Submersion therapy...for chickens?!?

[D3invertebrates]

Hi, I recently acquired a few very skittish chickens who dont like to be handled and after raising 5 very friendly hens from eggs it kinda bothers me, I want happy birds! So what I was wondering is if anyone has tried any type of submersion therapy for chicken, probably not most folks would probly think its nuts right up till they saw it work(not that I know it would for birds).
When I was a younger man I was a bit of a cowboy and I trained all my own ranch horses and they were all exceptional animals. Well one year we ended up working with some natives and I saw them taking young horses who totally unbroke and basically dipping them into a pit of grain up to there necks so they couldnt move. It seems like some guantanamo type business but it almost immediately worked and the horse emerged a gentler much calmer animal. Now thats about all I know but I have some idea has to how/why this works. I think because the animal is completely immobilized its as if your asserting your complete dominance over the animal in a way thats impossible for it to deny. Ive noticed with many animals Ive worked with that were problem animals all I really needed to do was convince it that Im bigger and scarier than they are.

So anyway the basic idea I had was to take a big tub or bucket or whatever as long as its big enough to hold a chicken and fill it with grain of some sort then dunk a chicken in up to its ears just to see what happens. Seem kinda cruel? lol I thought so to but if it works I would think it worthwhile.
Anyone ever done or heard of anyone doing anything similar to this?

 

[corgiscatsandchickens]

Interesting. Not an expert here, but I think the reason you would do that with a horse is that there's no other way to safely immobilize a horse. It's a little easier with a chicken--just hold them under your arm gently, but firmly. So I would vote for the "hands on approach" for the chickens. Same principle, just scaled down.

Horses are just too big to hold under your arm.

 

[D3invertebrates]

Ya thats pretty much what I do hold them for a little bit and they do clam down like that, thats kinda what made me think of it.

 

[stormylady]

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[elmo]

Chickens are naturally terrified of anything new. I don't think holding a chicken down in a tub of grain is going to convince them that being held by you in any other scenario is not terrifying.

Just keep picking up and holding the chicken every day. It will get used to that, and that's what you want, right?