We have to hand it to u/Blueshirt38. There they are, sitting on the ground with a lapful of day-old chicks, letting those tiny feathery terrorists peck at their fingers and chirp directly into their soul. It's adorable. It's also, for anyone who has ever been chased by an angry rooster, the beginning of a very long con. Those babies are learning exactly where the soft spots are. And we love them anyway. That's the deal. You raise them, you handle them, you get them used to your scent and your voice, and in return they grow up to judge your every move from a perch on your porch railing. Fair trade.
For a reader who asks us whether this is worth the effort, our honest take is yes, but keep your guard up. Socializing chicks early is the single best way to avoid having a full-grown hen who treats your hand like a strange predator. u/Blueshirt38 is doing the slow, boring work of trust-building. That time on the ground, letting them climb over your knees and peck at your shoelaces, is what turns a flock from a bunch of nervous dinosaurs into something that will follow you around the yard like tiny, feathered dogs. The practical takeaway is simple: if you skip this step, you get chickens that run from you. If you do it right, you get chickens that run *to* you, usually because they think you have mealworms. Both outcomes involve running.
What strikes us most about this post is the vulnerability in it. The title says "to get them used to us," but there is no guarantee they will stay sweet. Anyone who has kept chickens knows that one day you have a cuddly pullet, and the next day she is the undisputed tyrant of the compost pile. u/Blueshirt38 is investing in a relationship with no contract. That takes a kind of hopeful madness we recognize in ourselves. We would tell any reader considering this: do it, but do it with your eyes open. Handle them every day. Talk to them. Let them decide you are not a threat. And then accept that they might still peck you in the shin for no reason. That's the chicken pact.
So here is the concrete point: if you are sitting on the floor with chicks today, you are already doing the most important thing you can do for your future flock. Keep going. The terror will come eventually, it always does, but the trust you build now is the only thing that will make them forgive you for locking them in the coop at dusk. Go sit on the ground. Let them climb you like a jungle gym. It's worth it. Even when it isn't.