i should clarify, if your birds are actively afraid of you and when you pick them up they visibly fight for a long time/see you as a predator not a member of the flock you’re doing something wrong, i have plenty of birds rhat don’t like being caught, but they will inevitably stop struggling or freaking out so i can handle them if there something wrong that i need to fix. for example, i have to catch all my birds once a week to give them protective Vaseline for the cold, and my leghorn hates being caught, but she calms down and lets me check her over before giving her back. my friends neighbors have chickens that they physically cannot pick up and go near or the chickens will freak and will scratch and peck and cause significant damage. they never really paid attention to their birds and never spent the time with them getting acclimated so their birds see them as predators not a safe person. if you can’t hold a bird without them screaming the whole time and your ENTIRE flock runs away from you, then you should try to spend more time with them so they stop, taking a bit to just sit and watch can make a big difference. and this is only if you have a small flock of birds, i wouldn’t expect this from a flock of over 20. i’m just bad at articulating my points lol, idk if you noticed but i have to do a clarification every few posts bc i don’t get it right the first time
EDIT: because i still didn’t get it right i cannot stress this enough your birds shouldn’t see you as a PREDETOR. that’s not the same as not liking to be touched. and this only applies to a WHOLE flock, not just a few
