Tips for handling a skittish hen who hates to be touched

[FunClucks]

Thank you for the advice! I'll definitely try the towel swaddling.

I've gotten used to all of our feathered ladies resisting handling to some degree, but most of them settle down once they feel secure. Not Drama.
You're very right that, sometimes, a chicken just isn't a good match for a flock or her owners.
I don't know if I'm there yet with Drama, but, if she can't learn to settle enough to be treated, then maybe she'd be better off elsewhere. Hopefully, the wrapping trick with help.

Thank you!

I rehomed my scared chick and another chicken that randomly decided to pull all the feathers off of a fellow chick's back when they were all around 6 weeks old (50-100 feathers gone in an HOUR!). They went to someone who doesn't keep their chickens confined, but lets them free range most if not all the time, and I thought that would be a better management style for those two chickens (mine are confined all the time in a spacious open air coop/run combo due to high predator load). There was more peace in the flock after they were gone, and I've never regretted my decision.

Best of luck figuring things out!

 

[kbroom]

I've been praying, and it looks like Sugar, my injured Golden Wyandotte, is going to pull through. She won't be pretty on her left side for a while, but I'll take it! Just knowing that she's healthy enough to run, drink and eat with my other girls makes my heart feel great! Every morning and every evening I spray her with one of the several medical sprays I had purchased for times like this. She is getting better. Egg production has lessened, but that's OK. My babies have been through some trauma, and that's to be expected.

 

[TheFugitivePen]

My white leghorn and leghorn mixed were raised and socialized alongside their broodmates, Ameraucanas and RIRs. The former two are neurotic basket cases while the latter two are very friendly. What kind of chickens are you talking about?

Currently, we have 8 black Australorp hens who are just over a year old. Drama is an Australorp. The rest of our Australorp girls are very mellow and accommodating, but Drama has always been high-strung. I do not know why.

We added some chicks this summer--2 Easter Eggers, a Speckled Sussex, a mystery chick, and another Australorp--but they're still pretty young and haven't been introduced to the older flock. None of them seem half as flighty as Drama. She was prone to panic, even as a chick.

 

[kbroom]

I have a cross-beak wyandotte who needs beak trimming regularly and she HATES to be touched. I mean HATES it. We have to use a net to catch her and she squeals like a pig the whole time. She will even move away while roosting, so not as easy as just grabbing her at bedtime. We have to have 2 people any time we need to handle her, because she will hurt herself (or us) trying to get free. With that being said, towel over the head seems to work the best. Firm grip, securing the wings, towel covering eyes and tucking under an arm is how we handle her. That has worked for us, so def an advocate of the towel swaddling.

That sounds like a good idea for my Golden Wyandotte. The only problem with that is, she wounded badly on her left side, and pinning her left wing to her side with a towel is probably going to take more than two hands... I spray her wound, but from afar, which is probably not sufficient.

 

[orelsi]

Some chickens freeze when you out cloth over their head. If you are lucky that might be all you need.