Wild, crazy chicks

[debducttape]

I have about 9 mixed bag of chicks. This is my second batch ever, and it seems there are 2 "bad eggs". They are both supposedly BO pullets and are about a week and a half old. My problem with them is that they are constantly alarmed, and alarming all of the others. If the reach my hand in, they panic, and bash into the walls of the cage and the other chickens and cheep the "run for your life" noise. I tried taking them out to play with them, but I am not sure if it is doing more harm than good. It seems that they keep all of the others upset, and they seem to be getting wilder too. Any suggestions?

 

[CMV]

Time and treats. Lots of treats. Get them used to your hands approaching them by always having them filled with food.

I have a group of ducks like that. I swear they were dropped on their heads in the mail. They never settled down and are still flighty idiots to this day. I can't approach them, can't work with them, have no control over them whatsoever; in fact, if they didn't lay so well and do bug patrol so thoroughly I would have put them in the pot long before now. I coddle my chicken flock, but my waterfowl flock gets set free every morning, locked up every night, fed, and that is the extent of my involvement with them. They do their own thing. Every time I need to actually work with them it is a nightmare of chasing them down with a net or cornering them in the house before they get set loose.

Good luck. I hope yours settle down soon.

 

[ninabeast]

I despaired of ever getting my (first) chicks to like me. I tried all the treats people recommend, but they wouldn't recognise any of them as food. Then, three days ago, I gave them mealworms.

I am now Tippi Hedren.

Once you become She Who Brings Treats, your problem will be having them fly in your face when you open the brooder. That's my experience, anyway.

And three of my friendliest, most outgoing chicks are the BOs. Keep us posted!

 

[ninabeast]

Also, I interact with mine several times a day, but I decided early on that I would never pick them up (except for things like poopy butt patrol), because I didn't want them to fear me. So, I have rubbed their tummies when they were calm and would allow it, and talked to them, but that's it. This has been very hard on my two little girls.

But we're seeing it pay off now (they are two weeks old today). There are three of the twelve that always huddle to the back of the brooder when I clean, but I think there will always be some of a shyer disposition. The others? I can hardly clean the brooder now for them climbing all over my hands, and three of them do NOT want playtime to end, and climb up my arm in attempt to stay out a little longer. I also have a couple that jump up in my lap now. I may be deludeing myself, but I'm pretty sure the boldest three are competing for my attention.

Hang in there. It'll happen, I bet.

 

[Clairabelle]

My five 3 week old chicks also fly around like crazy when I enter the room, like they think I'm coming to put them in the pot, little do they know yet that they will be coddled for life! So I stand around with my arm in the cage when I don't have much else to do! Sometimes with a cup of coffee in the other hand if I'm going in for a while. I also put the chick food in my hand for them to peck at, although they will peck at my hand regardless, they seem to want to try to eat diamonds, little magpies! I will be trying some of the more yummy treats very soon. What age do you normally start feeding treats and should I be giving them some ground oyster shell in their starter as grit to digest the new tread (I'm thinking about starting with some worms from my worm composting bin), what do you think?

 

[ninabeast]

My girls had no idea what to do with worms, but they were younger. My understanding is that they don't need oyster shells until they're laying. Just give them a small bowl of sand, or parakeet grit, but not the high calcium kind. I've read that too much calcium is bad for chicks.