around it, put it in my bed, and had just made a baby nest for chicks. The nest enabled the chicks to be with me at night without risking getting rolled over. As far as I know, there aren't any serious health risks that could come from this, but if there are, please let me know.
All was well for 4 days after hatching, but when Monday morning reared its ugly head, I found that dumpling had faceplanted into the pine shavings. I took her out, and she was breathing slowly. I tried to call the vet but it was too late. After analyzing her body, I'm pretty sure that she either had a respiratory condition or broke her neck while trying to preen. I was able to bury her under an oak tree, and since its spring in California, i planted some flowers around her. Luckily, we were able to get another chick, who I named honey du to her sweet personality. At first, it seemed to late to imprint her, but she ended up following the other chicks example and now honey loves cuddling with her "mom".
I would have never known how much personality chickens have if I had just left them in a brooder for 6 weeks! Nugget loves food, and she enjoys trying new fruits and treats.
Patty is obsessed with flying, and loves showing off her wingspan!
Honey is by far the most gentle chick in the brood and love cuddling with her sisters.
I hope that my story helps to give insight into imprinting, and who knows. Maybe someone here will try it. The chicks are currently 5 days old and growing quick! I am looking forward to joining the chicken community as the Chicken Wizard(I know, corny) and helping others start their own chicken journeys.
"You know you're chicken crazy when..."
Enjoy those precious fuzz babies! They grow up so fast!
