Handleing your critters

[moopups]

We have 30 doves, 14 chickens, 4 ducks, and 4 rabbits, they all came here young and have been handled often, but yesterday we had a rabbit bite inscident. The rabbit was culled because of it and will be tonights supper.

Of course it takes a lot of time to handle all of them, but the ability to handle seems to be a reward itsself. The ducks and the 12 new chicks are starting to accept handleing, I see that as a good thing.

What is your policy conserning handleing critters? Is it a hands off until slauthering such or do you avoid handleing because of attachment to supper?

[nehimama]

I do like to be able to handle MOST of the animals.

For example, I'll make sort of pets out of the breeding does & bucks among the rabbits. I have been bitten by adult rabbits before - PAINFUL. Those would wind up in the stew pot. The young never get names nor do I get attached to them, as they will wind up on the supper table.

I like to be able to handle the hens, but I NEVER make a pet out of any rooster. Been there; done that. Little dickens (a bantam) was a holy terror!

Of course, I'm able to handle the donkeys. Have assisted at foaling, and they stand nicely for the farrier, and for vaccinations and for haltering and leading.

I'm planning on getting a couple of goats for milk, and of COURSE, I'll want to be able to handle THEM - LOL!

You're right. It does take time, but the effort is well worth the results, and it's a pleasure to work with the animals anyway.

NeHi Mama

[mpillow]

Never bite the hand that feeds you!

I handle the goats alot and my children are all over them from birth! We pet the chickens when they roost and hand feed a few of them....a few will peck but I always wear gloves...my rooster just makes naughty noises when I'm in the coop...he never charges me.

Our cat and dog were picked on on purpose from day one....pushing nails out, pulling tail being rough so they wouldn't be snippy to the children. But if the child purposefully hurts an animal, and the animal retaliates its not the animals fault.

[Wolf mom]

Anything that makes life easier for me is what goes here.

The first 24 + hours of a newborn's life is when they imprint. If they imprint on you as well as their own mother, it makes life a lot easier.

Even if they don't end up as pets, in the case of an accident, they're so much easier to handle.

Learned this on horses. All my babies were imprinted. I had no problem sticking anything anywhere. (Thermometer, cleaning ears) All had no problem shoeing as I used to pick their feet up & tap them. I could go on & on, but you get the idea.

[Jen H]

I handle all of my animals (except for the suicidal guineas - I'm leaving them alone) enough so that they don't freak out when I have to handle them for whatever reason. That doesn't mean I cuddle all of them and make them all pets.

In addition, all of my critters know exactly what the food container looks like it and follow me anywhere when I have it with me. It's much easier to bribe a critter into following you than it is to try chasing it back into the pasture after a breakout.

[kabri]

I've got to say, I handle the turkeys from hatching, they are so sweet! This carries thru until adults. Our small flock of youngsters born this spring follow me all over the pasture when they get some free-roaming time. One bourbon hen is so tame, she'll jump/fly up to get closer to you on the fence rail. Scares folks who stop by to look at the turkeys over the fence! Our main tom is so tame, he will never end up in the freezer!

We don't handle the lambs as much when they are born - our cheviots are just a bit too wild for that. But any that we keep for breeders get tame anyway in a few years by example from the older ewes. We don't handle at all those slated for the freezer.

We always have a few broody hens, so we let them hatch out the chicks. It usually takes 6-8 months for them to learn to eat out of my hand, but they eggs they came from were also selected out of our best-tempered parents too.

[Misty]

Originally Posted by Marilyn in CO

We handle some animals a lot, others sometimes and some almost never. Through many years experience it has proved undesirable to make a pet of a calf.....if you plan to use it as a hamburger/steak. We had several bucket calves over the years that we raised that were so friendly and thought we were their parents. When you want to load them at 1200 to 1400# it makes for a dangerous situation. A flying hoof or steel head might just connect with a femur or noggen and put you in intensive care.

It is hard to get rid of the 4-H steers too. I cried all the way home from the butcher when we took the big one for our table. The little one went to a feedlot situation. Of course they both had names and we ended up eating the big baby of the two...The steaks are sure big though!!
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[Christiaan]

I handle all my animals so that I can maximize mine and their safety, but that's about it. The only exception so far are the alpacas which I try to take on daily walks. They don't need the exercise, but I do and they are great icebreakers for meeting new people. I prefer to see animals acting as "normal" as their situation allows, so that means pretty much a hands off approach. People are always amazed that I don't know the exact count of my chickens.
As for naming and interacting with animals destined for slaughter, I do name them and handle them so that I can control them. Some are very friendly and sweet, but I decided before they were even born that they would be slaughtered and that is their purpose. No problem on butchering day.

[Alice In TX/MO]

We handled, named, and ate them later. Had 'Arnold burgers.' It's just a mind-set. If you know from the beginning that the cute calf or bunny is destined for the dinner table, it's not that bad.

Exception....I never named chickens. Nasty creatures.

[albionjessica]

We had chickens when my family lived in Alaska. My brother and I were allowed to pick one each to treat as our pets and to give preferential treatment to in order for them to be good show chickens. My brother had a white leghorn rooster he named Henry after a crotchety old neighbor who was always blustering about shooting our chickens or puppy if it came across the property line into his yard. Henry ended up being of the same mold as his namesake when it came to temperament, and was soon taken to the axe and tree stump. My black australorp hen was called Orville after one of the famous flying brothers. She crooned contentedly if we sat down next to her and stroked her back, and was generally so sweet that she avoided the chopping block.

We knew the rest of the chickens were food, but it was good to be allowed to attempt to make pets out of at least one for my brother and I. And the handling worked out good for us because it made taking them to the state fair easier.

[Ana Bluebird]

Oh, but chickens are my favorite animal. All 20 of mine have names. They come to me, sit with me in the yard, say good night to me at night, and have different personalities. I handle them a lot when they are young---very important so they don't think hands are bad things. Even my roosters are nice. I've had probably six different roosters, well, maybe more, over the years and I've never had a nasty one. I think it's important for them to be able to be handled because mine frequently need medicine put on the legs for mites and on their combs in the winter to prevent or treat frost burn. To me keeping your animals gentle and pleasant to be around is very important, but it does take time---every day.

[Jan in CO]

Same as Marilyn--some we do, some we don't. I don't handle the chickens, and a friend's sweetheart loves chickens, so tried to go in their yard and pet them, but was amazed they weren't friendly. Nope, don't pet the poultry. The turkeys, now they are so friendly they are almost a nuisance. Always underfoot. Marilyn, how on earth do you trim the llama's toes if you can't get near them? They can be pretty aloof, that's for sure! Once you get a halter on them, they change their attitude---usually!

Our granddaughter is raising a steer for 4H and has the little creature pretty tame after a couple months. Got one of those chute gizmos for him for grooming, and he goes right in for her and lets her brush him. She'll be bawling, I'm sure when he gets sold at the fair! You can get hurt mightily tho when a critter outweighs you by hundreds of pounds, so it pays to be careful even if you think they are tame. Only a couple of our sheep are tame enough to stand and let us pet them, the rest I have to corner, catch and do whatever needs to be done. A royal pain! Jan in Co

[sullen]

I barely have time to feed, etc, my animals, handle them? The turkeys would love that, but they are pretty dirty by now. Plus they are so huge, they would knock me over, I am sure.
We solved the naming problem by naming them tounge-in-cheek names like "Madonna" for the big mean Barred Rock, and then "Christina and Britney" for the other two smaller ones. They were molting when we got them, the names fit. (imagine 3 naked hens named Madonna, Christina and Britney, funny funny) The others we call things, like "stupid" , or the crippled roo, "Quasi".
No flaming, "stupid" is the hen who goes ballistic when you put her on a perch, and jumps on top of the nearest chicken. We have to hold her down for the sake of the other hens.
Oh we have one named "10" because she is the prettiest of the 10 she came from.
Oh I forgot the "butt hen" because her butt is naked.
So I mostly have non-handling animals. Thanks for letting me talk.

[Marilyn in CO]

Hi Jan, llama toes? I don't know, they look ok, must wear off running around the pasture? They are so hard to catch now after the freedom of the cow pasture, when hubby tried the last time they about flung him 20 ft. They get purdy wild when they are cornered and they are very strong and fast.....want 3 more llamas? Actually they are earning their keep by guarding the calvies.

[foxtrapper]

I'll handle them without hesitation, but except for a few pets, I don't go out of my way to fondle them. I don't tolerate nasty animals. You bite me, I kill you. Culling this way makes for a nicer flock.

[sullen]

OK so now we know Fox is not fondling his animals. Thanks for the info.

[nehimama]

Oh, yeah. DH & I had sheep at our other farm. BIG pain to handle them for ANYTHING. Drenching, shearing, lambing. Even though I was out among them EVERY SINGLE DAY. Bottle fed some of them as lambs, too.

I was able to get the ewes up into the lambing pens using bribery, though - horse treats! It was an awfully, awfully cold lambing season that year, and we had record births and successfully raised them all.

NeHi Mama