HELP!!!! Behavior Modification for one of my hens needed!

Yes- I have the same problem. One of my birds did this, and then she grew out of it. Now one of my younger girls is doing it. It's almost shorts and sandals time, which means more pain from pecks. I too need a solution, if there is one.

Chickens have a lot more, going on upstairs, than folks think. They can't cuddle or lick you, to show their affections. They're only source of social activity (at all) is that beak. They examine their world, test out food, feel strange things...it's like us using our hands.I know it's annoying and sometimes painful, but the fact is, the 'pecker' is trying to kiss you.Sometimes, it's curiosity. If you want to test it out, put a tiny dot on your leg, maybe from a pen, and see what the chicken does. Their eyesight is amazing and when they see something new, something they wonder about, they will peck at it.I once had a favored turkey. She would follow me to the mail box, down the road and walk back with me. She kept turning her head and eyeing something about my head and showed a lot of curiosity. One day, I stooped down to let her get a closer look and 'blam!', she pecked out my contact lense. Ouch! Turkey Girl!!!!!! It took awhile to realize that little brown disk in the dust, was my lense. Can you believe, she had been seeing that thing floating in my eye and was fixated on it. I'll never do that again. :)Your only defense is to toughen up and take it, or wear long pants because you feathered friend is trying to be your best buddy.Judy

Luv this reply,Red46!

Love pecks!!!

Oh THANK YOU!!!! I was shocked yesterday because my largest, Blacktail (A Rhode Island Red Whos tail is just now growing back in thanks to an opposom attack) pecked the back of my leg and drew blood. I know she has a lot of control, as I feed her grapes from my fingers and it has never been an issue. Is there a difference when they actually draw blood? We are in N. Florida and jeans aren't always fun to wear outside. More perspectives please!~ This place is great!

My chickens peck at my freckles and moles.  Maybe you can spray the chicken that's pecking at you with a spray bottle to discourage more pecking? 

With our girls, we've found that spray bottles are a good deterrent to bad (or undesirable) behavior... with regular reinforcement. Our girls have learned that they are not to go into the vegetable garden - when we're right there watching them. Unfortunately, sine they are quite smart, they also quickly figured out that they could go into the garden with no repercussions if we aren't there watching! 

We also use vocalizations to reinforce the spraying, and a lot of times they now respond to the vocalization alone. We also use a gentle "peck" on the head with an index finger if they hurt us or each other (i.e. by pecking faces), which seems to be effective - again, with regular reinforcement.

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