How To Train Your Chicken

[chickynuggy21]

Hey there! Out of curiosity has anyone trained their chickies to respond to verbal commands? Such as going into the coop/run, coming when called and/or tricks? If you have, leave some tips!

 

[the_peanut_coop]

From 4 weeks, I train my chickens to come when called by calling "Chiiiiiiiiiiickens" And then putting treats near my feet. If I went out there right now and called, "CHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiickens" They'd all come running, regardless if I had put treats out.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

I think @Lacy Duckwing has.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Hey there! Out of curiosity has anyone trained their chickies to respond to verbal commands? Such as going into the coop/run, coming when called and/or tricks? If you have, leave some tips!

Yes, I have, and so has other people. My top commands are "Heerre Chick Chick Chick!" (Treat call) and "Coop!" The treat call is a very important call because I use it to locate my chickens. Coop is very important because I use it to get the chickens in while free ranging. Coop is very hard to do, especially because you're still leading them in while saying it. Coop just simply makes it easier to get the chickens in if they know it. (If the flock is advanced on that command, you don't have to do anything, but follow them.) Coop is best trained during the winter because they have no choice but to go in the coop when you say it and lead them. (Other times of the year it's hard, because the birds can go wherever, particularly where you don't want them to go.) So with Coop, you say "Coop!" and lead the flock into the coop. Say "Coop!" everytime you lead them in, even if you're just putting them in for the night. They need to know what Coop means.

My most recent trick is "Hawk!" I stand in the chicken yard, put out my arm like a falconer, and say, "Hawk!" Macy, my intelligent Cuckoo Maran, comes over and will fly straight from the ground to my arm. Sometimes I need to say her name to get her attention. I haven't been working with her much recently, so she's not being as perfect as she was. Some of my other hens have learned Hawk by watching Macy. (Chickens learn the most from watching others, so even a video of a chicken doing something can help train a chicken.) With Macy, I started out by teaching her Hawk while sitting down and her seeing the treat. Then from there, I worked with her until I was standing straight up, and soon, without her seeing the treat. I also worked with her at doing it in the coop and her in different places. She refuses to do it while free ranging. (Unfortunately, Macy has seen some of my other hen attempt and fail at Hawk who wasn't trained.)

@Alicia Manolas is a professional in training chickens and other birds.

 

[Alicia Manolas]

Yes, I have, and so has other people. My top commands are "Heerre Chick Chick Chick!" (Treat call) and "Coop!" The treat call is a very important call because I use it to locate my chickens. Coop is very important because I use it to get the chickens in while free ranging. Coop is very hard to do, especially because you're still leading them in while saying it. Coop just simply makes it easier to get the chickens in if they know it. (If the flock is advanced on that command, you don't have to do anything, but follow them.) Coop is best trained during the winter because they have no choice but to go in the coop when you say it and lead them. (Other times of the year it's hard, because the birds can go wherever, particularly where you don't want them to go.) So with Coop, you say "Coop!" and lead the flock into the coop. Say "Coop!" everytime you lead them in, even if you're just putting them in for the night. They need to know what Coop means.

My most recent trick is "Hawk!" I stand in the chicken yard, put out my arm like a falconer, and say, "Hawk!" Macy, my intelligent Cuckoo Maran, comes over and will fly straight from the ground to my arm. Sometimes I need to say her name to get her attention. I haven't been working with her much recently, so she's not being as perfect as she was. Some of my other hens have learned Hawk by watching Macy. (Chickens learn the most from watching others, so even a video of a chicken doing something can help train a chicken.) With Macy, I started out by teaching her Hawk while sitting down and her seeing the treat. Then from there, I worked with her until I was standing straight up, and soon, without her seeing the treat. I also worked with her at doing it in the coop and her in different places. She refuses to do it while free ranging. (Unfortunately, Macy has seen some of my other hen attempt and fail at Hawk who wasn't trained.)

@Alicia Manolas is a professional in training chickens and other birds.

Hello!

These are all excellent command lines you can quite easily train chickens to do if you do it with repetition, patience and TREATS to pattern it into their brains. Never underestimate the power of greed in a chicken!

Another useful one is Shoulder, doing a double finger tap on your shoulder beside a treat there, starting with you low and putting treats there, then slowly getting more upright til they have to clamber up for the treat, and everytime they get it, sit them in proper shoulder riding position and give them a double treat. Eventually you dont need to put the bait treat out on your shoulder, they know if you double finger tap your shoulder, they jump to it, (even if they have to bounce up a bucket, a coop, a fence, and THEN to the shoulder - if they are a very heavyset bird). They know once they get into the shoulder position they get the goods... then you start the movement of a very slow walk, a few steps, and stop, catch their balance, praise LOADS, and give treats.


A little at a time and you will have a well balanced shoulder rider who comes and jumps aboard on visual tap Or word command.


'Hawk', is one I use for danger, and I use it to mean GET UNDERNEATH ME NOW! Dropping sudden treats at my feet and calling it only when there is a predator in the sky, then patterning them to stay in close to me till I say All Clear, and wave them off, which I initially pattern by doing with throwing a scattering of treats to the ground away from me, arms shooing them away, and alot of emphasis on my tone of voice.

Hawk! sounds worried, stressed, over act frightened, danger, etc, watch it so they see what you are watching, the crow or bird of prey.
All Clear has to sound totally relaxed.

If you have a particularly smart bird, a favourite, you might want to look into the AAC style learning systems created by Fluent Pet, made famous on YouTube by What About Bunni and a bunch of other animals, and try basic communication in English with your chicken... giving them the Technology to answer back. Its fascinating stuff.

There is another rabbit hole you can go down called My Reading Pets, a lady on Facebook, doing scientific research with a range of big name universities, teaching avians to read and write. She is using parrots, but her techniques work for others, including poultry. Obviously the very smartest well bred showbirds of the smartest breed Old English Game Bantams, have a distinct advantage there, but once you have taught a chicken to indicate choice, and given it options and some control over its life, it's amazing where you can go with training, ANY type. The biggest difference from parrots is instead of them using their tongue, the chicken pecks and you press the tablet screen there for them if you are using a comms board.

I hope this helps and gives you a few ideas to look at. Apologies if my replies are sometimes a bit late, between disability and flock I'm kept busy!!!

Dr Alicia Manolas
Avian Specialist Trainer

 

[texsuze]

My girls have always just learned from repetition and routine. I haven't attempted to teach them specific responses in terms of management, but they do know that if I freeze and say "EYE TO THE SKY!" that means avian predator--head for cover! It works! Through the years, all my hens have learned their names and each other's names.

Some of my girls learned what a "ramp" is (going into a coop). I could tell them "Use the ramp" and they'd walk up instead of flying up into the pop door. My flock at one point in time (who've now passed) understood the term "south side", meaning south side of the barn. "Let's go to the south side" and they'd start heading that way.

My girls, newbies and oldsters, know the terms for certain food items and the differences between food items, i.e. "Sweet Potatie' (sweet potato), "Punkie" (pumpkin), "chook mash"(feed mixed with water), "Yogie" (yogurt), grapes to name a few. They know "get a drink". At barn closing time I usually just ask "Are we ready to go in?" at which point the Dominiques would/will always find something else to do, while the remaining hens made their way to the coops!

Years ago when I started to use the pedal (treadle) feeder I'd say "Step Up" to teach the younger girls to use it, and that worked. My older girls, though, didn't get the hang of it. Abandoned those types of feeders because the wild cottontail bunnies were the first to learn, then the squirrels!

 

[DLA]

I didn't think it was going to be possible to train chickens(I thought it would be like herding cats=impossible) but I was wrong. I wanted them to learn to walk from their coop/run to the fenced in garden or to another place that I wanted them to clean up bugs or turn the soil without using a chunnel. I haven't gotten around to building the chicken tractor yet so they can stay out unsupervised, but I did want them to get some time outside the run. It's big enough but I wanted them to have fun with grass and bugs too.
I have 9 RIR hens about a year old that I raised from day old chicks. I started by carrying two, one under each arm to the garden, hoping the others would follow, they didn't at first. I kept having to go back and pick up and carry the other ones. After a few days, they started following me. A few days more and by using a thin stick to herd them (they seemed not to like a thicker walking stick, but the thinner stick didn't make them anxious), they started to get the idea. 3 weeks later and I'm able to let them out and herd them to where ever I want them to be, usually without to much trouble. I call chicky, chicky to get their attention or make clucking noises then tap the stick on the ground and/or motion it in the direction I want them to go. If they go the wrong way, I very gently apply pressure with stick or tap near them and say wrong way and they turn the direction I indicate.
When it's time to go back in, I say time to go and wave my arms and they just start heading back to the coop.
The neighbors probably think I'm a little loony but I'm surprised how quickly they learned to pay attention and respond. It's not perfect, sometimes it takes longer to get them moving the right way but generally they seem to have learned to respond to the cues I'm giving them.