Sassy chicken body slams me when I enter coop!

[Wyorp Rock]

If you try to spend time with your flock, after a while you will learn what behaviors mean by taking them in context.

For example, I have a very young hen, just began to lay, and she happens to adore being held and cuddled. She's also very assertive about letting me know when she wants to be picked up. She comes up behind me and gives me a peck on the back of the leg or she "paws" me with her foot.

She isn't trying to show dominance. She's telling me in the only way she can that she wants to be loved because chickens communicate with their beaks, mostly.

Another hen might see me and give me a swift peck if I come too near to her. I have learned that this isn't a sign she wants to be handled because I've learned that she hates to be touched. So, a peck from this hen means something entirely different.

We humans get pretty good at reading the "body language" of people we associate with. It's the same with our chickens. They have body language, too, and it's not difficult to read it if we take the time.

Well said Carol.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Are we not supposed to let chickens eat out of our hands? I do occasionally with a treat not feed though.
I had to pick up my chickens yesterday to inspect them and noticed one of my Isa Browns pecked my boot and gloved hand while I was holding another chicken. I just brushed it off as her being protective. Is this acceptable chicken behavior?

 

[Feathyr]

Are we not supposed to let chickens eat out of our hands? I do occasionally with a treat not feed though.
I had to pick up my chickens yesterday to inspect them and noticed one of my Isa Browns pecked my boot and gloved hand while I was holding another chicken. I just brushed it off as her being protective. Is this acceptable chicken behavior?

Maybe, if you don't want them to develop a taste for your blood...

Seriously though, I don't think it causes much - if any - problems, so long as they aren't actually attacking you. Your Isa Brown could have been being protective; or she could have assumed that you had a treat and she wasn't about to let the held chicken get it. Does she do it every time you pick up another bird?

 

[azygous]

Are we not supposed to let chickens eat out of our hands? I do occasionally with a treat not feed though.
I had to pick up my chickens yesterday to inspect them and noticed one of my Isa Browns pecked my boot and gloved hand while I was holding another chicken. I just brushed it off as her being protective. Is this acceptable chicken behavior?

It's perfectly okay to let your chickens take treats from your hands, as long as you aren't squeamish about getting your fingers pinched by over-eager beaks once in a while. I recommend wearing gloves when you hand feed for this reason.

On the subject of a chicken pecking you when you are holding another chicken, two things are in play. One is that when other chickens see one of their peers obviously enjoying something, they want it, also. Kind of like some of us humans. When that happens, I'll just invite the second chicken to join the cuddle fest.

The other thing that you might see happen when you are holding a chicken is that another chicken will see it as an opportunity to gain advantage over the chicken you're holding and peck at it. One sign that this may be about to happen is the chicken will sidle up to the chicken you're holding and emit a low growl, then haul off with a painful peck at that chicken's head.

To avoid this, it's wise to do your chicken cuddling above the level of the other chickens so you aren't inadvertently responsible for your little friend suffering painful consequences from the cuddle session.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

Maybe, if you don't want them to develop a taste for your blood...

Seriously though, I don't think it causes much - if any - problems, so long as they aren't actually attacking you. Your Isa Brown could have been being protective; or she could have assumed that you had a treat and she wasn't about to let the held chicken get it. Does she do it every time you pick up another bird?

That was the first time I noticed her doing that. I wear gloves when I’m out there - at least I have been.

 

[Folly's place]

I don't really care why I'm being pecked, it just isn't acceptable to me! I would react and push that hen away to discourage her. She can be friendly, or annoyed, or planning to 'get' the other hen, and she still can't peck me.
Mary

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

It's perfectly okay to let your chickens take treats from your hands, as long as you aren't squeamish about getting your fingers pinched by over-eager beaks once in a while. I recommend wearing gloves when you hand feed for this reason.

On the subject of a chicken pecking you when you are holding another chicken, two things are in play. One is that when other chickens see one of their peers obviously enjoying something, they want it, also. Kind of like some of us humans. When that happens, I'll just invite the second chicken to join the cuddle fest.

The other thing that you might see happen when you are holding a chicken is that another chicken will see it as an opportunity to gain advantage over the chicken you're holding and peck at it. One sign that this may be about to happen is the chicken will sidle up to the chicken you're holding and emit a low growl, then haul off with a painful peck at that chicken's head.

To avoid this, it's wise to do your chicken cuddling above the level of the other chickens so you aren't inadvertently responsible for your little friend suffering painful consequences from the cuddle session.

Ha. Well, I haven’t done any cuddle sessions - yet. I do pet them once in awhile though. The chickens weren’t enjoying my holding them. Well, not that I could tell, I was checking vents and making sure I didn’t see any critters crawling around. But, I suppose to another chicken it could look like the other was getting something they weren’t. Their time was coming though.
I have been wearing gloves. The one time I didn’t, they pecked at my ring. lol

 

[BantyChooks]

Are we not supposed to let chickens eat out of our hands? I do occasionally with a treat not feed though.
I had to pick up my chickens yesterday to inspect them and noticed one of my Isa Browns pecked my boot and gloved hand while I was holding another chicken. I just brushed it off as her being protective. Is this acceptable chicken behavior?

IF I hand feed (rare) I make them take it nice. They can learn fine well not to bite hard. If they get anything other than the treat offered I don't let them have more until they calm a bit. Works for me.