- Mar 3, 2011
- 231
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Hubby and I have been really upset lately. Our chickens and rooster have become very skittish. I mean really.. We had chickens before, and never had such skittish birds. They are Jersey giants, I got some black and white ones. The white ones seem to be the most skittish, it's usually them acting panicky and influencing the whole flock. I wonder since this is a new color, they may have not been bred well, like bred on looks rather than temperament?
We never did anything to traumatize them other than one day when we had to move them into the coop and had to catch them and they were playing hard to catch. Other than that, we made a routine of feeding them treats every day and letting them hop on or laps and legs.
Well , now they are 3 months, and when I mean skittish, I mean they are scared of the wind (we have lots of wind here) if one chicken flies to greet us, they all run away frightened including the chicken that flied to greet us. When hubby opens the coop, if one hops off the roost to come out, they all get scared and round up in a corner.
Yesterday, when feeding treats, one chicken made a weird vocalization and they all ran away, then a few came back but most stayed behind. The rooster from going on our laps to be pet now looks at us with suspicion and I think the fact that the hens act so skittish/afraid around us, is making us look bad in his eyes. I see more avoidance now rather than greeting.
What we hate is that we worked really hard to socialize them with us and always bring them treats. I don't know if chickens go through phases where they are particularly skittish, but I have never seen this behavior in my other hens. We even used to pass the lawn mower and they could care less! They would run greeting us as soon as they saw us (I taught them a strong recall, by calling and giving treats) yet, these are so skittish, even when I call them. I wonder if the annoying wind and dust devils can be a factor or if some skittish chicken are influencing the whole flock. Any ideas?
We never did anything to traumatize them other than one day when we had to move them into the coop and had to catch them and they were playing hard to catch. Other than that, we made a routine of feeding them treats every day and letting them hop on or laps and legs.
Well , now they are 3 months, and when I mean skittish, I mean they are scared of the wind (we have lots of wind here) if one chicken flies to greet us, they all run away frightened including the chicken that flied to greet us. When hubby opens the coop, if one hops off the roost to come out, they all get scared and round up in a corner.
Yesterday, when feeding treats, one chicken made a weird vocalization and they all ran away, then a few came back but most stayed behind. The rooster from going on our laps to be pet now looks at us with suspicion and I think the fact that the hens act so skittish/afraid around us, is making us look bad in his eyes. I see more avoidance now rather than greeting.
What we hate is that we worked really hard to socialize them with us and always bring them treats. I don't know if chickens go through phases where they are particularly skittish, but I have never seen this behavior in my other hens. We even used to pass the lawn mower and they could care less! They would run greeting us as soon as they saw us (I taught them a strong recall, by calling and giving treats) yet, these are so skittish, even when I call them. I wonder if the annoying wind and dust devils can be a factor or if some skittish chicken are influencing the whole flock. Any ideas?