A hen that runs up to you and allows you to approach her and pick her up. A rooster that likes children and doesn't attack strangers. A chick that doesn't scream bloody murder when held by little children. It sounds fantastic; like a dream come true; like the perfect pet.
My friend, we'll call her Z, handled these three pullets along with her younger sister daily. Which is fine; I'm not here to spit on handling chicks daily. But Z handled them for hours. She watched movies with them, carried them around the house with her, took them out to her garden while her mom weeded so that they could get grass and worms. She also had them out by the tires of cars and out by her cats.
This unmindfulness around tools turned into a real issue for me when I was digging out the ground for my greenhouse. The number of times that her chickens ran over to look for worms was ridiculous. The worst part? They would look for them RIGHT where I was hoeing the ground. I darn near chopped their heads off a dozen times!
These birds have no sense of danger. I swear.
Before they were even 2.5 months old I was down to 2 chicks. The third one? Taken by a cat. And yes, she didn't even know what hit her until it was too late.
Fast forward to 3 weeks ago. I still have the remaining two BO hens. At this point in their lives, they regularly get into trouble. Every morning they fly the coop to be outside with people. Every morning they are on our front doorstep. Every. Morning. They go under the car, behind the wheels as we are trying to leave. I, at least, strongly believe this is because they were raised around cars. The driveway where they were raised was backed right up to a busy street so they also had no qualms about moving cars. Or the streets. One of the hens would cross the 55mph highway in front of our house.
2.5 weeks ago the wisest (which wasn't much) of the two gets taken by a fox. I wasn't awake when this happened but according to my parents' account, the fox was running in plain view and the hen he took didn't really seem to know that she was in trouble. She stood there, a sitting duck and didn't panic until the fox already had her.
Yesterday the fox returned and took the remaining BO hen. Out of 17 hens to choose from.
I have only had 3 predator attacks in the last 2 years and each time the victim was one of these oblivious Buff Orpingtons. Out of 18 available birds to choose from over 2 years to me, this speaks volumes.
They grow up to be so unaware of what a predator is that they let one approach them. They have no sense of self preservation.
In short, that bird becomes a sitting duck for the reaper. What's worse is that if you have a few like this they endanger the rest of your flock.
Thanks to these chickens I now have a fox problem that for 5 YEARS I didn't have. I have NEVER lost one of my own hens to a wild predator. Never. I had my own dog attack mine twice but that was purely my fault, not the chickens.
2 years. 19 hens. 3 predator attacks. All of them on the BO. And I have two disabled chickens in that flock.
Please consider the consequences of conditioning a chicken to be incredibly friendly.
But for the love of chickens don't do it.
And here's why you shouldn't.
And here's why you shouldn't.
Introduction
While an incredibly friendly chicken sounds fantastic, there are drawbacks. I used to house three Buff Orpingtons for my friend who lived in the city. We both knew she couldn't keep chickens where she lives but she and I both wanted her to have some so I let her buy three pullets (which was supposed to be two, but I digress) and she raised them for 6 weeks before I took them in at my place to live with my pullets who were only a month older.My friend, we'll call her Z, handled these three pullets along with her younger sister daily. Which is fine; I'm not here to spit on handling chicks daily. But Z handled them for hours. She watched movies with them, carried them around the house with her, took them out to her garden while her mom weeded so that they could get grass and worms. She also had them out by the tires of cars and out by her cats.
A danger to themselves
Like I said above, Z would take these chicks out to eat worms while her mom gardened. Her mom would invite them over to eat the worms out of her hand. The chicks would also come over while tools such as hoes were being used.This unmindfulness around tools turned into a real issue for me when I was digging out the ground for my greenhouse. The number of times that her chickens ran over to look for worms was ridiculous. The worst part? They would look for them RIGHT where I was hoeing the ground. I darn near chopped their heads off a dozen times!
These birds have no sense of danger. I swear.
What's a predator?
Another problem with these chicks is that they had ZERO predator sense. Being raised in a neighborhood full of barking dogs and being allowed to roam right in front of house cats, these chicks didn't recognize a predator at all. My own indoor/outdoor cat could walk right up to them outside and the chicks couldn't care less.Before they were even 2.5 months old I was down to 2 chicks. The third one? Taken by a cat. And yes, she didn't even know what hit her until it was too late.
Fast forward to 3 weeks ago. I still have the remaining two BO hens. At this point in their lives, they regularly get into trouble. Every morning they fly the coop to be outside with people. Every morning they are on our front doorstep. Every. Morning. They go under the car, behind the wheels as we are trying to leave. I, at least, strongly believe this is because they were raised around cars. The driveway where they were raised was backed right up to a busy street so they also had no qualms about moving cars. Or the streets. One of the hens would cross the 55mph highway in front of our house.
2.5 weeks ago the wisest (which wasn't much) of the two gets taken by a fox. I wasn't awake when this happened but according to my parents' account, the fox was running in plain view and the hen he took didn't really seem to know that she was in trouble. She stood there, a sitting duck and didn't panic until the fox already had her.
Yesterday the fox returned and took the remaining BO hen. Out of 17 hens to choose from.
I have only had 3 predator attacks in the last 2 years and each time the victim was one of these oblivious Buff Orpingtons. Out of 18 available birds to choose from over 2 years to me, this speaks volumes.
The point?
When you raise a chicken to be so incredibly friendly that they can be approached by anyone or anything, they like to approach everyone, and they are raised around cats and dogs you are putting that bird in danger.
They grow up to be so unaware of what a predator is that they let one approach them. They have no sense of self preservation.
In short, that bird becomes a sitting duck for the reaper. What's worse is that if you have a few like this they endanger the rest of your flock.
Thanks to these chickens I now have a fox problem that for 5 YEARS I didn't have. I have NEVER lost one of my own hens to a wild predator. Never. I had my own dog attack mine twice but that was purely my fault, not the chickens.
2 years. 19 hens. 3 predator attacks. All of them on the BO. And I have two disabled chickens in that flock.
Please consider the consequences of conditioning a chicken to be incredibly friendly.
