[AmandaH]

Hello again everyone.  Some more advice, please.  My ex-bats are settling down into their new home but are, understandably, very nervous and, when I go anywhere near them, three out of the four all scuttle into a corner and try to hide behind each other.  Now I don't want to traumatise them any further but, on the other hand, I am wondering whether it is better to try to pick them up and give them a cuddle so that they get the message that I am not going to hurt them and so they get used to me handling them (and so I get used to handling them).  I've tried tempting them with food but they're not confident enough to come near me.  As usual, I'm warbling on but the bottom line is - should I wait for them to come to me, in time, or should I get in there and be kind but firm?

Also - last question, I promise! - when I open their little house in the mornings, one shoots out straight away, two faff about for a while and then emerge but the other one always needs me to go in and fish her out.  Should I be getting her out (I thought she needed to know that she can come out and have some breakfast and get her into a routine) or should I leave her to her own devices?

Many thanks for all your help... A x

[dizzylizzie]

hi, hope you are ok . its understandable that your girls are nervous...i dont know what your day is like, i.e how busy you are, but we have been lucky that we have been able to sit in the run with our girls. i think they have just got used to hearing our voices and seeing us there. yesterday when andy got home from work , he took his cuppa and his paper in there. i was chatting to sarah on the phone, went to ask him a question and found him asleep with a chicken on his knee ....then this moning jess was asleep in the run beside willow! in all fairness jess has been a star, she's been getting up with me to see to willow and she has been getting up at 6 every morning to let them out. most teenagers dont realise there are two 6oclocks in one day! he he he. i think they will get used to you over time, especially if you come armed with corn. the more they hear your voice, and see you, the more they will get used to you
also, i was chucking mine out on a morning, but yesterday for the first day they were lined up waiting to come out, then they all walked down the ramp in single file...it was fab

[AmandaH]

Hello dizzylizzie and thank you for your advice.  Sadly, our run is a low one and there is not enough room to sit in there with them.  But I am out in the garden all the time, either with my daughter or putting out washing or just going out to say "Hello" to the chooks.  I could sit and watch them for ages...

I think they just need time to adjust, poor things.  If most of the people they have ever know have just wanted to shut them in a small cage or hold them upside down by the legs, I'd think I'd be a bit wary too!  But I am just not sure whether I should be hands-off with them or get in there and pick them up for a cuddle!

How long have you had your chooks?

 

[AmandaH]

Just read one of your other posts dizzylizzie - you've only just got yours too!  I thought I'd read that somewhere but you sounded so confident that I thought you MUST have had them longer...

[too many girls]

i would leave the cuddles untill they're more used to you, when i got mine last year they were neurotic, every time i opened the door they'd flutter and fly up the walls, now they hang around the back door, get under my feet, and i have to run the gaunlet to my car as they race after me hoping for treats

[dizzylizzie]

confident... me ? HA HA HA HA HA....poor sarah will tell you otherwise....i have had her on speed dial since they came home on saturday!.... i have no idea what im doing and im really sorry if i gave you that impression hun.  . i have never kept chickens before... i did a lot of reading but there is nothing like being owned by chickens to put you on the steepest learning curve of your life lol!   i was just trying to tell you what we do with ours, they are gonna be nervous, but it will settle hun, dont worry. you will be putting a post on here in a years time about being mugged by chickens every time you peg your washing out! take care hun x

[AmandaH]

That's what I want TMG - them under my feet all the time!  Guess I'll regret saying that...  

And thanks dizzylizzy - your words made me feel so much better.  I bought loads of books and read so much about chickens that I think it's leaking out my ears but that still doesn't prepare you for them actually being here!  They do seem to be settling a bit but it's a big upheaval for them - all this fresh air and daylight - scary stuff...

[oddpaws]

Hi Amanda,

Im far far far from an expert but I would guess they have had a fairly traumatised life so far and werent even aware that there was an outside in their world, let alone people who would want to cuddle them. Give them time I guess. They will settle down and work it out. It still makes me laugh like a drain when they do that funny full pelt run towards you when they think you have some trets fro them.

Well done for taking the big step and with ex bats too! Full credit

[AmandaH]

Hello oddpaws.  Oh, I had to have ex-bats - I thought they'd be as clueless as I am.  I was a bit scared of chooks from anywhere else - thought they might spot me as a bumbling amateur from the start and demand to go back!  Seriously, if I'd wanted another cat or a dog, I'd got a rescue one so I thought - why not the chickens?

The sun is shining here at the moment and, although one chook has her face stuck in the feeder (there's always one with her face in the feeder - I'm a bit worried that it's always the same one and we're going to end up with something akin to a feathered football rolling around the run), the other three are laying around in the sun, catching some rays - and that makes me feel really happy!  

[Flowerpower136]

Got ours last Saturday too. 

They are definately getting tamer, and crowding round anyone who takes food in.

Me being in the pen doesn't scare them (I have my own perch), they still carry on regardless, are quite inquesitive coming and up and looking at me, but not very happy at being touched.  I can stroke them, and they don't flap or panic, but will move away.

The only picking up we've done so far was to lift up those that got shut out by the auto pop hole thingy (not happening anymore, they are get to bed in time now), and the other day, putting on their leg rings.  Some didn't really mind too much, but Pearl was furious..... kick, kick, kick!

Am waiting a bit longer, and then will try tempting them to hand feed.  I think that might be the way to a chickens heart!

[AmandaH]

Hi flowerpot.  I tried to hand feed mine some sweetcorn today.  Totally blanked me    Am trying not to feel rejected!

[too many girls]

try mealworms, but be prepared to lose your hand as well

oddpaws, what's laugh like a drain?

[grumpydad]

could try cutting a tomato in half, ours loved the seeds.
mealworms, dried or live, grapes are a real hit, and of course strawberries.
we use mealworms to get them in at night, shake the tin and see them run, lol, then they can have just a few.
when ours were ill, they even had a bit of cottage cheese, and my OH got out a tin of salmon !!!!! now thats spoiling them.

martyn

[oddpaws]

TMG,
Errr laugh like a drain means laugh until you sound like a drain I guess
Do you know I actually have no idea