PLEASE HELP I DON"T KNOW WHAT TO DO

[NatJ]

They've stopped being afraid of my hand, and I'm trying to treat train them. the problem is, I've never been able to actually have physical contact with them-I've never been able to pet them or pick them up.

So they were terrified on Tuesday afternoon, but by Thursday morning they're already this tame? That's really fast progress!

I've had plenty of chickens that were difficult to catch or pick up, but easy to manage. They would come to me for treats, and would follow me if I held a bowl--if they were out, I could lure them back with a bowl of treats, and they'd go right in to eat from it.

I really want to build some sort of thing for around the coop-maybe just 2x4s and some netting? Not to be predator proof, but just as a safety net if they get out

It's really not very important, from what you say of how fast the chickens are settling down. If they get out, put a treat in the pen.

Then walk away from the chickens, and circle around so they are closer to the pen than you are. Walking calmly, herd them back toward the pen. Don't rush--pretend you have lots of time.

This video shows roughly what I have in mind. Personally, I use a long smooth stick, rather than the bushy one in the video, but the idea is the same: the chickens move away from the person and away from the stick. If a chicken is so calm she will not move, I use my stick or my foot to gently push her in the correct direction. I do not hit or kick the chickens, and they are not afraid. The goal is to have them calmly walking, and they may stop sometimes. Not running or flying.

Herding chickens works as a way to take them for a "walk" or let them forage a bit, too. Just watch what they do, and herd them back the right way if they wander off.

And, if you cannot get them in any other way: open the pen, wait until evening, then close them in after they go to bed. Really, it WORKS. They've already slept there for two nights, and every additional night will strengthen their new habit of sleeping in this place.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I don't think that I'll be able to get both kennel and chunnels. Which should I focus on? I'd be spending my own money on either of them.

Kennel for sure. Chunnels are cute... and that's about it. Not as practical nor as predator safe as a solid kennel.

 

[black_cat]

So they were terrified on Tuesday afternoon, but by Thursday morning they're already this tame? That's really fast progress!

I've had plenty of chickens that were difficult to catch or pick up, but easy to manage. They would come to me for treats, and would follow me if I held a bowl--if they were out, I could lure them back with a bowl of treats, and they'd go right in to eat from it.



It's really not very important, from what you say of how fast the chickens are settling down. If they get out, put a treat in the pen.

Then walk away from the chickens, and circle around so they are closer to the pen than you are. Walking calmly, herd them back toward the pen. Don't rush--pretend you have lots of time.

This video shows roughly what I have in mind. Personally, I use a long smooth stick, rather than the bushy one in the video, but the idea is the same: the chickens move away from the person and away from the stick. If a chicken is so calm she will not move, I use my stick or my foot to gently push her in the correct direction. I do not hit or kick the chickens, and they are not afraid. The goal is to have them calmly walking, and they may stop sometimes. Not running or flying.

Herding chickens works as a way to take them for a "walk" or let them forage a bit, too. Just watch what they do, and herd them back the right way if they wander off.

And, if you cannot get them in any other way: open the pen, wait until evening, then close them in after they go to bed. Really, it WORKS. They've already slept there for two nights, and every additional night will strengthen their new habit of sleeping in this place.

Thanks! That video looks great! Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning they were pretty scared-I'm assuming rattled from a long car ride. I want to let them out a little bit before free ranging them at all-just so we can do basic maintenance, and so that I can get the birds to pick me up. I'm thinking fencing with some netting on top-not predator proof, but chicken proof enough to use.

 

[black_cat]

I'm not going to comment on a parent/child issue...
....now that I know that's what it is.
You wouldn't like what I have to say anyway.

I'm assuming that you're going to tell me that my parents are right, which I do agree with on the most part, but I will say that I disagree with them on some things.

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

For getting stuff in the coop, I've been able to block off the door to the run if there's someone else distracting them. They've stopped being afraid of my hand, and I'm trying to treat train them. the problem is, I've never been able to actually have physical contact with them-I've never been able to pet them or pick them up. I really want to build some sort of thing for around the coop-maybe just 2x4s and some netting? Not to be predator proof, but just as a safety net if they get out, and some time out of the coop. I"m working on my parents with that, albeit badly as I'm really terrible at dealing with people. I'm having trouble getting them to make the connection that a certain sound means that they are getting treats, which would make me less worried about them getting out, as I could summon them back that way.

You could get some those 4 to 5 feet long metal stakes and just make a perimeter out of your friend's leftover fencing material? It's a cheap and simple fix for wanting additional space. Your chickens will know when to go back into the coop when it's time to sleep so you don't have to worry about herding them back in.

 

[LozzyR]

They've stopped being afraid of my hand, and I'm trying to treat train them. the problem is, I've never been able to actually have physical contact with them-I've never been able to pet them or pick them up.

I currently have five hens, all of whom are friendly, like hanging out with me and will eat from my hand. All of them hate being picked up and patted; any maintenance I might have to do needs to be done at night. I still dream about having lap-chickens, one day I might get lucky!

 

[ChemicalchiCkns]

If they were entirely new to the place, your hand was one more new thing to freak out about. Keep at it keep calm at it.

 

[black_cat]

Today's update:
They are no longer terrified of me.
Their food and water kept getting filled with pine shavings, so we put the food and water up on bricks. This has solved the problem for the food, but the water is still messy. The water is much less messy than before, but still pretty gross. I think that the only way for it to not be messy is to have it in the run, which we can't do at the time being.
I added more pine shavings the other day and they immediately started making a mess having a field day kicking the shavings everywhere. Now the ones in the coop are all piled in the corners, with some bare spots in the middle. I'm going to try to redistribute those ones and add some more today.
The nesting box that we've put in is a modified shoebox with 3 fake eggs in it. We haven't gotten eggs in the box or anywhere else in the coop, aside from the lone egg that we got a few days ago. The nesting box is full of pine shavings.
There's not much space in the coop. It's hard to have the food, water, and nesting box all in there and still have the chickens be able to move around between them. The feeder fits really well where we have it, and same with the nesting box, but the water is posing a bit of a problem. I keep moving it around and am trying to find a good spot for it.
I've put more dirt in the run, but you can see a lot of poop. I have some dirt/mulch mixed, but it got soaked in the rain. I'm going to put it out on a tarp in the sun today to dry, then add most if not all of it to the run this evening through the top. The roof that we made can easily come off and I can't open the run door, so we put the dirt in through the hardware cloth roof.
There have been some pecking issues. Tillie, the leghorn, is getting bullied by the 3 red sex links. I don't know whether the birds were actually housed together as we were originally told. Maybe the sexlinks were together, but I don't think that the leghorn was with them.
Still no luck with convincing on the kennel. I think that the only way that they will agree to it is if the pecking gets so bad that they draw blood. I have stopped pushing it as I know it most likely won't happen, even though I see MANY pros and almost no cons in getting one.
I've discovered a good way to get them in the run, though it requires another person to help. One person lures them in with mealworms (we are shaking the bag to hopefully treat train) and I *lightning fast* open the door to the coop and put a piece of cardboard over the doorway from coop to run. The cardboard doesn't cover the whole thing, but enough that they have never tried to get past it.
One of them still needs a name. We have been calling her Round Chicken as she does not have a tail, so looks very round.
All of the chickens have been looking much healthier, just from looking at their coats they have improved a lot in the past few days. We got them on Tuesday evening and it is now Sunday morning.

 

[black_cat]

I checked in on them again and they had flipped their feeder over.
I refilled their food and water and put some rocks in the bottom of the feeder to hopefully make it harder to flip. I moved the nest box into the corner and put the water in a different corner, so it's less under the roost and hopefully won't get pooped in. I redistributed pine shavings and added a fresh layer. I also moved my decoy eggs to the sides of the nesting box to give them more space in it...would that help at all? I've put the dirt/mulch mixture I have for the run on a tarp to dry out in the sun. Hopefully I'll be able to put it in this evening. The feeder is one of these:

It came with the rental, and we have it up on some bricks to prevent it getting filled with pine shavings. Will putting rocks in the bottom help? What are other ways I can prevent it getting tipped over?

 

[aart]

That feeder is for chicks.
I doubt rocks would make it heavy enough that full grown birds wouldn't tip it over.
Might be worth a try tho.