[Pullet]

... until your chooks get used to you?

Our bantams are 11 weeks old and we've had them just over a week. They've only just got used to going out into their run rather than staying in the hen house all the time. The house & run are under trees but they sometimes seem wary of the birds singing in the trees. They also run into the hen house if there's sudden revving from traffic on the road outside the house (garden is to the side of the house). They don't want to come near us as yet, even when we have food for them, and until they do we won't let them out of their run.

The buff rocks seem a bit more adventurous than the others. The wyandottes still seem very skittish and the brahma just plods on behind!

Is it just that they are still settling in, their age, or they're just not very friendly? Would picking them up help or just make the situation worse?

Thanks,

P.

[compostqueen]

Mine were used to me almost from the off so it might be cos they're bantams. Don't know like but someone on here will know and tell you for sure. Had mine for about three weeks and they come to me straight away. Mind you I suppose it's food related. I do talk to them a lot. Maybe that's the trick    Mine are nervous of wood pigeons flying overhead as they do flap so noisily. They don't seem nervous of much else mind you    Have you tried to get them to feed from your hand. I did this with a raisin each for a start and they do like mixed corn so try that.

[peggyprice]

Not that I've got much experience yet myself, but with my first four (which were a little bit older)  I kept them in the run for a few days; every afternoon I gave them corn and made a point of rattling the scoop and calling them as I did it.  Within 2 days they were recognising the sound as I came through the gate & crowded up to the netting for their treats, and now they are freeranging (3 weeks later) all I have to do to get them back into the run is rattle the scoop and they start following me like dogs (in fact, better trained than my dogs have ever been   ).  For what it's worth, the 2 hybrids were much quicker to catch on than the 2 breeds (one of which was a Wyandotte) but they all got there in pretty short order.

My two newbies are much younger, and they spend much more time in the house, and are still very skittish.  I made the mistake of letting them freerange before I'd trained them to the 'corn scoop' (to stop them being beaten up by one of the other birds) but I'm going to have to get them in order - I've just spent 20 minutes trying to get one of them back in the run, probably made her more nervous than ever and nearly broke my ankle into the bargain  :?

The best advice I was ever given was 'dogs learn by doing'; kids are the same and I figure much the same goes for chickens too - if they get used to you giving them food, handling them without hurting them, and generally just getting on with things around them they'll soon settle.  That's what I'm hoping anyway  

[jammy]

Its just a time and patience thing   plus they are still very young.  Keep enticing them with food and also when they go to bed and roost they will be calmer so each evening start by stroking each one until they get used to it and then move on to giving each one a cuddle.
I gave mine corn at the same time each afternoon and started by throwing it about an arms reach from me and then once they were used to that throwing it closer until it was at my feet, after that i kept it in my hand - their greediness will get the better of them I promise!  Now mine throw themselves at the run when they see me go to the shed where I keep it lol
 :roll:

[peggyprice]

Thought you'd like these ... three and a half weeks in and I think they're working out that if nothing else I'm good for food