A hen and her four chicks showed up in my backyard earlier this week, and shows no signs of moving on. I would like to keep them, as my sister and I have been discussing getting chickens on and off for a year or so, but I am concerned they will never be comfortable around humans. Any thoughts?
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Michelle, if you start by giving them a special type of treat tossing it to them, then moving the the 'landing spot' closer to you as you squat or sit down, they will get closer and closer to you. You may be able to get them to move into a shelter, which you keep open initially so they know they can come and go, putting their food and water in there. Just some thoughts. I agree with Winston, you wish has been answered :-)
Sounds like the universe granted your wish! :) How serendipitous. I am sure they will become more tame as you feed and care for them. Good luck. And how cool!!!
- NO over their head movements-boy do they hate that (mimics the action of chicken hawks going over their head, birds of prey attacks.) -Provide healthy food: lettuce, oats, uncooked clean vegetables, blueberries (our girls go bonkers over them), hamburger. (because you have chicks...put everything thru a food processor-make it small), Tempe Feed has excellent prices on healthy chick scratch with the perfect blend of protein. Don't be surprised if they don't like the food at first. They are not ones to try new things. Meal worms (fishing dept at WalMart has cheap live worms-keep in frig) they are not really big-size & our girls loved them from when they were about 3 weeks through today. -Provide LOTS of shallow CLEAN water sources. (according to other experts here, chicks can drown easily) we used dog kennel or rabbit cage water feeders that look like a liter bottle with a metal spout pointing downward. We pecked the ball at the end of the spout so the girls coulds see water come out. -If they see you move slowly with the food putting in it a safe place for them, they may start putting 2 & 2 together. The mother is the one that guides the behavior of the chicks for now. (learned that from somebody else on here) She will be ultra protective. Try enticing her with some meal worms tossed a few feet away from you with you sitting in a chair watching. Wild bird seed is another favorite or our girls. -Provide a temporary coup structure that provides some protection from weather with straw or pine chips. Put some food & water near this. (We used fence block, hardware cloth fence & a 4x4 plywood for the lid. Adding more block allowed for expansion until the girls were big enough, we built a much bigger structure from 2x4s, cheap bamboo fencing, and a tarp for the roof) -Use a soft voice around them. No sudden moves or guestures. -Consider adding clover to an area....THEY LOVE CLOVER! Grows easily & is super yummy. GOOD LUCK!! We love our girls---we didn't know it would be this great!
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Some things we have learned from our "girls".
- NO over their head movements-boy do they hate that (mimics the action of chicken hawks going over their head, birds of prey attacks.)
-Provide healthy food: lettuce, oats, uncooked clean vegetables, blueberries (our girls go bonkers over them), hamburger. (because you have chicks...put everything thru a food processor-make it small), Tempe Feed has excellent prices on healthy chick scratch with the perfect blend of protein. Don't be surprised if they don't like the food at first. They are not ones to try new things. Meal worms (fishing dept at WalMart has cheap live worms-keep in frig) they are not really big-size & our girls loved them from when they were about 3 weeks through today.
-Provide LOTS of shallow CLEAN water sources. (according to other experts here, chicks can drown easily) we used dog kennel or rabbit cage water feeders that look like a liter bottle with a metal spout pointing downward. We pecked the ball at the end of the spout so the girls coulds see water come out.
-If they see you move slowly with the food putting in it a safe place for them, they may start putting 2 & 2 together. The mother is the one that guides the behavior of the chicks for now. (learned that from somebody else on here) She will be ultra protective. Try enticing her with some meal worms tossed a few feet away from you with you sitting in a chair watching. Wild bird seed is another favorite or our girls.
-Provide a temporary coup structure that provides some protection from weather with straw or pine chips. Put some food & water near this. (We used fence block, hardware cloth fence & a 4x4 plywood for the lid. Adding more block allowed for expansion until the girls were big enough, we built a much bigger structure from 2x4s, cheap bamboo fencing, and a tarp for the roof)
-Use a soft voice around them. No sudden moves or guestures.
-Consider adding clover to an area....THEY LOVE CLOVER! Grows easily & is super yummy.
GOOD LUCK!! We love our girls---we didn't know it would be this great!
I don't quite understand what you mean by "comfortable around humans"
Do you think someone dumped them there? Have you checked with your neighbors?
Yes we've checked. They don't belong to anyone in our area.
In terms of comfort, they run in terror whenever they see a person. I can't get anywhere near them.