Regarding kids.....

[Nicole01]

All 3 of my girls have their own chicken. My youngest is 8 and the kids are very gentle with the babies. They also help clean the poop out of the brooder and make sure they have food and water. It's nice to have their help since I am disabled with a neck injury.

 

[Aemelia]

My teenagers like to hold our chicks when my 4 year old does but otherwise they are kind of uncaring about it all. Basically we hold them once a day. Everyone sits down to hold them including me they are way to hoppy and flappy to hold them standing up for long.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
VERY good idea! LOL, I suggested that to someone last week and she got mad at me. I've raised LOTS of chicks, a few days to get used to being alive is a great idea.

 

[kemclaughlin]

We got ours at the feed store and I still waited a few days because it just seems like they need to rest. Birds in general are rather high strung.

We definitely wash hands.

My kids love the chicks. They watch them and play with them and worry over them. It's very sweet to watch. The chicks are getting friendlier too. They don't run as much when I am changing water or putting in food. A couple of them let me reach in there to pet them.

We even let the baby (16 months) pet them, but we hold him and his hand to make sure that he does not swat at them or grab them. He will hold really still and we rub the chick on his cheek or on his arm so he can feel how soft it is. He laughs at them when they are running around being silly.

 

[californiagirl]

I let all my kids (7, 9, 12, 13, and 17) hold their chicks while sitting down with a waterproof pad on their lap. This way they didn't freak out when the chick made a poopsie on them. We did wait a few days after bringing them home so they could get used to our voices first. I was also concerned about their body temperature fluctuating or them getting stressed and dying on us. So far all eight chicks are 5 weeks old and doing great! The ones that were handled most are the friendliest now.

 

[cbrown86]

Mine are 6, 4 and 1 1/2. All my girls love playing with the chicks. Hands are always washed before and after.

 

[classicsredone]

My daughter is 4 1/2, and I only let her hold chicks with supervision. They still aren't the most gentle at that age. Now that the chicks are teenagers, I still have to watch her. She'll get into the coop without asking. While she probably wouldn't hurt the chickens now, I'm worried she'll get clawed because doesn't pick them up the right way. (Both wings secured, feet hanging down, hand supporting their belly like I do.)

 

[jettgirl24]

My boyfriend's kids are 4 and 8. I let them hold them but only while sitting down and supervised. They are not allowed to wrap their hand around them either, only in an cupped palm. The second rule was implemented because they haven't handled small animals a whole lot and I found that when the chicks get agitated they grab too hard. They can pet the chicks all they want in the brooder but again, only when we're in the same room to supervise to some extent. When I'm going to be out of the room I put the lid on the brooder so there's no temptation

 

[Terri O]

OP--your daughter looks kind of like mine when she was that age...Love the big dark eyes! Now that DD is 25 (yikes) we take the new chicks to the day care center that she works at. The kids range from preschool to 4th grade. They all sit in a circle on their knees with the chicks loose in the center; and we let them touch the chicks with one finger only. I feel that this is the only safe way to do it when you really dont know the kids real well. When we brought rabbits last year we did the same thing but those darn bunnies crawled right into their laps!
Terri O

 

[catchthewind]

My older daughter is the same age as yours (3, almost 4) and I let her hold them, though I ask her to sit. For the older chicks, I let her hold some of them and help me move them back and forth from their brooder to the tote we take them outside in, but they are old enough that if she let go they can fly and she's gotten good at holding them properly now. The ones that are skittish I still do, as she just doesn't have big enough hands to keep them from flapping all over. We waited until the day olds were a couple of days old before anyone handled them too. I will trust her alone for brief periods (like while I run and get mealworms out of the fridge), but I agree with a previous poster that if something were to happen to a chick and I wasn't around she wouldn't know what to do. It also depends on her moods and the time of day, if she's really tired I wouldn't leave her alone with a chick even for a minute because she can be a lot rougher.

My 1 year old never gets to hold the chicks, but I'll hold her hand and pet the babies with her. I'll let her try to pet the older ones on her own (with me right next to her in case she gets too rough) but they can generally take care of themselves.