Very disapointed with choice of chicken

[kayaker69]

I just started raising chickens. I checked all the breeds and fell in love with the Black Australorps. BUT in 10 weeks I have become extremely disapointed with them. I special ordered 5 pullets. When they arrived I was ready with a large box a new lawn mover came in. Plenty of space. I followed all the information about food, heat, water and bedding. They all seemed healthy. Other than transfering them to the brooder I did not attempt to handle them for the first 24 hours. I changed the bedding (sheets of news paper with sheets of paper towel on top) once a day. I changed their water twice a day. When ever I was near them I talked to them in a very quiet, comforting voice. I never moved my hands fast. I tried to be as slow and reassuring as possible and tried to hold them. They just freaked out. Our weather is warm here in NC so I moved them out to their new coop and run when they were 7 weeks. They are now 10 weeks. From the first time I tried to handle them till the present they are the most skitish chickens I've ever seen. Two of them will eat out of my hand after holding very still for almost a minute and then if I move so much as one finger slightly they freak out and run away. I wanted Black Australorps because every thing I read said they were very calm and easily handled. Other than the color, they are nothing like the information I've read and just the opposite. I wanted them for pets and eggs but I'm thinking now I just might eat them.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Pullets calm down when they start laying. If you give treats now and then and call or whistle while you do it they'll always come running to you when you call. At laying age if stand next to one and put your hand out they'll squat for you making picking them up supper easy. Hold them like a football.

Give it time, they really turn around in attitude once trained with calling and even more once laying.

 

[kayaker69]

I always give them treats. And when I do I bring them in the same bowl, call them the same way and I'm very slow and careful with my movements. They know they are getting treats and they will come to the door way but as soon as I open it (Very slow and talking quietly to them as I open it) they run away. I see pictures of people holding young chicks with them just sitting on their open hands. Since the day I got them they act like I am fire. My chicken run isn't big enough to stand up in so I lay down at the entrance. I have a nice sized fenced in yard and my plan was to clip one wing and have them in the run when no one is at home but able to roam the whole yard when I'm at home but now I'm getting more worried about doing. I no longer have food or water in the coop as the picture shows. Their run is aprox 12' x 4' .

 

[tina love]

Mine (both sets) Did when they were young . Now i have to fight to get in there run . . . I have one hen (due any day) with first egg, that will literally jump up like a dog to get the plate of treats!
be patient. they know who they can trust and who to shy away from . . .

 

[ChickenMammX4]

Try to be patient, chickens are skittish by nature and I think it takes awhile for them to over come that. Your chicks are only 10 weeks old, it will come.

Mine are around 16 weeks, they will eat from my hand but won't allow anyone to pick them up. When they were first moved to the big coop, they would sit on the edge of the poop board, which is chest height for me, and allow me to pet them. I would offer feed or treats from my hand. I always talked to them, slowly reaching my fingers to pet them. The main thing was...my hand was at their level, not reaching from above.

When I approach the run, I always say "Hi Henny Pennies" they come running to the run door answering me with a "bok bok bok" knowing I have treats. I usually bring fruit, fresh grass, scratch or sunflower seeds. They will eat from my hand, my one Black Sex Link, Hibisca, like to eat from the bowl. But, if I reach down to pet them, they scatter. Anything coming from above spooks them. In their little pea brains, that means predator.

 

[kayaker69]

Thanks every one. They must have read my post from yesterday saying "I might eat them" because today when I openned the door they wouldn't come near my hand full of treat. Because my run is so low, when I open the doorway I'm always laying on the ground and my hand with treat is just above the ground. I'll be patient because I really love having the chicks. People that know me, I'm 69, think it's bad when I tell them I've been hanging out with and watching
5 young chicks.

 

[snow5164]

It would be good if you just spent time sitting near them, let them come to you. I bring chick grit when I sit with mine and the don't get it any other time so it's a treat. I've not heard your not supposed to hold them for 24 hours? How did you check their vents for pasty butt??
Don't give up.......try meal worms as treats???

 

[kayaker69]

I do sit with them alot. It's not the only but is has been my main treat since they were about 7 weeks has been live and dried mealworms. I did check the vent of each bird as I took it out of the shipping box and placed it in the brooder. Then I checked their vents every other day for the first couple of weeks now I check them weekly. As for Grit, I have a small hanging feeder with just grit in it so they have it when they need it.

 

[aart]

Chickens are skittish, they don't really like to be touched...most of them anyway.
it's just the nature of a prey animal.
You've got to handle them ALOT right from the get go, like 2-3 times a day, even then some will want to be touched and some won't.

I always say, if you want something to cuddle get a dog.

 

[Anuthatch]

HI,

Please don't get discouraged. I understand what you mean about seeing all the picks of people and their kids handling their chicks and the chicks look so tame and friendly. I don't know their secret except they must handle them ALOT. I do KNOW chicks get less fearful as they age and it's very worth the wait. Look at my pic with my SS on my head.

You are doing all the right things and it will pay off.

I did a lot of the things you said when my girls were little and yet they were skittish. They got to an age about in that pic where they wanted to climb all over me and get petted. Then they got skittish again for no apparent reason and now at a little over a year they are like dogs. They run to the car when they see us pull in, one of them climbs in my husbands lap, they are underfoot in the garden "helping" me and all kinds of funny chicken stuff. Pets with benefits.

We have new babies this year and while they are again fearful, I did start to notice them getting excited when I come near their nursery. You might watch yours and listen to them. It's somewhat subtle until you catch on to chick talk. I always give them treats which for mine is just cut grass or a big weed ball with he dirt attached but they peep up a storm and look up at me - but don't try to pick them up because they scream!

I remind myself that they are food and mother nature tells them to be afraid even when we are nice to them. It's part of what makes chickens, chickens.

I have one hen who didn't get socialized as a youngster and she is still really terrified at a year old. Made me appreciate what hand raising does even if they don't cuddle.

Hang in there!