The Art Of Seductions...Here chick chick!

I have been spending quite a bit of quality time with the chicks and ducks. I know these are things I should not admit, but I assure you it is time well invested. There are so many lessons to be learned from my little, somewhat feathered, friends. I often find myself snickering at the moments of clarity I have when discovering the natural ways that things must unfold.
They do not like to be forced into doing anything that they feel is not of their own desire. I find that this is not a unique attribute.
As a mother of five I witness this acted out on a daily basis. I must confess I am doing much better utilizing this certain sagacity with the chicks and ducks than with my own children. I suppose it is easier to acknowledge and apply this wisdom to my own benefit with my domesticated birds than my human wards. The expectations are minimized and it is without
assumption of intelligent choice on behalf of my pecking charges. With the children of course we have all these expectations and a flawed deduction that they do indeed know better. Heck they walk, talk and manage to escort us into the belief that there is an inherent discernement towards the world at large. With the chicks and ducks we comfortably fall into the understanding that they know nothing
Yesterday as I was feeding the brood, it came upon my husband that it would be the perfect time to inspect one of the birds. My husband was raised on a farm, but the disposition was much different than this makeshift farm I seem to be creating.
My husband's father raised chicks with a very simple reasoning, they either nourished the families body with the eggs and meat that they offered up or they attributed to the bank account with the selling of same. Needless to say, my husband did not have imprinted in him the approval of affection towards the animal kingdom. This of course does not mean that his basic nature did not desire it as I see it expressed even in a bashful sense oftentimes with many of our pets. Interestingly enough he even shows affection to the bird my mother pawned of on us, because it was such a nasty beast, even I don't go there. More amazingly the affection is returned. Go figure.
So he plunged his hand into the brooder creating quite a rucous below and interestingly enough chose to grasp Glady's, the least likely to want anything to do with a human being, and plucked her out of the cage. She was hysterical, screeching and twisting herself about. He seemed, completely unaffected by her protest. He started to inspect her wings bringing Gladys even further into her mania. I asked him, of course, why he would ever just grab at a chick, as it surely would not end well. He professed that they were merely chickens, they won't just let you hold them, they don't like people.
I took Glady's from him, smoothing her feathers in an attempt to convey that we were not all so imposing. I explained to him that there is an art to seduction. You can imagine this was met with a chuckle. I related to my husband, the lessons that I had been learning.
I too once tried what he had attempted, and realized very quickly that the desired end results were not forthcoming. So I changed my tactics unabashedly offering up some chick feed in an attempt to coerce a little contact out of them. I found that they are pretty simplistic in their aspirations eat, drink, peck, huddle and poo in the most precarious places.
As I placed Gladys back into the brooder, I cupped a little bird seed in my hand. I showed him that certain birds had certain desires. While I fed a few of the chicks, I told him to watch the black chick on the roost, who very gingerly moved towards my outstretched hand all the while inspecting the feeding frenzy that his roomies were caught up in. I explained to my husband that this chick named Emelia would not look to peck at the seed, she had bigger aspirations. She wanted to perch on the upper area of the cage, and she was still yet unable to conquer the ability to flap her way to the top. I had discovered this quite by accident one day, when she ascended my arm to purchase a spot on the upper deck. Now, every time I brought forth the bribes of plenty to the rest of the brood, Emelia as if one cue, would use my arm to make her rise.
My husband watched as she made her ascention and proudly perched on the coveted upper area. I then showed my husband that although that perch was nice the other end of th cage seemed to be even more attractive to Emelia, so I put my finger out and wiggled it towards her little toes. She soon clasped onto my hand and held tight in anticipation of moving to the other side of the cage. This I exlained was the art of seduction, you must know what particular desire the chick has and utilize it to gain your desired outcome. The more comfortable each chicken became with my coaxing, the more affection, for lack of a better word, I would receive.
Not all the chicks share Emelia's desire to ascend. Many just merely go along with eating seed from my hand, and through impatience hop up on my palm to scratch the seed anew. Of course I exploit this to my own benefit and gain a bird in the hand so to speak, and slowly cultivate confidence that I am, as Martha would say, a good thing!
Next: Applying The Rules of the Roost to Children