Tis Time for a March 2020 Hatch-a-long!

[Muscovy Wunda]

Can I join in? I have 4 pekin eggs I set on 12th feb and should hatch 11th March. 3 are growing well. 4th is iffy. Testing my fertility and new incubator.

 

[gmjarvi]

How do you get them to begin trusting you? With my first flock I didn’t know much about anything and so I didn’t handle them at all really except to clean them when they had pasty butt. I thought we weren’t suppose to mess with them so I let em be. Now I realize too late that I should have handled them every day! But too late. They are now 2 years old and I see them as strangers. They come to me when I have food, but their rooster thinks he has to protect them from humans. They are now in a run permanently until the rooster can be domesticated.

FOOD! I always bring treats with me to the coop so even the flighty ones are excited to see me. I keep their food in the run and not in the coop (they kept pooping in the feeders), so they are always hungry when I open the door in the morning. When they all come out to eat I take my time and talk softly to them while I refill their water, hand feed treats, and stroke the back of any bird that will tolerate it. I always try with the flighty ones, but it takes a lot of patience! One I think is a lost cause...a 2 year old Icelandic hen that I got from a HUGE pen of all kinds of fowl. They were all healthy, just not handled super regularly (probably only when necessary, which works for some people, but I like cuddly chickens). I think it helps that my dominant rooster is docile.

 

[gmjarvi]

Can I join in? I have 4 pekin eggs I set on 12th feb and should hatch 11th March. 3 are growing well. 4th is iffy. Testing my fertility and new incubator.View attachment 2029118

Please do! I would love to hatch duck eggs, so would be excited to hear about your experience.

 

[hysop]

That's why I like hatching chicks or getting day old chicks. You get more of a relationship with them and they trust you a lot more. All of the ones I got last spring are amazing when I handle them. The only one I don't handle is the black jersey giant cockerel. He's so big that I doubt handling would be fun for either of us. I do hand feed him and he's very gentle.

The rooster who feels he must protect his flock is actually a Black Jersey Giant. I will definitely handle my chicks from day one and forever from now on.

 

[FortCluck]

Can I join in? I have 4 pekin eggs I set on 12th feb and should hatch 11th March. 3 are growing well. 4th is iffy. Testing my fertility and new incubator.View attachment 2029118

I have 34 duck eggs in the bator. They're Pekin and a couple other breeds. They're not my eggs, I'm incubating them for someone else, but I did ask today if I could keep 3

 

[FortCluck]

The rooster who feels he must protect his flock is actually a Black Jersey Giant. I will definitely handle my chicks from day one and forever from now on.

Mine I've had since day 1. His brother was awful. I couldn't get him to stop attacking us and being to aggressive to the ladies. I think sometimes it's just the chickens attitude to be difficult. I'm not afraid to re-home any cockerel that feels they need to challenge me. They're huge birds and the first time he kicked me, I thought he would stop eventually nope, he just got worse and worse.

Squatch is pretty good, but I'd never pick him up he's just way too big.

 

[hysop]

FOOD! I always bring treats with me to the coop so even the flighty ones are excited to see me. I keep their food in the run and not in the coop (they kept pooping in the feeders), so they are always hungry when I open the door in the morning. When they all come out to eat I take my time and talk softly to them while I refill their water, hand feed treats, and stroke the back of any bird that will tolerate it. I always try with the flighty ones, but it takes a lot of patience! One I think is a lost cause...a 2 year old Icelandic hen that I got from a HUGE pen of all kinds of fowl. They were all healthy, just not handled super regularly (probably only when necessary, which works for some people, but I like cuddly chickens). I think it helps that my dominant rooster is docile.

Thanks. I’ll start to bring tons of treats with me and talk softly to them. The rooster is my main focus, maybe if I win over the girls he’ll be more accepting. I’ve caught him almost like telling his girls “don’t you dare go up to her” when I enter the coop some of his hens will want to run to me but he’ll go after them and turn them around. Then once I throw feed or treats in the ground they come, but the rooster stands afar off and then comes closer to eat. Better that than him spurring me like he did once.

 

[ShannonsChimkens]

I don’t think I’ll ever buy chicks (online) after bonding with the ones we’ve hatched. Let’s not talk about the 6 we just got from the co-op lol they were a day old, maybe two and just wanted to ensure more pullets in the flock. I was just out with the teenagers putting them up for the night and they were like little babies following me everywhere I went. 14 weeks old and hopping up on my lap for hugs.

We have 40 in the brooder box, having a bit of a hard time getting them to bond as well as the smaller group. Any ideas when you have a million babies in a box?

 

[gmjarvi]

Thanks. I’ll start to bring tons of treats with me and talk softly to them. The rooster is my main focus, maybe if I win over the girls he’ll be more accepting. I’ve caught him almost like telling his girls “don’t you dare go up to her” when I enter the coop some of his hens will want to run to me but he’ll go after them and turn them around. Then once I throw feed or treats in the ground they come, but the rooster stands afar off and then comes closer to eat. Better that than him spurring me like he did once.

One of my girls really warmed up to me when I had to bring her inside for a bath. She got super special treatment. Warm bath, warm towel, tons of crickets, and she got to sleep inside the house.

It sounds like your rooster has made improvements even though he is still cautious! Good luck

 

[hysop]

Mine I've had since day 1. His brother was awful. I couldn't get him to stop attacking us and being to aggressive to the ladies. I think sometimes it's just the chickens attitude to be difficult. I'm not afraid to re-home any cockerel that feels they need to challenge me. They're huge birds and the first time he kicked me, I thought he would stop eventually nope, he just got worse and worse.

Squatch is pretty good, but I'd never pick him up he's just way too big.

Masala is my BJG. I got him from TSC as a chick but def a little older than newly hatched. But I never handled him, my mistake . He’s really good with his flock so I’m gonna try to get him to be friendly at least with me and then later with others.