pollenbird Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 Hello all, we're after some advice for our new chickens. We've had Squeak and Noodles now for about 10 days, and they're quite happily wandering around the garden, will come pretty close to see what we're doing and will eat from our hands. However, they don't like being stroked and if we try, they leg it. We're quite keen to be able to tame them enough that we can pick them up fairly easily (without having to chase them round the garden), but not sure whether the best thing to do is let them build up confidence around us over time and eventually be allowed to stroke and pick them up, or pick them up from the Eglu every day seeing as its probably the one place we can get hold of them fairly easily, and hope that they'll learn to like it... Any advice for this pair of newbies gratefully received!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted August 25, 2007 Share Posted August 25, 2007 Hi and welcome Pollenbird! Your chickens will become more friendly when they come into lay. They start to see you as their cockerel and as less of a threat! But you can help the process by feeding them, encouraging them to eat from your hand, also by handling them after they have gone to roost. They are more docile then. Whatever you do, it won't be too long before you can't walk down the garden without treading on one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arowland17 Posted August 26, 2007 Share Posted August 26, 2007 I was going to ask a related question to this - ours are getting a bit more used to being stroked since they have started laying, but still don;t really seem to enjoy it!! We were going to start picking them up from in the eglu when they are roosting but we always have a look and a little stroke but feel too guilty to disturb them by picking them up when they've gone to bed at night!! are we being too soft?!?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...