Baby Chicks- How we bond with and socialize them

Lil fluffy butts Eating out of my hand

I sometimes hear people say that this or that hen or rooster is not friendly and may peck at you so don’t get to close to it. I can tell you that my grandson has been around our chickens almost from the minute he was born. They are all friendly, yes some more than others, but I have never feared that one would hurt him. Sure, they peck and scratch me accidentally from time to time. And in the spring and summer they are attracted to my freckles and toenail polish, but for the most part they are all pretty gentle. We have some that really don’t like being held much and some that do. I guess you could say they are like people, each has their own temperament and personality. The key to having loving,friendly chickens is being loving, friendly people! We talk to our chickies from the moment we pick them out at the store or from the moment they hatch. They get used to the sound of our voices. As day or two olds we generally don’t pick them up except to make sure we clean dirty bottoms(pasty butt) and to make sure we dip their beaks to make sure all are drinking. It is enough trauma just being born and/or moved to a new home!
What we do is very simple. We place our hands in and let them peck around on them, climb up on, perch on fingers etc. They will crawl up into our hands and after a day or two we will pick them up,usually a couple at the time so it’s not as frightening, and talk to them and stroke their feathers. We will also place food in the palm of our hands and the will peck all over them! They associate us literally as the hand that feeds them. 🙂 They know as they grow up they are safe with us and we will not harm them. As they grow we continue to offer our hands to them along with treats of meal worms and various other fruits and veggies which they love. Beware though, as they get bigger those little beaks can really peck when they are after food!

Few days old

Feeding Frenzy
2 Weeks old