4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Cloud9]

As some of you may know we lost one of our hens just over a week ago and bought two youngsters. They are very tame and you only have to brush past them and they crouch down I have a little boy who has just turned two. I have been out tonight and when I got home my hubby said "you'll never guess what Mason brought me tonight?" I was a bit concerned because the last time he said that it was a handful of dog poo LOL. Anyway, it was one of the youngsters and he was cuddling her like his cuddly toy.

 

I'm so pleased he isn't afraid of them as I had a bird phobia but am very proud to say that I can now pick up all of our chickens

 

PS Are chickens ever aggressive? I only ask because I picked one up today and she seemed to cock her head at an angle and look at me from the corner of her eye. Either that or the phobia is making me paranoid.

 

Ali

[nursechick]

Our 2 girls are not aggressive but do peck really hard. When it was hot last week they saw my legs out of trousers and wellies for the first time and it was open season on visable flesh!I had also got a BIG blister on my heal and Ivy has twice scored a direct hit making it bleed

[Cloud9]

Ouch!!! Poor you. I am wondering if they saw their own reflection in my glasses perhaps?

 

Ali

[frenchlayer]

How sweet. Just make sure your son keeps his eyes away from the chickens. My son who is 5 was absolutely obsessed with the chickens and wanted to sit in the run with them. Which was really sweet but they jumped on him (as they do!) and pecked him just below his eye. He was really upset and scared of them for several weeks. It's probably something we do without thinking keeping our face out of the way, but he didn't . He will now feed them through the wire and has picked them up again so he is getting better.

 

Because he is 5, I could reason with him a bit and say they didn't do it on purpose. I showed him how they peck everything, just to check whether it is food or not.

[Snowy]

They do like to try pecking things when they are young - especially things that catch their eye like rings or red painted toenails They do tend to grow out of it though! It is worth remembering to keep your eyes out of the way though, not only from inquisitive beaks, but if they flap the cut ends of their clipped wing can really scratch! My boys have both learnt to keep them away from faces