UPDATE: Yesterday the neighbors accidentally set the pasture next to our property on fire. The fire jumped the creek and set our shelter belt ablaze. Because my girls have been clicker trained, they came instantly when I called and I was able to move them away from the fire to safety in seconds. Training a recall in your chickens can, and did, save lives.
It turns out that “bird-brain” isn’t quite the insult people thought it was. A study done in 2005 discovered that birds have up to twice as many neurons per brain space as do mammals. All birds have this characteristic and are much smarter than we ever knew. Crows and some parrot species have even been observed making and using tools. It turns out that our chicken friends are actually very intelligent and very trainable. You can download a pdf that details this study here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227992290_Avian_Brains . There is an additional study on avian brains that published in 2016 that also makes some fascinating reading: https://www.pnas.org/content/113/26/7255
Many people who work with dogs have utilized a “clicker” as a training tool. The clicker serves as a marker, or bridge, to let the dog know they are doing something right, and a treat is on its way to them. It serves as a way to communicate what the trainer is looking for and gives the dog a sense of confidence by giving him cues that he can interpret. The use of clickers has been used to train all sorts of different animals; horses, cats and yes, even birds.
I first started using a clicker to train birds in the small bird flight at the sanctuary where I worked. We had dozens of cockatiels, budgies and small conures flying free in a building and outdoor space. Since birds are a prey species, they often hide their illness, and it can be difficult to assess the health of free-flying birds. One of the best ways to monitor a bird’s health is through weighing them. But chasing birds around the flight with a net is counterproductive. So I decided to try clicker training the birds to come down to the scale voluntarily for treats. It took less than a day to train them by using a target stick (I used a chopstick), a simple clicker and their favorite treats.
The same concept can be used to train our chickens to do virtually anything. Chickens are highly food motivated which makes them very easy to train. They just need to realize that the clicker (or a specific sound to mark the behavior if you don’t want to use a clicker) means they get a reward. It is easier to work with smaller groups (10 or less) but the clicker will work on a larger flock, it just might take awhile.
Clickers are very inexpensive and very easy to find. Amazon carries a huge variety. If you don’t want to use a clicker, you can use a certain call (here chick, chick, chick) or a certain sound like a hand clap or whistle. https://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-CLKR..._1_13?keywords=clicker&qid=1638982473&sr=8-13
The first step is to “charge” the clicker or the sound you choose as a marker. It is very, very important that a treat immediately follows the use of the click or the sound every single time, no exceptions. Take a chair out to sit with your chickens, use the marker, then offer treats. Do this several times until the chickens start heading for you as soon as they hear the sound. The marker now means yummy treats in their mind.
I usually charge the clicker for several sessions so the chickens get it firmly in mind that the sound means food. Just like they will come running when a rooster makes his “I found food” sound, the marker tells them something tasty is available. Now we need to use that marker to get them to do things we want.
You may decide that all the training you want to do is to make sure they come when you call or use your marker. That alone can be extremely helpful, especially if your chickens are free range and you need to round them up early for some reason. If you feed distinct meals, the marker makes sure everyone comes running when you bring out dinner or breakfast.
Once the marker is charged, you can use it one of two ways. You can either guide or shape a behavior you want, or you can catch a particular behavior and click/reward it. When I was teaching the small birds to weigh, I taught them to come and touch a target stick with their beaks. Once they got that idea, all I needed to do was move the target stick closer and closer to the scale until they would voluntarily stand on it to be weighed. If you want to teach your chickens to go into a carrier easily, you can use the same concept. Show the chicken a chopstick. Don’t wave it around or menace them with it, just show it. If they look at it, click and reward. After a few times wait to click until they move their head toward the stick. Click and reward. Then wait until they touch it (it can help to put something tasty like peanut butter on the end for the first few times), click and reward. Next ask them to actually move towards the stick. Click and reward. Move the stick closer and closer to the carrier. Eventually you will be able to lure them into the carrier to touch the stick. That’s when you click and jackpot reward. The next time you need to load a chicken into a carrier just lure them with a target stick and treats.
For training to be successful all you need is to determine what it is you want your chicken to do, decide how to go about shaping that behavior, and make sure you have your marker and treats. The rest is up to the amount of time and effort you want to put into training.
Using this simple system you can teach your chickens just about anything. It’s a fun and rewarding way to build a better relationship and improve your communication with your flock.
This photo was taken moments after I used my marker. The girls were all out in the shelter belt but came instantly when they heard my sound.
It turns out that “bird-brain” isn’t quite the insult people thought it was. A study done in 2005 discovered that birds have up to twice as many neurons per brain space as do mammals. All birds have this characteristic and are much smarter than we ever knew. Crows and some parrot species have even been observed making and using tools. It turns out that our chicken friends are actually very intelligent and very trainable. You can download a pdf that details this study here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/227992290_Avian_Brains . There is an additional study on avian brains that published in 2016 that also makes some fascinating reading: https://www.pnas.org/content/113/26/7255
Many people who work with dogs have utilized a “clicker” as a training tool. The clicker serves as a marker, or bridge, to let the dog know they are doing something right, and a treat is on its way to them. It serves as a way to communicate what the trainer is looking for and gives the dog a sense of confidence by giving him cues that he can interpret. The use of clickers has been used to train all sorts of different animals; horses, cats and yes, even birds.
I first started using a clicker to train birds in the small bird flight at the sanctuary where I worked. We had dozens of cockatiels, budgies and small conures flying free in a building and outdoor space. Since birds are a prey species, they often hide their illness, and it can be difficult to assess the health of free-flying birds. One of the best ways to monitor a bird’s health is through weighing them. But chasing birds around the flight with a net is counterproductive. So I decided to try clicker training the birds to come down to the scale voluntarily for treats. It took less than a day to train them by using a target stick (I used a chopstick), a simple clicker and their favorite treats.
The same concept can be used to train our chickens to do virtually anything. Chickens are highly food motivated which makes them very easy to train. They just need to realize that the clicker (or a specific sound to mark the behavior if you don’t want to use a clicker) means they get a reward. It is easier to work with smaller groups (10 or less) but the clicker will work on a larger flock, it just might take awhile.
Clickers are very inexpensive and very easy to find. Amazon carries a huge variety. If you don’t want to use a clicker, you can use a certain call (here chick, chick, chick) or a certain sound like a hand clap or whistle. https://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-CLKR..._1_13?keywords=clicker&qid=1638982473&sr=8-13
The first step is to “charge” the clicker or the sound you choose as a marker. It is very, very important that a treat immediately follows the use of the click or the sound every single time, no exceptions. Take a chair out to sit with your chickens, use the marker, then offer treats. Do this several times until the chickens start heading for you as soon as they hear the sound. The marker now means yummy treats in their mind.
I usually charge the clicker for several sessions so the chickens get it firmly in mind that the sound means food. Just like they will come running when a rooster makes his “I found food” sound, the marker tells them something tasty is available. Now we need to use that marker to get them to do things we want.
You may decide that all the training you want to do is to make sure they come when you call or use your marker. That alone can be extremely helpful, especially if your chickens are free range and you need to round them up early for some reason. If you feed distinct meals, the marker makes sure everyone comes running when you bring out dinner or breakfast.
Once the marker is charged, you can use it one of two ways. You can either guide or shape a behavior you want, or you can catch a particular behavior and click/reward it. When I was teaching the small birds to weigh, I taught them to come and touch a target stick with their beaks. Once they got that idea, all I needed to do was move the target stick closer and closer to the scale until they would voluntarily stand on it to be weighed. If you want to teach your chickens to go into a carrier easily, you can use the same concept. Show the chicken a chopstick. Don’t wave it around or menace them with it, just show it. If they look at it, click and reward. After a few times wait to click until they move their head toward the stick. Click and reward. Then wait until they touch it (it can help to put something tasty like peanut butter on the end for the first few times), click and reward. Next ask them to actually move towards the stick. Click and reward. Move the stick closer and closer to the carrier. Eventually you will be able to lure them into the carrier to touch the stick. That’s when you click and jackpot reward. The next time you need to load a chicken into a carrier just lure them with a target stick and treats.
For training to be successful all you need is to determine what it is you want your chicken to do, decide how to go about shaping that behavior, and make sure you have your marker and treats. The rest is up to the amount of time and effort you want to put into training.
Using this simple system you can teach your chickens just about anything. It’s a fun and rewarding way to build a better relationship and improve your communication with your flock.
This photo was taken moments after I used my marker. The girls were all out in the shelter belt but came instantly when they heard my sound.
