How to Earn Your Chicken's Trust

Start gaining your chickens trust at a young age. By being kind and treating your chicken's positively at an early age of their lives, it'll imprint onto them that you are generally safe and trustful. If you act as a motherly role by allowing your chicks to acknowledge that you feed and care for them, they may be more inclined to communicate and interact with you, and gain a special bond.

• There's no big task in taming chicks. As long as you care for them and handle them frequently they'll trust you and become tame. Chicks that you hatch yourself are easier to tame as you have to look after them regardless. Chicks that a hen has hatched for you are more difficult to tame as the mother hen will most likely become defensive when you try to handle her chicks and she'll likely prevent you from seeing them.

Remain calm when you first meet your chickens. Chickens are not excited animals, and some breeds do not necessarily want to play or be touched. Approach your chickens in a calm, subtle state and speak to them in hushed tones. It's also best if you find a seat to sit in, or seat yourself down on the floor. Do not approach your chickens by stooping over them, as they will likely feel threatened. Keep at your chicken's eye-level.

• Avoid jumping straight into holding your chickens. Instead, let them come to you at their own pace. Chickens are curious animals that love to explore. They will presumably approach you and try to communicate.

Keep your distance. Some chickens are easily intimated; often when their space is invaded. It's important to keep at least two foot of distance before you meet your chickens, and lower yourself to their eye-level. If you corner your chickens, or approach them too quickly, they may become anxious and present a fight or flight instinct.

• Remember, chickens are prey animals. If they aren't accustomed to human interaction they can easily become aggravated or scared.

Allow the chickens to approach you. Chickens are curious in nature, and love to explore. If you sit still for a few moments, and quietly watch your chickens, they may bound up to you in curiosity, and even attempt to communicate to you. Even a glance towards you is a way of your chickens saying that they acknowledge your there. If your chickens are reluctant to walk over, entice them with some treats. Hold your hand out with small (limited) cubes of bread, cracked corn or chicken pellets. Like most animals, chickens are strongly driven by tasty food.

Spread a handful of food beside you. Chickens spend most of their time foraging for food in the dirt. Obtain a few treats your chickens may like, such as cracked corn, or mealworms, and shake it next to where you are sitting. Your chickens will likely by encouraged to walk over and start scratching the dirt beside you, forming a trust bond.

• Ensure that the chickens know that you're placing food down. Shake a tin of cracked corn to get their attention, but be sure to not scare them off.
• Eventually, begin to place food on your lap or hold it out in the palm of your hand.

Speak in hushed tones. Communicate to your chickens like you would with a small child or baby. Speak quietly and put on a soothing voice. Ask your chickens questions and make them know that you are trying to socialise with them. Avoid any sudden or loud gestures or remarks that may suddenly take them by surprise.

Learn your chicken's communication cues. Similar to most group animals, chickens have a range of vocal signals and socialization cues. If you research and study each sound your chicken makes, you can learn what they want and what they are trying to communicate to you. Click here to learn how to talk to your chickens.

• When a chicken wants to be left alone, or feels threatened, they will raise their shackles (the feathers around their neck) and puff their feathers up to appear larger in mass. They will also make frequent clucking sounds. However, this is mostly persistent in roosters that are challenging you, or hens that are laying an egg or guarding their offspring.

Set aside 1-2 hours each day to spend with your chickens. Chickens are straight-forward, but they still need a certain amount of care during the day. It's your job to feed them, give them water, collect their eggs, clean their coop, let them out each morning, let them in each night, and additionally communicate and interact with your chickens each day.

• Find a comfortable seat where you can sit at and be near the flock. You can read a book or listen to music with headphones whilst sitting down near your chickens. The chickens will get use to your presence and begin to trust you some more.

Avoid punishing your chickens. Chickens aren't capable of mental time travel, so disciplining them for doing something wrong will be futile, as they won't understand what they have done wrong. Instead, offer positive, reward-based training to discourage your chickens from performing certain tasks. By negatively punishing your chickens (such as shouting or spraying them with water), you are losing their trust and any potential bond you have with them.

• If your chickens are inclined to get into your vegetable garden or ruin your flowers, repel them from the area by investing in some chicken wire or confining them to a certain location of your property.

Create a routine. Set aside a time each morning and evening to repeat the steps above on a daily basis. Chickens like to have a constructed regime in place instead of jumping back and forth between visits. This way, they'll know when to expect you and will establish a calmer front.