Hmm... Never heard of that happening....
& Yes, it does take an extremely long time to raise their heart.
If not done so already, I would recommend:
-Also using to brush and touch gloves, milk/shear (that little minigame where you manually have to do it yourself)
-Taking them outside for a bit; (plus you save on feed & money. Oh and make sure you have a fence that you can make yourself, stone or the wood is good, preferably the stone because it doesn't rot.)
-Also its best to raise the chickens from eggs after you get your first chicken; Because it automatically have 2 hears.
Cows, Sheep, and Horses raise a little bit faster than chickens because you can interact more with them.