Taming a Wild Chicken

[ElNidoEggs]

Hello- I need some expert advice. I have a small flock of Arcaunas. Last spring a beautiful Game Chicken, feral, started foraging with them, and has decided to stay. The tame checkins enter the coop every night, but she roosts in the tree. She mated with my Arcauana rooster and made a nest under my shed. Beautiful little baby chicks hatched out. But I am seeing them disappear due to predation. I caught her with the 1 week old chicks and put her in a spare coop. She is NOT happy, never having been caged. Chicks seem to be adjusting. Questions:
1- How long does it normally take for a wild chicken to settle down and accept living in an enclosed coop?
2- Any idea if the little ones, if pullets, will lay the characteristic Arcauna blue eggs? They all have yellow legs, not the green or blue of the true Arcauanas. Is egg color a recessive trait?
Thanks for your help all!

 

[centrarchid]

1- How long does it normally take for a wild chicken to settle down and accept living in an enclosed coop?

Highly variable. Post picture of enclosed coop. Also a function hen herself and your behavior around her.

2- Any idea if the little ones, if pullets, will lay the characteristic Arcauna blue eggs?  They all have yellow legs, not the green or blue of the true Arcauanas.  Is egg color a recessive trait?

I think the color is dominant over the wildtype white.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

What is your definition of WILD?

Chickens all have their own levels of wildness or fear, and IMHO fear is what motivates a hen or rooster to act wild more than anything else.

I have never owned a "WILD" chicken but I have dealt with several that went ferial for a few weeks to a few years. Once recaptured none of them seemed to display any more WILD behavior after recapture than they did before going ferial.

On the other hand I have owned hens that had never been wild or feral before and who would literally hit the top of an 8 foot tall pen like an ICBM taking off if I so much as wore a shirt or hat that day that was too loud or one that hen had never seen before.

Even going from a long to a short sleeve shirt or vice versa was too much excitement for theses birds.


I found that chickens of this type takes too much of the fun out of keeping poultry, and I believe that you will soon agree with my point of view if you get the chance to own any hens like I described.. This is a better excuse than most to have a chicken stew.

 

[ElNidoEggs]

When I say wild, I do not know where she came from. I noticed her last summer in an open area parkland adjacent to my property. My chickens that I raise in the coop do forage freely during the day in my securely fenced yard. Slowly but surely, she joined the flock during the day. She did see to enjoy the advances of my rooster. Laid one clutch that never hatched. During that time, she would not allow him near her. Huge fights with him, and she always won, Same thing with the second clutch. She hid them away, under the shed, and brought out 11 babies. Beautiful chicks. But they started being picked off by hawks and cats. Caught the remainders and they are settled into a spare coop, not with my other chickens. She seems to be OK a longs as the chicks are around her. But does not like being enclosed.