Training Chickens

[Andrew S.]

Has anyone ever attempted to train their chickens to perform certain tasks or some sort of trick? I just got some chickens and was thinking about trying to train them. The internet talks about clicker training. Has anyone tried that with a dog or anything?

Andrew S.

[jk]

nothing too complex... though they can learn to do simple things.

[JohnInDixon]

My Grandpa showed us how to hypnotise them!  It was great!

Grab your chicken and force it to lie on its belly with your hand holding its neck and pushing its head to the dirt so its looking forward (if it was standing it would look like it looking up)  then take your finger in front of its eyes about three inches away and wave it back and forth (this is the hypnotising part) after about 30 back n forths...drag your finger in a straight line away from its beak.  Gently release the bird with out disturbing it focus on the line you just drew - viola'!  It will stay there staring at the line until it starves!

You can use the lines on a sidewalk too!!  We use to catch Grandma's chickens and have them all lined up in formation on her sidewalk - she'd come out hollering and beating them off her sidewalk with a broom!

http://www.envisageyourself.com/Experimintal/animal_hypnosis.asp

http://www.almanac.com/preview2000/hypnotize.html

I taught my young kids this and they loved it to the point they would ask me if they could clean the chicken coop.  They'd have chickens "planted" all over the yard while they cleaned the coop.


Enjoy!

John "Chicken Copperfield"

[aKirA]

Would be nice to train them to pluck themselves!

[Andrew S.]

I have seen a guy hypnotize a chicken like that before.  It was pretty neat.  The chicken didn't move until it go distracted by a kid walking close by.

Andrew S.

[wildergamebirds]

Would be nice to train them to pluck themselves!

  That might work, some of mine have taught themselves to pluck each other!

[pamike]

I just gotta give that a try.

[Pine Grove]

I got one that plays the guitar, and one that plays the drums. now if I could only teach one to sing..lol

[PAcortunix]

I have one that when I sit down and pat my lap she will come running over and hop up. It's pretty cool. Another thing that was cool was at the PA farm show a guy had abunch of turkeys there and everytime he would wistle they would gobble.
It was like a poultry choir
 

[cancan]

we worked for years to breed a strain of 3 legged chickens (we really like drumsticks) well finally we did it....nice plump 3 legged chickens!!!!

Now if i could only catch one to taste em