Petting your birds and loving them

[pengimama]

Achickenwrangler#1 :

Can chickens feel fear? curiosity? is it all just instinct?

I think the same can be said for humans. Our fear, curiosity... isn't it just instinct? I believe so in many cases. I am someone who personally treats my pets as part of the family, yeah maybe sometime giving them human characteristics... but one thing I can say... I always know when my dog has done something wrong before I even get all the way through the front door. She instinctively knows that I am going to turn on the light, sees that she got into the trash, and that she will get in trouble. She will whine. People argue that they are reacting to us, our emotions. In this case where I do not know what she has done yet... that can't possibly be the case. I think the problem is that some people, not all, don't want to believe that animals show emotion, fear, have "human-like" feelings (even though in the end they are likely all the same... instictual in some way or another) because that would force us to re-evaluate everything we do and believe.

Using the above argument with an human infant. If the mother neglected the baby, didn't feed the baby, didn't show the baby attention or love at all... then a stranger snuck into the mothers home and fed the baby, held the baby, showed the baby attention and love every day... who would the baby love? The mother or the stranger who who giving it the attention it deserved. It would love the stranger. Food based love? Possibly. Would it fear the mother and the loss of the stranger, absolutely. Then again... many emotions are part instinctual, part learned, such as fear. If I go into a dark room and something moves behind me, the fight/flight mechanism is released. I know the room is safe but instinct takes over and that's a natural, instinctual response.

I love conversations such as this because you see many sides to opinions, some founded some unfounded, all interesting!!​

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Fear, instinct, enjoying the taste of a ripe strawberry, who can say exactly what it is, I still watch and learn and try to understand my chickens without assigning them a label of what 'I' think it may or maynot be -oh she's doing something cute, I don't think animals have a predetermined motive for behavior as humans do. does my hen 'love' her chicks? Seems like she does when she coos to them and drops her food in their laps, is she being greedy when she savors the entire fruit for herself and doesn't offer them any? I think so. I think people love animals so much because they live in the moment without ulterior motives, and yeah, I think little moe likes me alot and is jealous of the little chicks, knows where they are and will kill them if she gets a chance, how do I know this? I saw it in her eyes. Oh and yeah, she watched me play with the last orphan batch and hopped the fence and started yanking feathers and spitting them out.
When the rooster is clucking and making a nest, and the hen is scratching in a corner on the poarch, is he showing her how to make a nest (some birds need to be shown I guess) I just took my 'production' rir to the nesting box, where she saw a nest with an egg, then the aha moment, she nested there and laid her own egg... I wondered why the roosters started crowing at me and went to look- there was an egg! Yeah Did they know she just laid an egg, I didn't hear her, when she came out I went over and looked, wow, ain't nature awsome.
Yup, animals are alot smarter than we'd like to admit, we can learn alot from them, I think it would be tough to eat my chickens, well, moe especially, the ones who don't hang with me, no problem, who doesn't eat chicken? The roosters, big meaty things they are a pia anyway so yeah, I'll eat them, the showy game birds? Naw, no meat on those bones anyway, there is a market for pretty feathers however.
I guess if I were raising chickens just for food, I wouldn't want to get emotionally attached to them, or assign them human characteristics, but of course, doing so makes me human doesn't it. Yeah, I know the farm life can be tough and I don't have to be the one to slaughter them, but the smartest ones are those who kiss up to me aren't they.

 

[pengimama]

Achickenwrangler#1 :

Yeah, I know the farm life can be tough and I don't have to be the one to slaughter them, but the smartest ones are those who kiss up to me aren't they.

LOL! Yup, they are! I dont slaughter either, am content having them for eggs and pets. How I will feel after a few years, I don't know. Personally I'd rather slaughter my own (or have them slaughtered for me) than support them being slaughtered factory style. Although, I'd be traumatized if I had to, say... slaughter Pengi.

 

[Achickenwrangler#1]

Yes, I would set Moe free first I think, fly awaay Moe, fly, she'd prob do pretty darn well too!

 

[SteveBaz]

After reading all of the posts in this thread. I find myself a bit envious of a lot of you. As to having to go to my birds like some posted it seems when you hatch chicks and handle them from the very beginning they not only come to you for their love and touches but want to stay with you for it. I bought my girls at a Urban farm store at 5 weeks and have been handling and loving them but to no avail I still have to make the attempt to lift them to my lap to love them and handle them. Don't get me wrong there is a lot of trust and touching loving and care but they could live without me and my love and handling. My next group will be from egg to family member and I am sure I will get better result. I certainly want them to want me but they come close for the petting and love but It is me that has to go to the bird to give it.

Steve

 

[babyrnlc]

Quote:
I think a lot just has to do with the personality. I have an EE that was a rescue and she was laying when we got her and she is super sweet and tame. We have 7 that we raised from day old and only two are tamish. We got some chicks at 6 weeks and they are super sweet (the Faverolles and Brabanters are the sweetest, but all but the welsummer are tame)

 

[SteveBaz]

I am a grandpa and try to be real small around them with a quiet soft voice and the game is slow. I can put my hand out to stop them and stroke their backs. My Pilgrim is the tuffest of al them and just yesterday she stood there and allowed me to pet her chest and love her while she just stood there. I could see her eyes opening and closing softly with my gentle kind stoking and love. However, getting them in my lap without holding them there is another story entirely. Time or never love the one your with anyway you can I think.

Steve

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

Quote:
I think a lot just has to do with the personality. I have an EE that was a rescue and she was laying when we got her and she is super sweet and tame. We have 7 that we raised from day old and only two are tamish. We got some chicks at 6 weeks and they are super sweet (the Faverolles and Brabanters are the sweetest, but all but the welsummer are tame)

Oh totally. Some of ours give us the Stink Eye. We dare talk at them? Pfft at us.

But some are too happy to see us and come galloping over when we get home. Just like people have different personalities, the chickens do, too. We can see it in our newest brood, out of 4 little chicks, two are trying to gain our attention and two are flighty, shy little birds.

I was thinking about this subject when I was on-call Tuesday, so I took this video, its long and boring. But, that's the thing about backyard chickens, they're good for that:

The chicken in this video often seeks lap time and "talks" with her humming, honking much like a siamese cat "talks" when petted. But the other chickens won't do this, except for our rooster, he runs to me and positions himself for picking up (can't see through his fluff well enough to fly at anything). The Silkie hen is inbetween, she can see, but just runs at our feet for a pick up. This red hen, though, will pick gently at our clothes and then fly up onto us. If we're holding another chicken, she gets jealous. That's her personality, though, as an individual. I don't think she represents chickens in general, any more than Dolly Parton represents humanity in general. We're all different.

Maybe its in the numbers. We currently reside with 13 chickens in our garden, 3 of them adoringly keep us as their pets. The rest are just chickens.

 

[HappyPlace]

I bought my girls at a Urban farm store at 5 weeks and have been handling and loving them but to no avail I still have to make the attempt to lift them to my lap to love them and handle them.

Again, this is my first time having chickens, and they're chicks at that, but everything I've read on here implies that chicks anywhere from 4-17? weeks may be standoff-ish. If you can pet them, though, I'd say you're definitely making progress!

Just keep at it.

Besides that, I think it's nice raising "babies" and have them love you because you're all they've ever known, but it's almost better when you get an older animal and bring it around. All that time and effort really pays off and is incredibly gratifying.

 

[loanwizard]

I've never raised chicks yet, although I have some incubating, but I had the strangest thing happen. Normally when I pull in the driveway, they are all at the front of the pen waiting to be fed. When I go to the pen, they scatter til the food is in the trough. I have tried on occasion to pet them but they run or barely tolerate it. Last night however, I reached down to pet one of the girls and she actually sat there, then raised her wings so I could scratch the itchy spot. It was pretty neat.