Question about chick behavior changes

[Bluskygirl]

Hi there. I am new here, but have loved all these forum threads! Such a wealth of information!

I am posting because I haven't quite found a thread that answers this question. Here's the background: I am a new chicken keeper and have one Rhode Island Red, one Barred Rock, one Buff Orp, and one Back Sex Link all two and a half weeks old. Their personalities are all over the place, as I'm sure is common. The Barred Rock is super outgoing and jumps up and down when she sees me coming, then instantly wants to hop out and explore my hand, shoulder, the floor, etc. The opposite end of the spectrum is the Sex Link. She is the most stressed out, paranoid bird I've ever seen (I have had conures and cockatiels before). The three "friendlier" chicks were all progressing well with being out on the floor with me, eating out of my hand, etc, but I recently decided I needed to start trying to interact with them individually. I cannot take them out of the room they're in due to my other animals, so when one is out and away from the rest, they only want to go back to the brooder and they also seem scared and anxious. At the same time, I've notice that the other three chicks are very reactive to the Sex Link (aka Quinn after Harley Quinn since she's crazy, Lol), so the more she freaks out the more the others seem frightened (particularly the BO).

So, to finally get to my question! Was it better to just let them climb around on me together and not interact with them one on one? Is it possible that Quinn could convince the others that I am someone dangerous? Or, my other theory, are they hitting some sort of timid phase? This seems to be a common thing with all kind of babies, so I thought maybe that could be a possibility.

Thanks for any input you might have. Just want to make sure that I'm on the right track. Not looking for best friends in my chicks, but want to make sure they are relatively easy to both catch and handle should they need care!

 

[MissLavender]

I have a hen that used to act that way as a chick. She was frightened of me to the point of screaming and biting. It did seem to stress out the other chicks, too. I just opted to not force it on them. If they were all together, then they were fine crawling all over me though, haha! But if I so much as reached toward that one chick, she'd run away screaming. Then, as she got older and I had to handle her regularly to do things like deworming, wing clipping, weekly bird inspections, etc., etc., she eventually learned that I wasn't a threat. She still doesn't like being handled much and grumbles at me every time, but that's just her personality and I'm OK with that. Hope this helps!

 

[Bluskygirl]

Thank you! That does help. Sounds like Quinn may be affecting the dynamic a bit. I will continue to do group sessions with them and just let it be what it is. Tonight after dinner I let them all out and Quinn came too, while a couple others hung out on my shoulder. Thanks for the response!

 

[50-45-1]

So when you have Quinn separated she probably is distressed and the others pick up on that and it scares them . stick with group sessions and let them come to you. Quinn may never be a lap bird. Not all are.