Tame chickens **PICS**

[noodleroo]

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You are most certainly welcome. I'm very happy to share what I know. After all, I think the world could use a little more gentleness.

If you start early, like you have, there is no need to use food to entice them to your hand. I want mine to come to me because they want to be held and petted, not because they think I have food. If the chicks are older or adult birds that have never been tamed, feeding from the hand may be the only way to get them to know that they are safe close to you. The Buff Orpingtons and Silver Laced Wyandottes in the photo are completely tame; I knew that they would not peck hard. Those birds have been integrated with out adult Black Sex Links that were abused and abandoned then rescued by my DH and me. (We did use food to tame the adults. They will jump in our laps now and sit for a minute or two but they still don't want us to pet them.) We fed the adults at the same time so they would stay busy with the food by my DH and the babies would eat from Alana's hand. If you sit in a chair out there, you will have 6 or 8 of the babies in your lap and arms within a minute; no food necessary. Plenty tame for me.

I cautioned Alana not to let the chickens near her face because they like shiny things and even though they wouldn't mean to hurt, they might peck at her eyes. None of them did and, of course, I was watching closely. Enoy your babies; sounds like you're going to have some really nice chickens, too!

 

[Mrs. Feathers]

What lovely photos and such a fabulous experience for your grandaughter. I think that learning to respect animals is a valuable lesson for children. My little grandaughter is 18 months and she loves the chickens...the funny thing is that they seem to love her too. She will walk up and down the run taking them for "walk walk" and most of them will follow her back and forth back and forth long after I lose interest! I hope she still has as much interest when she is old enough to help Grammie clean the poopy coop.
Thanks for sharing your taming experience.

 

[noodleroo]

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I think your best bet here when you take them to the porch is to put them in a small 'enclosure' like a rubbermaid tub or a cardboard box with just enough room for them to walk around. You could also just section off your brooder leaving a little walking room using a piece of cardboard or whatever. Sit on their level so that you can slowly lower your hand, palm side up, into the smaller area and be prepared to leave it there for several minutes. If they crowd away from your hand, use a marker and put a little black dot on your palm to make them curious about it. Let them peck at it and several will congregate around your hand. JUST LEAVE YOUR HAND IN THERE WITHOUT TRYING TO PICK THEM UP. This will help them understand that your hand isn't going to chase or grab them. If they will tolerate it, you can slowly move your fingers to pet them on their undersides. Have patience; they will come around as long as they know that hands don't hurt. As a last resort, I would use treats in my hand, but the dot should work fine.

I learned the 'dot' trick from having a permanent freckle on my palm. I don't have to use a marker!

 

[bella1210]

good pics the chickens

are tame

 

[chickp]

Thanks so much! I will try it; I have noticed over the past few days after I have made the kids sit down while they are outside with them that they will come up to us a little more. They do come right up to *my* hand to see if I have treats and (i hope!) because they are learning who I am, but the kids still make them skittish. But we will keep on working on it with the dot trick too!

 

[chickp]

Just an update; we have enforced the "absolutely no chasing" rule and they are coming up to us a lot now. Perhaps that's because we keep feeding them mosquitoes off our fingers.....

Thanks again for your suggestions.

 

[noodleroo]

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How funny; I've started doing that, too. Now if I could just teach them to grab the mosquitos in mid flight...