Will they let me hold them?

[Mag]

Hi> I'm real new at this and am wondering if I can expect our 8 newly acquired chickens (1 rooster and 7 hens, all at least 1 year old) to let me hold them without protest? We have had them for 2 weeks and I am completely smitten.

 

[Marlinchaser]

It will probably depend on what previos owner did with them, if they had almost no contact other than being feed, chances are they will not want to be held, but if previos owner held them, than they could be receptive to being held. I would bribe them with treats, and see how they react.

 

[Marlinchaser]

forgot to add

 

[Mag]

Thank you. They were well loved but probably not handled too much. They do love treats and come running when I go out to them so I guess that's a start.

 

[schmije]

Can you pet them? We've learned with our girls that they often don't like to be touched by a hand coming down from above them. The sky is falling! But if we put our hand out in front of their chest, it's like they don't know where to run if they can't move forward. Whether you can touch them will depend a lot on how much they were handled by the previous owners, but some should be more open to it than others. In our flock of 10, we have a couple that are difficult to catch, and several who walk right up to us and are easily held - especially if we have a treat for them.

You'll never know unless you try!

 

[debilorrah]

I don't know about them not having anywhere to go if your hand is in front of them. When we went to get our chickens, it was total comedy! Those things were flappng everywhere. And we were patient and not running around alot or anything. Took us an hour to catch 7!