Why do they do this?

[Insnesnakos]

My 4 month old Black Australorps like to scratch and peck my shoes. None of the other birds do this. Does anyone know why?

 

[jpalmatier83]

Do you give them treats? Natural chicken behavior is to scratch the ground to find food/bugs/etc. If you do treat them, they probably think scratching you shoes is like pulling the handle on a slot machine. Sometimes you drop food, sometimes you don’t…

 

[Insnesnakos]

Do you give them treats? Natural chicken behavior is to scratch the ground to find food/bugs/etc. If you do treat them, they probably think scratching you shoes is like pulling the handle on a slot machine. Sometimes you drop food, sometimes you don’t…

I give them snacks but they sound disappointed when I don't have any.

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

Do you give them treats? Natural chicken behavior is to scratch the ground to find food/bugs/etc. If you do treat them, they probably think scratching you shoes is like pulling the handle on a slot machine. Sometimes you drop food, sometimes you don’t…

This! Hahha apparently if you only sometimes have treats it can reinforce the behavior because if you have treats every time, it's not as exciting as the gamble. Plus they actually have nothing to lose. Hahaha