If you are looking for ways to build trust and bond with your chickens, this post is for you! Let’s explore how building a relationship with your chickens goes much deeper than you might think.
As I’ve been sharing more and more of my friendly chickens online, enjoying their hugs, lap sits, asking for pickups, taking rides on my back while I try to clean the run (looking at you Doughi), I’ve been asked how I went about raising such friendly chickens.
With these questions I’ve been reflecting on what has helped me raise such friendly chickens and form such a strong bond with my flock and I’ve come to realize it’s not just one specific thing. Instead, it’s a combination of awareness, intentional actions, and a mindset that I believe fosters the foundations of trust. Like with any animal, building a loving bond takes time, patience, love, and a willingness to do some inner work.
While I’ve written before on some of the specific things I do with my chickens that I believe helped raise super friendly chickens – this post goes a bit deeper, focussing more on how we show up, our inner word, and acknowledging how our energy effects those around us. These are things we can all do with our chickens, whether they are an existing flock, new baby chickens, older chicks, roosters, or new hens.
Sharing the love and joy chickens bring to your life is a big part of why I started this blog—to inspire others and pass on what I’ve learned from my chicken-keeping journey so that you too can know the love of a chicken. Chickens can be such great pets if given the chance!
How to Build Trust With Your Chickens
I love the quote by James Redfield where he says “Where attention goes, energy flows”. I think of this quote when I’m sitting with my chickens. When building trust with prey animals it’s important to be mindful of how you’re feeling and showing up to the chicken yard. This awareness involves tuning into your mental state, energy, intentions, and movements. Animals, including chickens, are highly perceptive and can quickly sense when there’s a mismatch between your outward actions and your inner emotions.
I do want to take a moment and acknowledge and note that every chicken has their own unique personality. Even a chicken breed that is known to be docile, might not end up as a lap chicken, and that’s ok! I have a couple chickens who don’t request or ask for a lot of attention but instead show their love and appreciation for companionship by sitting next to me on my chair or coming over to sit and have a groom session next to me. I believe our animals encourage us to learn and grow if we just take the time to listen.
Where attention goes, energy flows – James Redfield
Bond with Your Chickens through Good Energy
So what is good energy and how does it apply to bonding with your chickens? I believe this involves coming from a place of love and acceptance. Love being how you are feeling both internally and how your intentions flow through to handling and being around your chickens. Acceptance being that whatever your chickens are giving back to you is OK. It can take time to truly form a trusting relationship, especially if you are starting out with chickens who might be a bit older not having raised them from baby chicks. If one of my chickens wants to come up for love, great, amazing! If they prefer to go hunt for bugs instead of asking for pickups – also great! Being OK with the outcomes I believe makes your presence feel safe to them.
How to Cultivate Good Energy
A great way of creating good energy starts with clearing out negative emotions and setting your intention. When I worked with horses, I always made it a priority to check in with myself before engaging with them. Horses, like chickens, are incredibly intuitive—they reflect your inner world right back at you. I’ve learned this the hard way in my time with horses. If I wasn’t in a good place emotionally, my interactions with them often mirrored that tension.
This is why it’s important to take a moment to pause and check in with yourself. Ask:
- How am I feeling?
- What’s bothering me?
- What can I let go of?
- How can I forgive, learn from, or move past what’s weighing me down?
A helpful technique I like to do is to envision shaking off negativity, much like dust on a rug. Physically giving your body a good shake can help release tension and reset your energy. The first time I did this I felt a little silly but trust me, it does help! This small act can make a big difference in how you approach your chickens.
With horses, you’re always responsible for regulating your emotions because they depend on you to remain calm and grounded. While chickens may not have the same high-stakes responses, they still sense and react to your emotional state. Animals are more attuned to us than we often realize. Ensuring you’re in the best mental and emotional state possible is a crucial step in building trust and connection with your flock.
By cultivating good energy, you create a safe and calm space that allows your chickens to relax and feel secure, laying the foundation for a trusting relationship.
The Role of Patience and Self-Awarenes
Whenever I’ve felt frustrated in the past when working with horses or even life in general—I’ve learned to pause and acknowledge that this feeling signals something important. It’s not a failure; it’s a sign that I’ve reached the edge of my knowledge. Instead of letting frustration take over, I remind myself that this is an opportunity to grow, learn, and try again with a clearer mindset.
This perspective has been a game-changer for me, in life and for when working with animals. If you find yourself feeling frustrated that something isn’t going the way you had hoped, remember that it’s okay. It doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong—it simply means there’s more to learn. When we take the time to step back, reflect, and come back with fresh eyes, we create the space for growth—not just for ourselves, but for the animals we’re working with.
With chickens, this mindset is just as important. Your energy sets the tone for every interaction, and frustration can easily create tension that they’ll pick up on. By recognizing your emotions and using them as a guide for self-improvement, you can approach your flock with calm, curiosity, and patience, building the trust and understanding that form the foundation of a strong relationship.
Spending Time for Your Flock
Spending quality time is such an important factor when it comes to building a relationship with your pet chickens. Can you have a beautiful relationship without giving it proper time to build? To nurture? To maintain?
Going back to the quote by James Redfield of “Where Attention Goes, Energy Flows” I think of this quote when I’m sitting with my chickens. Especially for those who are more shy – I sit and watch them. The best way I can describe it is I don’t try to chase or grab but simply sit and be. My shy girls – mainly the Australorps but also Poki will actually move closer and sit on my chair with me when I do this. I sit and almost as I would do in a meditation I am thankful for my time with them and the joy they bring. Feeling a warmth and happiness in my heart. There are also times where I have one of my chickens sitting in my lap and if I could tune into how grateful I am so be with them, they will even start to fall asleep. Having the trust of any animal, let alone a prey animal that has to be on guard for their safety – seeing how they feel so safe with you enough to fall asleep in a comfortable environment means to much to me.
Quality Time with Baby Chicks
This is especially important when it comes to getting new chicks or even having a mama hen raise them as I had my sweet Buff Orpington Batter, raise her babies last year. I spent lots of time sitting with my young chicks, getting them used to having human interaction. When Batter raised her babies it was wonderful as her sweet chicks got to see their mama sitting with me and she was the one who showed them that I was a safe space. Sugar (pictured below) was one of her babies and she is a super cuddle bug!
The Power of a Calm Mind
Maintaining a calm mind when working with chickens, especially during moments that might cause them stress, like health checks or other hands-on care can make such a difference for them. For tasks like soaking feet or wrapping them for bumblefoot, I make sure everything is prepared in advance. This preparation helps me stay present and focused when I’m with them.
Once I’m with my chickens and everything has been prepped to care for them, I focus on being mentally quiet and not allowing stressful thoughts like what if they don’t like this or what if they get stressed to take over. I will literally think ‘shake all the stressful thoughts out’ and send calm, reassuring thoughts and visualize each step of the process—picking them up, soaking their feet, and wrapping them. I believe they can sense this calm energy, which helps them stay more relaxed during these moments that could otherwise cause them stress.
Mindful Movements with Your Chickens
Equally important is being aware of my body language and movements in how I interact with them day-to-day. Chickens have amazing survival instincts and just as I wouldn’t rush around a horse, I don’t make quick movements and rush around my chickens. This doesn’t mean chores take all day, but I’m mindful not to make sudden movements and treating them as a checklist. In the horse world, there’s a saying: Every interaction teaches your horse something about you. I fully believe this applies to chickens, too.
For me, this means showing them they can trust me to be aware of their space and needs. If a chicken approaches while I’m cleaning the run, I set down my tools to acknowledge them. That might mean a quick hello, a gentle cuddle and hug, or simply letting them know I’m present and aware of them and take my time with slow movements. These small moments may stretch chore time a little longer, but they’re an invaluable part of building trust and connection.
By pairing a calm mind with mindful actions, you create an environment where your chickens feel safe, valued, and understood—laying the foundation for a truly special bond.
Further Reading on Chicken Intelligence
For a deeper dive into the intelligence of chickens, check out the enlightening article by Carolynn “K-lynn” L. Smith and Sarah L. Zielinski titled “The Startling Intelligence of the Common Chicken” in Scientific American and the article “Thinking chickens: a review of cognition, emotion, and behavior in the domestic chicken” by Lori Marino. They both shed light on just how clever chickens can be, challenging preconceived notions and raising important questions about their treatment.
Continued Reading for Bonding With Your Chickens Posts
- What Horses Taught Me About Working With Roosters
- A Kinder Approach to Working with What Some Would Call an ‘Aggressive Rooster’
- How to Raise Super Friendly Chickens
Want to follow along for more chicken happenings with Butter the rooster and his ladies? Follow us on Instagram or subscribe on YouTube!
I hope that this post on how how to build trust with your chickens and these insights on how I go about bonding with my own chickens helps you on your chicken keeping journey. Gaining the love and trust of your chickens is something wonderful!
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Hi there! I’m Jess, a backyard chicken keeper living on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. With my flock of 15 friendly chickens, my mission is to help others feel confident about raising happy, healthy, and super friendly chickens. My dream is that everyone gets to know the love of a chicken and experience the joy they bring to your life.
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