Taming chicks, 1 1/2 weeks old.

SpringFeathers

In the Brooder
Mar 24, 2019
7
1
12
Hi! I’ve been raising store bought chicks for 3 years now. Our first girls were ISA Browns, and while not exactly skittish, they weren’t very friendly either.
Recently, though, we decided to expand our flock from five, to thirteen (nature permitting that all 8 of the little chicks survive). With this second addition to our flock, I wanted to add some color and variety. We bought 4 Rhode Island Red females, 2 Jersey giant females, and 2 silkie bantams that are straight runs. We are particularly excited about the silkies, as they’re known to be friendly. The youngest is about a week old, the eldest looks about 2 weeks old. We really want them to tame down nicely, and much nicer than our other girls.
This brings me to my question: I’ve spent three to five hours a day with them, mostly just feeding them from my hand and gently petting them when they come close enough. They aren’t running away, but their not exactly enthusiastic either. I don’t expect them to beg for attention, but they seem pretty meh about the situation, and often/occasionally do run from me. If i try to pick one up, it’ll peep as loud as it can manage and wriggle in my hands, and just seem pretty freaked out by the handling overall. If I’m looking for a more pet like temperament, should I just continue putting my hand in slowly for long lengths of time and feeding them? Or should I persist in attempting to pick them up, hold them, and take them out of the bin? Maybe I could wait until their older to take them out of the bin? I really want to handle them correctly this time, we keep chickens mostly for eggs and companionship, so these new chicks are a good fresh start for the flock. :jumpy Thank you! I would love to hear what you think I should do.
 
I bribe all mine with scrambled egg. They will mob my hand when I stick it in the brooder, climbing all over me and looking for a treat. I will handle them and then feed them bits of egg as a reward.
 
About half of mine were knot jumping up on my hand and checking things out. I found that if I stuck my hand in front of them and bumped them a bit- they’d step up onto my hand.

They’re 5 weeks now, and a favorite treat is a few pieces of meal worms. They’re out in the run so when I walk in there with a can of meal worms (a shaker, basically), I get swarmed. Nearly all of them fly up to me and perch on my hands, arms, shoulders, head. At some point I want to be able to let them out in the yard (not fenced) and have them come to me when I shake the can.

Bribery works. Just don’t give them much.
 
Chicks in general seem to require a lot of patience with the taming process...most are typically a bit flighty at first, in my opinion/experience...no matter how much you hold them, it seems. But definitely be persistent in holding them maybe a couple times a day, at least. As they mature (especially after getting past that lanky, wild teenage stage), they tend to calm down...especially if hand raised, of course. :) And they tend to mellow out dramatically shortly before laying that first egg...at least, my SLW (who had been unmanageably wild as a youngster up 'til point-of-lay) did.
My first batch are all a little over a year old now, and they turned out to be fine young ladies. Though docility also varies on breed, and especially individual personalities. It may be frustrating now, but give them time. I'm sure they'll grow up to be fine, tame chickens.
 

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