Why is my chicken crouching when i come?

[tiho_prskalo]

get a labrador or something

they'll love ya

 

[topochico225]

Believe me, I get where you're coming from. I REALLY want my chickens to be lap chickens- I've handled them gently since day 1, and they just aren't interested in being super tame. I have one Rhode Island Red and two Cinnamon Queens, and only one of the CQs is remotely interested in being held. Even then, she doesn't like to be held for more than 5 minutes at a time. Some chickens just are too skittish. I feel for you, and I wish chickens were friendlier, but they are prey animals.

 

[tiho_prskalo]

Some chickens can be tamed. Others cannot.

For thousands of years of domestication, they have been bred as livestock, not pets, with the focus on producing meat and eggs, not on cuddling with humans.

Our most common cuddle-pets, cats and dogs, are PREDATORS, not PREY.

A predator can be more comfortable being handled because in the back of it's mind in the deepest level of instinct it knows that if you hurt it it can hurt you back -- or kill you and eat you.

A prey animal's instincts are completely different. They do not fight. They run and hide. To be caught and held is to die. You can't change their nature.

I do not have hundreds of chickens' worth of experience that some people do. I have had 24, in two different flocks. Of those 24 chickens only 2 liked to be picked up and petted and one more didn't mind -- until he matured, at which point I judged that a rooster should not be a cuddle-toy and was content that he respected me and didn't become aggressive when I handed his hens.

One of the ones who actually liked to be picked up was a cockerel who went to freezer camp at 4 months old.

The other was a hen who remained tame and friendly until she first went broody. She was a fierce and determined broody who, lacking fear of humans, bit HARD in defense of her eggs. After she was no longer broody she was also no longer interested in being handled.

You cannot realistically expect a chicken to be a feathered dog.

Instead of focusing on wanting to hold them and pet them, try learning to enjoy them for what they actually are as chickens.

I think it can! Just sit and give them treats that they don't expect then pick them up and they are friendly! Imagine if your chicken can't be tamed then what you would do with them? Cry?

 

[OmnipotentOrpington]

I think it can! Just sit and give them treats that they don't expect then pick them up and they are friendly! Imagine if your chicken can't be tamed then what you would do with them? Cry?

Well, chickens are bred for eggs and meat, not for pets. I don't expect them to be friendly, nor am I upset if they aren't.

 

[Manhen]

Hi, whenever i come next day and i come so near to my chickens, they crouch. And yes we don't have rooster. I just wonder why.

They wish to mate with you.

 

[OmnipotentOrpington]

They wish to mate with you.

I'd recommend reading through the whole thread before answering that question.

 

[tiho_prskalo]

Believe me, I get where you're coming from. I REALLY want my chickens to be lap chickens- I've handled them gently since day 1, and they just aren't interested in being super tame. I have one Rhode Island Red and two Cinnamon Queens, and only one of the CQs is remotely interested in being held. Even then, she doesn't like to be held for more than 5 minutes at a time. Some chickens just are too skittish. I feel for you, and I wish chickens were friendlier, but they are prey animals.

You are the no #1 best exactly the comment! I saw on YouTube how did they got tamed the chickens.

 

[tiho_prskalo]

They wish to mate with you.

What do you mean by "mate" plus mostly they said that i am leader because the chicken crouched

 

[topochico225]

You are the no #1 best exactly the comment! I saw on YouTube how did they got tamed the chickens.

Chickens are also (somewhat) like people. Some aren't thrilled by affection/physical contact, and some LOVE it. You may have a chicken in a flock that is a human magnet- they want to be held and cuddled- and at the same time have another chicken that reacts violently to being held. Part of the beauty of chickens is that they are independent, unique, weird little creatures, just like people. No chicken will react exactly the same to something (e.g. taming) as another chicken, even if there is media that "proves" that they will. If every chicken was the same level of cuddliness, then people would be asking about making their chicken less cuddly. Trying to change a chicken's ingrained prey reaction is like trying to get a leopard to change its spots. It just won't work. Believe you me, I've tried sitting quietly with my chickens, giving them treats, etc. and only one of them has really responded- the one who has been cuddly from the very beginning. All hens will crouch. Mine still do, even the tamer one! It's just how those little bird brains work

I wish you luck with your flock!

{edited for clarity }

 

[PepsiCatt]

The dominant animal or the leader! Usually the rooster is the alpha because he can protect the hens, but since we don't have one, they probably consider me to be the leader!

im the alpha, with floppy behind