why are they so scared of me

[Gypsy07]

Quote:
Yup, I totally agree with everything in this answer. I have a bunch of young pullets, all the same breed, from my own birds, hatched at the same time and all raised together. They all run over to me when they see me, cause I'm the official Treat Dispenser. One of them hops up and down and coos at me till I pick her up, one of them squawks and flaps if I even try to touch her, and the rest submit quietly if picked up but prefer to remain at arms length.

I would say though, all chicks are scared of just about everything when they're small. I've NEVER had three week old chicks that were friendly. Or four week old chicks. Or even five week old chicks. I think they need to get a bit of size about them before their confidence starts to develop. Once they're a couple of months old they're usually a bit less panicky. But again, some of them are just never that friendly...

 

[Ole rooster]

That's the thing I was thinking also. It most probably is the way you approach those little things. If you tower over them naturaly they will run. Big shadow. Somehow just get down on their level. My, that's way down there. One thing I always do is talk the all of um. Not the baby talk stuff, hoochy choochy talk, just normal talk they will hear all their life. Works for me.