We got some four week old Lavender Orpingtons

[Judykaymayes]

We got Lavender Orpingtons and they are so scared of us ,is this normal if they werent handled or around people.
Can I expect them to calm down and gentle if we’re around them a lot?

 

[sourland]

How long have you had them? Chickens hate change and take a while to adjust to new owners and a new environment. Feed is generally the best equalizer.

 

[Pukkits]

Any chicken not around people a lot will need to be gentled. The good news is orpingtons are usually willing to be friendly.

We got six, day-old lavender orpingtons in February. They were fairly normal in skittishness as peeps, but as they aged they got very skittish. They were supposed to be pullets, but it became obvious they were straight run. We noticed the roos were herding the girls away from us. We separated the roos, and with some treats I had both groups friendly in less than two weeks. It was particularly useful rehoming the roosters when a prospective owner was able to hand feed treats to the biggest boy.

Treats, soft words and time. It can take a while for chickens not used to people to acclimate to human movement/sounds.

This is Violet. She's six months now and every night when I secure the hens into their inner enclosure, she bounds out of the house into the dusk to see if I have anything for her, and happily squats for gentle pets.