Chook Me!

What is the best way to tame silkie chicks?

They seem to be handling me sitting beside the in-closer just fine, but of course they don't like my hand too much. They don't run away from my hand when i place it in the pen unless i get a couple inches from one of them and then they back away. It seems to me that they are taming down but how long did it take everyone else who started out with silkie chicks to get them tame? And any suggestions on how to do it nicely and sweetly.

Public Comments

1. You can train any breed of chicken to be tame. I raised show chickens and taught them to be handled by all. Of course you can tame them. Just start early in their life and make other people pick them up. If the peck you just say "OUCH! and NO!". They'll get the message. Hope I helped Jordan :D
2. That's about all attention your going to get from a chicken. I've tried many time to make my chickens like me BUT all you can do is give them treats. Go to the pet store and buy some crickets or meal worms and when they see you they will think you have a treat for them so they will follow you waiting for a treat. Usually when i go into our goat pen that we also have our chickens in, there is a chunk of wood that always has crickets under it during the summer and my chickens see that im coming they follow me all around the cage and look at me waiting to turn stuff over for them to get the bugs under it. because they are small i WOULD NOT feed them outside crickets until they get OLDER and have been eating bugs for a long time. Reasoning--is because outside crickets carry lots of nasty bacteria that can actually make your chickens sick.
3. Since this breed is very docile and friendly, it's easy to make them become tame. You have to start from an early age and the age of your chicks is a suitable age to start. Well, you should hold and stroke the chicks each day and when they are used to you, you can allow family and friends to hold them so they become friendly birds who will greet everyone. When they let you hold them and are being nice, feed them chick seed whilst they are on your lap. They will learn that they get praised when someone hold them. If they peck you instantly shout NO and they will learn that they get punished when they nip. This method is effective as it worked for my aunty's chickens :).
4. The Silkie as a breed is usually a docile and friendly breed that easily becomes tame. In my experience, the best way to be with chicks is to spend time with them each day, picking them up and stroking them gently. Do not let them have a bad experience with you (stepping on them, holding them too tight, dropping them) because they will remember and it will be much harder to tame them after that. Let them know that you mean no harm by moving slowly (especially when you stand up, or go to pick one up). Try not to corner them, because then they will feel that you are a predator. When I hatched out chicks, I hatched them under a hen, not an incubator, and they became easily tamed as chicks. But as they got older, they started to fear me more, and were running in all directions. I selected the ones that I wanted to keep for showing and breeding purposes, and one of them I named Eccles who was a very tall and handsome young Orpington male, but afraid of everything. I spend hours each day taming him, training him to come to hand, and well, he now is the most tame and placid chicken on earth! If he doesn't want me to pick me up, he just walks away from me, never running. I can even pick him up and put him on his back and stroke him, he doesn't mind it at all. Any chicken can become tame, you just have to sacrifice a lot of time! Zarago.