THAT'S IT ! They're not cute lil' babies anymore.

[mamabigbird]

I went out last evening to tuck in the big girls and have a cuddle with the chicks. They are 8 weeks now. A few of them always run up to me to be picked up. So as usual I scooped up one and had a wee cuddle. Put her down and scooped up the next one, li' robin, and she only cuddles for a moment and then climbs up onto my shoulder. As she got up almost onto my shoulder I smelled IT. Fresh ripe CHICKEN POOP. It was between my fingers, smeared halfway up one arm and tracked all down the front of my shirt. OKAY cuddle time is over, forever, they are now chickens. I don't pick up the big girls, partly because they won't let me and partly because they are monstrous sumo wrestler dinosaurs who give me the "stink-eye" and only love me for my treats.

DH was in the back yard when I came back from the coop. He saw me with my arms outstretched in front zombie style squalling ..ewwww, chicken poo ... He offered to help me get my shirt off (he's soooo helpful that way LOL) Hindsight says I should of wrapped my poopy arms around him and gave him a big pooey hug. DANG !

 

[Denninmi]

Well, aversion to poo is a western cultural thing, I think. I've seen a lot of documentaries about other cultures where fresh manure is used for all kinds of purposes, such as building materials, medicinal uses, fertilizers, fuels, you name it, and they often get very up close and personal with it, usually using their bare hands. So, you just get over it.

You might want to keep a dispenser of clorox wipes or similar next to the chicken pen just for such happenings.

And, yes, as is typical of most teenage children, they want nothing to do with you unless they need something from you. Human or animal, they're all the same.

 

[gryeyes]

I always seem to kneel in it, somewhere in the yard, or in the coops.

There's still four little babies in one of my grow-out coops, but they're ALMOST 8 weeks old now. I have started letting them venture out into the run. The Big Chickens don't mind them, but THEY are terrified of the Big Chickens. It's so cute how they hang together in a chick gang. And yes, poop on me when they sit in my lap. Okay, that part's not that cute.... you're right.