My chickens are beginning to frighten me.

[ActualChicken]

Hi everyone,
So I'm relatively new to the world of chickens (I have 4 fowl in total) and everything has been going great so far, for the most part, except that my chickens attitudes are changing drastically. It started off as very small acts such as not wanting to cooperate when I was cleaning the coup, clucking angrily anytime I came near their home, things of that nature. Things have escalated over the last few weeks and I don't know what to do. The chickens seem to have unified against me and my husband in a ways that I didn't think were possible for chickens to do. This may sound crazy, but you can almost hear the deep seeded hatred of me in their clucks. Should I be concerned? I am fairly old and not the spriest of people anymore and I'm not sure that if the chickens decided to physically attack that I would fend them off. Any tips of controlling their behavior would be greatly appreciated.

 

[sumi]

You didn't give enough info in your post as to their exact behaviour, so I'm going to have to judge according to my experience with fowl. Chickens do sometimes cluck quite a bit when approached and can sound or act threatening, but that kind of behaviour is instinctive and sometimes rooted in their fear of threats. By nature they do not trust other creatures, human, animal or bird (if it's big, like birds of prey), because their instinct is telling them these creatures want to harm or eat them. So what you perceive as aggressive or hateful is probably simply a nervous reaction. My flock does the same when I interact with them, or get too close for comfort, because I did not make the effort to tame them and I did not spent a lot of time handling them as they grew up.

Chickens are seldom human aggressive and if they attack it's usually cockerels who are protecting their flock, or broody hens that are protecting their nests/chicks. You may get the odd cockerel that gets a bit brave and may attack you, but there are ways to sort them out and teach them to behave. If you only have hens in your flock, I would not worry about them attacking. It's very, very unlikely.

To make them friendlier and more trusting you should try and spent more time with them and make the visits pleasant. Take them something nice to eat, like some mealworms, corn, greens like spinach (if they are kept in a coop and run), stale bread, leftover rice or pasta... There is a lot of nice treats you can give them. Just make sure you feed treats in moderation, just a little bit once or twice day. Give them the treats and sit with them for a few minutes and talk to them in a calm, soothing tone. Let them get used to having you around and associate you with good things (treats). You'd be amazed how they'll respond. But be patient, it will not happen overnight. Winning a chicken over takes time, but it can be done. Good luck with them!

 

[lovetopaint]

Spend time with them. Read a book (aloud, even) inside/outside/within view of their coop. Give them treats out of your hand. You could even wear a glove. Take small steps!

 

[Judy]

Good posts. I think what looks to you like hostility is natural fear or caution. It shouldn't take too long before they will come near when you call, if you associate it with a treat. To get even some of them to be pets similar to dogs, you really have to start when they are chicks. Like Sumi, I never took the time. My hens certainly don't attack me, and they will walk up within a few feet of me when they see me, in the hope I have a handful of seed to throw them, but they won't sit in m lap or let me pet them. They aren't really afraid of me, I don't think, it's just that they have a strong instrinct to avoid coming close enough that I could grab and eat them, haha.

They are very hesitant about anything new, even a new treat. Mine love BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds) but when they first saw them, they were afraid and ran away. It took a while before one decided to check them out. They will even show fear when you move things around in their area.

 

[debp]

I have been trying to strike a balance with my 10-week old chicks between having them used to me and calm around me, but not being pets. I want them to have good instincts and reflexes when on free range - and they do seem to be hitting the balance of flighty and used to me that I was hoping for. I sit with them every other day or so, and some are quite tame and come up to me and peck with curiosity at spots on my shoes or jeans - nothing aggressive. I don't pick them up, but I have occasionally offered food from my hand, and lately at least 2 of the pullets have ignored the food and taken a hard pinch of my hand. Is this something I should be reacting to as a dominance issue, or are they just not understanding that it is my hand?

Also, one of the New Hampshire roosters is very friendly and jumps up on my lap. He does not peck or act aggressive (yet), but I'm wondering if I should discourage this to avoid a too tame adult rooster? My mom had a Cochin rooster that always flew into her arms to be held (hers were pets), but never was aggressive, but this is a New Hampshire. These are my first chickens and I have little grasp of chicken psychology.

 

[abserbean]

Great advice so far! If you don't have a roo or a broody, then you should be relatively safe from attack. My girls run up to me clucking and doing the chicken "purr" because they are so used to me giving them treats. If I have something particularly yummy, I'm tripping over them, and they have chased my son for mealworms before! But they aren't aggressive, just really want those treats. I do have one hen that will peck at us, but she was a rescue and didn't have good social skills. She is gradually getting better with us working with her, but I do have to watch that one.

 

[sumi]

I have been trying to strike a balance with my 10-week old chicks between having them used to me and calm around me, but not being pets. I want them to have good instincts and reflexes when on free range - and they do seem to be hitting the balance of flighty and used to me that I was hoping for. I sit with them every other day or so, and some are quite tame and come up to me and peck with curiosity at spots on my shoes or jeans - nothing aggressive. I don't pick them up, but I have occasionally offered food from my hand, and lately at least 2 of the pullets have ignored the food and taken a hard pinch of my hand. Is this something I should be reacting to as a dominance issue, or are they just not understanding that it is my hand?

Also, one of the New Hampshire roosters is very friendly and jumps up on my lap. He does not peck or act aggressive (yet), but I'm wondering if I should discourage this to avoid a too tame adult rooster? My mom had a Cochin rooster that always flew into her arms to be held (hers were pets), but never was aggressive, but this is a New Hampshire. These are my first chickens and I have little grasp of chicken psychology.

I rescued a new chick from it's mom when it was a few hours old, if that. I raised him in the house, by himself and only introduced him to other chickens when he was around 4 months old. He was completely tame with me and my family and very cautious but o.k. with strangers. I moved onto a different part of our farm when he was about 1.5 years old and let him and the flock free range on a few acres of pasture. He kept an eye out for hawks, dogs and other predators, attacked (yes, he did!) predators that came too close to his ladies and took great care of the flock, while still being a pet who'd come visit me in the house now and then. In spite of his unusual early months and lack of contact with other chickens his natural behaviour and instincts were perfect.

The pecking you are referring to is what I think of as "exploring". Chickens don't have hands, so they use their beaks to check things out (usually to see if it's edible!). Sometimes those curiosity pecks can be quite painful, I know. I've had a young cockerel peck me on the mouth once, when I turned my head at the wrong moment. He was standing much to close and his beak pierced my lower lip. Another one took off a piece of skin off my finger when it tried to eat my wedding band. Those were the only two bad incidences I've had in the 8 years I've kept chickens though. And neither was aggressive, it was simply a "Hey, what's this? Can I eat it? gesture" I think with chickens, as with any other pet, there are some risks, but many, many rewards. It takes time to understand them, but I found them surprisingly clever, very funny and wonderful companions.

If your cockerel jumps on your lap, let him. Just watch for the poop

Cockerels that are tame with humans are wonderful pets and judging from my experience with mine, it doesn't make a difference in their normal behaviour. Others may have had different experiences, but I've had a few very tame ones over the years and they were perfectly normal otherwise, took great care of the flock and seldom gave me hassles.

 

[debp]

Thank you for sharing this experience, Sumi. Allowing them to be fairly tame with me will make it more enjoyable.

 

[texsuze]

Sometimes a person's body language gives a message that might be unintended. Raising something quickly above a hen's head, appearing while holding some tool or piece of clothing that looks spooky. Maybe the hens are on the defensive due to the OP's way of moving. Not to creep around silently, but perhaps take a look at your behaviour sometimes. And just spending time around the chickens will certainly help them learn the 'you' that moves around them. I have the luxury of spending a couple hours each afternoon with my 'girls' before they are secured in their runs, something I look forward to.

 

[debp]

Update on my rooster woes:
I am having trouble deciding what is normal behavior for a rooster of 15 weeks age and what is a problem. I had 7 roosters (New Hampshires and Barred Plymouth Rocks) and 16 pullets and had planned to butcher at least 5 of the roosters for meat as soon as they were big enough. If there is a place to read details of rooster behavior (and hens for that matter), please direct me there.

My birds have started to act like roosters before they have meat on them (and I'm not expecting grocery store meat - they are just feathers and bones at this point). Yesterday, my tame, mild-mannered rooster that I had allowed myself to become attached to was gored, tearing his crop out so that I had to butcher him. That was a sad day for me, as I may have caused it by separating my biggest rooster from the flock a few days prior, and that may have upset the apple cart, so to speak. I had not observed any spur fighting, so this took me by surprise. I had watched my top rooster pick and eat pin feathers from pullets earlier in the week, and had read that you should nip feather-picking in the bud, so we removed him to the garage for a few days and then into a new separation pen in the coop. I had planned to butcher him in a few weeks when he had a little meat on him. But, then I noticed at least 3 other roosters that do surprise attacks on other birds, mainly the pullets, to grab and sometimes eat feathers, so I decided I may be micro managing them - or that it is impossible to isolate all the roosters.

So, today I let all my chickens out to free-range together. I noticed that my big rooster immediately established his dominance with another rooster by picking out a feather and chasing him, but not excessively. He also kept doing a little dance whenever the rooster came near him, and the other rooster would run. He never pecked him again and the other rooster stayed nearby. This seems like a good behavior to me. He is warning the other rooster and only pecked him once. But, he did then surprise attack a pullet that let him near and picked out some of her neck feathers. I want to get rid of at least 4 of my remaining 6 roosters, but would rather wait another couple weeks until they are bigger, unless that is really unwise.

I need some advice on what is normal for a rooster of this age. I have been watching my flock this am, and mostly it is quiet, except for occasional surprise attacks by roosters (several culprits) on pullets that usually involve some feather pulling.
Those with experience, what would you do at this point? They are free-ranging all day, but some mornings they have to stay in a large coop/run, and also in the evening (which is when my tame rooster was gored).