New Member- Just saying hi

[RoriStix]

I'm mostly just introducing myself. I've been accessing BYC for a little bit now, getting as much info I could on raising chickens. My best friend got chickens a couple of years ago, and I was both fascinated and jealous. It took me a couple of years, but I now have a little brood of my own- 1 white Silkie, 2 blue Silkies, a bantam Easter Egger (all 2 weeks old today) and 3 Welsummers (all 1 week old today). I'm enjoying the heck out of them! It seems like every time I check in on them, they've grown and have more actual feathers (and I check in on them a LOT each day)! I do have one question. I've been handling them a lot, but they don't seem particularly fond of being handled yet. In fact, they seem to hate it. Does anybody have some good suggestions for getting them tamed down?

 

[BrattishTaz]

and

Treats and patience are all you need to get them to love you. Spend some time with them everyday.

 

[Leia's Chickens]

 

[PulletPalace]

Welcome to BYC! You're going to love the rich brown of the Welsummer eggs. Sorry, but can't help you out in the taming category. My breeds are mostly high strung layers and I was not successful in taming them. But, then, maybe I didn't put in enough time.... Good luck and have fun!

 

[UrbanBlueShamrock]

welcome!! This is my first chicken experience as well!!! I was really concerned about them not liking me at first I went out to visit them all the time as well! They are now 8wks old and come running to the side of the run or inside of the coop where ever I may be when I start saying "chick chick chick" I dont think they actually love me but they sure love the treats I bring them!!! It makes me giddy every time! Ha I have a 1yr old son and his current vocabulary is "mamamama" and "bock bock bock" (ie chicken noise) And as I said welcome to the community

 

[jtbrown]

. My mix bantam/standard flock of 11 week olds comes bosomy running, but my 7 week old Easter eggers are in separate part of coop for now and are as standoffish and skittish as can be. You ought to hear when I catch one of them you would think I was plucking their feathers out. I try treats, I sit in coop with them, have read that they will relax when starts to lay, we'll see. Good luck!

 

[Cadjien_De_Louisiane]

welcome from Louisiana

 

[Luckytaz]

Welcome, from Minnesota.

 

[whiteflare]

Hullo!
Welcome from Australia!

In response to the question about taming the chickens... it takes time. We found that if we raised ours from chicks, it helped a lot as they were used to being handled when we changed the litter in their cardboard boxes (no high tech brooders around here

). If you feed them regularly, they come to recognise you coming, your voice, that kind of thing, and they'll run up as you approach.
It's kinda cute. My hens squat down when I reach out to pet them. No idea what they're actually doing, but it means they stay still and don't complain when you pat them

Hope to see you a bit more round the forums

 

[renart]

from NW Washington State!