Ambassadors for the farm

[centrarchid]

I work at a land grant university where food production is a major concern. We have multiple annual demonstrations and shows concerning various aspects of agriculture and the research we conduct. My job is to attract kids, usually through petting zoos and like. Critters usually brought to pet are crawdads, tadpoles, big biting insects and sometimes really big fishes. This year trained chickens, juveniles about 12 weeks old were used. Two are birds being trained to come by voice command which they do. A gang of four were taken to a festival on campus to the "fairgrounds" and set loose near my usual attraction. Each time a small group was exposed to the usual round of smaller wildlife in the petting zoo, a chaser was made of calling name my trained chickens. One, sometimes two, would come cutting through crowd and fly up into my arm. We could even get birds to fly up into arms of kids that never came into contact with any type of bird prior. Eduardo and sister Sally were stars of show. They (birds) even impressed a couple old timers that raised chickens commercially. Once satiated, the chickens would even allow kids to pet them. It was not just a situation where chickens fed from hand but otherwise avoided contact. Sadly, one of the chickens ate my walking sticks while I was working with a group of kids. This use of chickens will be used in years to come.

 

[centrarchid]

Spring Feild Days with school children. Trained games used to introduce poultry. Preparation began nearly year ago.

Birds prepped for loading into hauler with minimal stress.

Eduardo calling plays in huddle. He also checks for clean hands.

Eduardo in middle of scrum. Kids were litterally crushing me.

Eduardo in dialog with little boy.

Eduardo performing strength test on budding soccer star. Mother insuring test is passed.

End of day and ready to walk home.

Yes, we made it back and no more darn mealworms!

 

[centrarchid]

Setup in county fair this morning. Aquatic critters in tubs.

Ace in action.

Blanca and 12 bitties were not released from cage this round because of a dog I considered to be a major risk. Owner and parent of owner did not see reason for concern.

Blanca and brood interacting with kids.

Aquatic critters getting some attention.

Ride in truck on way home. Inside as chicks showing signs of heat stress.

They got free-range time when we got home.

 

[centrarchid]

I am an educator. My background involving poultry is sound and well rounded and has involved actual livelihood made from chickens. My target audience has lost connections with almost all aspects of agriculture, to the point they do not know where there food comes from. My purpose is in part to excite the audience and show how they are connected to living animals.

The purpose is to expose the public to chickens in a manner that breaks down apprehension and promotes interest. The demonstrations include how the chickens can cause harm by allowing parties to touch the actual weaponry on the chickens as I describe how they are used. I stress communication systems and responses to the environment. More often than not, I operate in parallel at events where others are more focused on the production side of chicken keeping where they focus on culinary value. Birds they use are more often than not the backyard variety like you keep.

Some of what you complain about is not even shown to public outside this forum (trained to go into cage). The information is intended as a long-term resource where others can see some of approach used to make things happen.

The game fowl (fighting chickens) used for most of this effort are outside your realm of experience. They are known for an extremely broad range of behaviors that are plastic in they can be modified by interactions with their keepers. They are also core to my relationship with chickens so they are the population of choice for use in education efforts.

 

[centrarchid]

Ramping things up a bit now to deal with a major exhibit. Chick above now looking like

has been joined by a male cousin. Both are male. Soon to females that are full siblings to second male will be brought out. Both males come when called to fly up. They also go to roost when given signal. Chick above has been going to work with me most days to polish training and provide diversions for youth tours as they get ready for the main events.

Pullets will be similarly trained in preparation for functioning as broodies in a very public setting. The pullets will be setup to enable public to see nest preparation, egg deposition and incubation as part of a living display. They pullets will also be conditioned to work with many people, possibly with chicks in tow.

Orchard area has been modified to provide exceptional forage quality for the couple hours each day the birds are allowed to free range. Strips of mixed plants have been allowed to grow to a little over a foot high to serve as bio-attractor for insects. Insects and greens are of the type the chickens really like to eat.

Pens will be moved from another area so pullets and cockerels can each have their own pen. Pens will be moved every couple days to prevent damage to grass. Same area has very high dog traffic which helps with letting juveniles operate free-range without adults present. We have a hawk issue developing.

One of the cockerels is very precocious producing displays like a fully adult bird as he tries to attract my attention and that of other juveniles. Prior to being selected for this process he was successfully defending interest of brood mates even when challenged by American Dominique juveniles more than twice his size. He is aggressive. I will have to work on getting him to calm down as he need not be acting aggressive around humans when he goes to work. He is also a pretty little dude.

 

[centrarchid]

Three bare pens in place.

Mowed lanes roughly width of a pen.

Daughter helping to install covers. I do not like such covers as cause troubles when wind strong and coming from south by southwest. We live as head of a valley that funnels such wind. Better pens have flat top so covers can blow off, but these only spares. They will be swapped out by winter.

Pens in place and ready for birds. Black milk crates make so pens can be tilted up to allow free-ranging once birds imprinted on respective pens. Once birds return to roost, the milk crates are pulled back setting pens back down for night. Pens light duty without additional fencing which OK because in core of where dogs operate.

Pens will be moved incrementally down closely mowed lanes.`Normally pens are a little closer together without taller strips of grass in between lanes. I like this setup better that used where most pens are kept. Kind of pretty too.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
Eduardo and Sallie (adults) are American games. Colortypes - Eduardo is brown breasted brown-red and Sallie is female version of black breasted red (heterozygous for brown breasted brown-red). They are full siblings. Chick was sired by American dominique. She (chick) is smarter than pure dom in that she trains faster.

 

[centrarchid]

Here is where we used a swarm of honeybees to explain how colonies reproduce. Students were high school level.

When swarm first noticed, scout bees already indicating new hive location. Swarm launched and we walked with it for a little over a hundred yards before crossing a reservoir. Students were able to smell pheromone produced by swarm. I chased swarm almost 1/2 mile on foot but lost it when crossing river.

 

[centrarchid]

Got something into local paper. This group was very popular but will work to improve in coming years. Maybe some sort of game.

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http://www.newstribune.com/news/loc...ty-jaycees-fair-2017/684795/#photogallery_659

 

[centrarchid]

We survived. Over 1120 patrons stopped by our display. No chickens this round and they would have made it much better if we had.