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

[Lapinou]

Princess Aurora spent a day or two trying out pecking us and pecked DD1 a few times - she got hardy though and quickly learnt that, although it hurts, it doesn't hurt for long. Princess Aurora learnt it wasn't a way of getting food quickly and doesn't do it any more.

 

Now it's Wendy's turn to have a go except she's done something that's really upset me...she pecked at my DD3's eye

 

Thankfully the blinking reflex is pretty incredible and she only got her eyelid, but I'm now terrified of letting the chooks out at the same time as DD3 - she's just the wrong height. I'm not bothered about pecking in general - I think it's quite healthy for the children to not be frightened of a nip that won't do any harm, but a peck in the eye is something quite different

 

DD3 doesn't appear to have developed a fear of the chooks, and I know we just have to wait until Wendy 'grows out' of pecking, but I'm just letting of steam, I think.

[SAB]

My son (who is well beyond toddlerhood) nearly sustained a similar fate today when peeking through the slit at side of nesting box and Daphne (aka "Pecky bird") happened to be on the other side - she was able to aim her beak through the slot and he was lucky not to have an injured eye.

[Egluntyne]

They tend to go for anything shiny, and a toddlers eye is both shiny and at the perfect height.

 

Poor little girl. I hope she is OK.

[Abbey Road Girl]

Once again, Egluntine has the answer. One of mine went for the buttons on my shirt cuff which was at an easily peckable level. No harm done, of course.

 

I guess that a child's eye being actually pecked would fall into the category of possible but probably extremely rare.

 

I find it interesting that the more I hand feed my hens, the more careful they are of my fingers.

[Ziggy]

DD4 is also of the wrong height at the moment, and she adores the chooks, goes out there with treats for them and distributes the treats to them, with the four of them swamping her...

Might seem a bit extreme, but if you're worried about her eyes, how about encouraging the little one to put some kids sunglasses on while the chooks are on the loose? Not sure how much your chooks freerange, so it might not be a feasable option...

When my hens were pecking at me when I would open their door, I used to gently put my hands on top of the guilty hen and push down very gently... not sure if that's true, but I read somewhere that tells them you're above them in the pecking order... not sure at all if that's just nonsense, but it seemed to work... I kept them down like that for a few seconds, talking firmly to them, and they would then stop pecking... took a few goes, but they quickly got pecking free... they never were very aggressive peckers to start with...

[Jules.]

Ethan went out one time in the garden last year dressed only in a tshirt.......he got pecked too, but not in his eye

[stoice]

*sprays computer screen with tea*

 

Ouch, just realised where you meant.