Socializing them early

Chickens are smarter than I thought. They can understand up to 100 words. I recommend giving them a name, coming up with a whistle, and calling the flock the same thing like “here chickies” or “Chickens” or whatever you like as long as it’s consistent. I’m not a chicken trainer, but these have been very useful. Also, talk to them. Read your social media to them, sing, babble, whatever. It helps!

Try to handle them often so that they are used to getting picked up. As baby chicks, they are cold and scared because it’s a new world. Treat them with love, keep the brooder clean. If you have friends over, have a friend hold them. Even just walking around the yard with them in your hands works. 

Our favorite chick is Gertie. We had her for 2 days and she started to be the one that would jump into my hands every time. The rest of them were generally nervous. But Gertie is still, to this day, one of the most sociable chickens I’ve met. 

On another note, I also have two black labs who run around outside. Our male had a motherly instinct about the chicks from the start. Our female couldn't have cared less. We made sure to bring the dogs to the brooder daily so they could see the chicks, watch us nurture them, etc. Our dogs have since been great with them and they have been fine free ranging outside and coexisting in peace. However, WARN YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY NOT TO BRING A DOG OVER IF YOUR CHICKENS ARE FREE RANGING. We have had two scares now where we thought our chickens were dead or going to die because of this. They lost a lot of feathers, but they were resilient and seem to be doing fine.