[ness]

Hi
I have a Hen and 3 chicks (2 girls and 1 boy approx 6 weeks old) all light sussex bantams. My daughter and I are making a concerted effort to tame the chicks (having lost the friendliest older chick to an abcess   ) but I was shocked to feel how scrawny they feel under their plummage when I picked them up.  They have a constant supply of chick crumbs/ grower pellets, corn in the afternoon and a few treats to bribe them to like us!  Is this normal? Do I need to provide anything else to give them a bit of extra covering for winter?  Plus any tips on taming chicks would be great.
Ness
Ps wish I could describe myself as scrawny unfortunately am more on the rotund side!

[Bodger]

Rotund is good

It depends on the breed of chicken and the stage that they are at.

Some breeds of chickens never carry a lot of weight and at some stages chicks are putting their efforts into gowing their frame or feathers rather than putting on weight.

Chicks will let you know if they are getting hungry.

[babe]

hi ness,

try mealworms for taming, they love them.

you can usually get them anywhere that sells wild bird food.

also im not sure if its an old wives tale, but wearing bright red is meant to help. but dont ask me why or where i heard it. but apparently if you put food on a red tray and on any other colour they will always go to the red.

maybe i should actually try it myself.

sorry now im just waffling on  :oops:

[muntjac]

they will fatten out when they come  to sixteen weeks or so ,protien from worms etc will help .make sure they get plenty of feed all day and water  

[chicksforkicks]

at six weeks old the chicks are probably at the most ugliest stage that there going to be at in there life, except when there old. like muntjac said they will fatten up around 15-16 weeks depending on the type of chicken.

as for taming, sit them on your lap, give them treats(grass, mealworms, etc.) and let them eat it out your hand. do that once a day, and theyll be nice.