Can chickens be trained? Stupid rooster!

[KlaHaYa Gardens]

Chicken.Lytle :

Quote:
I just read your page. I'd be interested to know how my technique works for you. I think you may find you have quicker results without ever needing to touch the bird, or pen it.


I suppose I should do a video of this and post it somewhere . . .


It really does work, and the simplicity of it is remarkable.

Excellent suggestion! I would love to see a video. All my mental images of peacocks involve more of a relaxed saunter than a quick stalk.​

I was referring to a video of a "human" stalking birds.

If your mental image of a peacock is a relaxed saunter, or even a quick stalk, you are missing out. One of the most fabulous sights I've seen in my yard is a peacock tearing through. The road runner's got nothing on a peacock. It is graceful, it is lightening fast, it's stunning.

I also love to see the peacocks fly 60 to 80 feet up and roost in the trees. Their trains hanging down. The calling of one bird to another from tree to tree. Just beautiful music.


Anyway, back on track . . . the peacocks (not typically the hens) stalk, but its not at their top speed. It is fast initially -- faster than you and I could keep up with, but then it simply becomes a relentless pursuit.

My peacocks are "visiting" right now. If I bring them home and they stalk a bird, I will *try* to get a video of it.


Meanwhile, give my technique a try. It's simply very, quick-paced, unrelenting stalking of the offending bird.


Let me know how it works.

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

Quote:
OK, now I have a better mental image of the pace. I actually did mean a video of a human stalking, but the peacock video would be cool too.

 

[KlaHaYa Gardens]

Chicken.Lytle :

Quote:
OK, now I have a better mental image of the pace. I actually did mean a video of a human stalking, but the peacock video would be cool too.

Help me out.

Do you suppose your spouse would be kind enough to video YOU stalking a bird?​

 

[mariel37]

Gosh. This is a very interesting thread to me for a variety of reasons:

1. human behavior

2. prey animal behavior

3. roosters in particular


I am only two months into my chicken hobby, but I am well-versed in horse and human behavior. Horses and chickens have something very important in common - they are prey animals.

The prey animal psyche is totally different than a predatory species, i.e. humans, dogs, etc.

The posted suggestion that physical punishment to the rooster would further his opinion that you are a threat, is totally valid in the horse world. If I were to physically punish a horse - you know the tough "show 'em who's boss" mentality - it never works in the long run. It may short term, but it only serves to reinforce the fact that you are a predator and the horse (prey animal) only wants to survive another day. We cannot forget that concept when dealing with our prey animals.

Sooner or later, that 1200 pounds of power and muscle is going to turn the tables and someone will get seriously injured if not killed. If I had a dollar for every time I have heard from a horse owner or trainer, "Gee, I don't know what happened. Everything was fine, and then all of a sudden ..."

Since the #1 priority of any prey animal is to survive another day, they look very quickly for a leader, and latch on to whomever they feel will protect them. This is why you see gazelles or zebras jumping into the middle of the herd when a lion is approaching ... they don't care about their neighbor, they just want to save their own hide. This is also why so many people get hurt around horses because:

1. they failed to recognize the instinctual behavior, and/or
2. they failed to establish themselves as herd (or flock) leader.

The scolding technique works for predatory animals - scold your dog and they drop their tail and look sheepish. Use that same tone with a horse and they just look nonplussed. Makes no impact whatsoever. Different psyche and instincts.

- - - - >>>>> HERE'S WHY I AM POSTING ON THIS THREAD:

I cannot speak to what to do now AFTER the fact of this behavior from your rooster, and hopefully, you can gather some good ideas from other more experienced chicken people.

What I would like to emphasize is going forward into the future. Questions for the OP ... is your personality what people would refer to as "really nice" or do you feel you are a people pleaser? You always want people to be happy and valued? If so, this concept may be a little more difficult for you, because you may think you are being mean, but you are not - remember you have to establish yourself as the alpha in any animal relationship. And that doesn't mean you have to BE mean!

Our "inner energy" - the energy and state of mind we carry around our animals must be confident, immediate and consistent. The FIRST time an animal treats you as anything other than the leader, you must deal with that swiftly. And each and every time. Timing is SO important! It's easier if you are practiced in what to do to counter, so that when it does happen (and it will) you can react quickly.

The energy is NOT aggressive - it's confident, does that make sense? We have to say, "I love you, but you cannot behave this way. You are subordinate to me and that's the end of that story. There is no debate." (that works for 3-yo too, btw LOL!)



Okay ... I'll get off my soapbox now. I like to share what I know, hope that's okay! I wish you the best of luck and would be interested in hearing how this issue goes forward from here, so I may learn from you.

 

[2DogsFarm]

Excellently put, mariel37!

I too have a lot more experience with horses than chickens.
I always tell people a prey animal's instinct is to: Run First, Ask Questions Later
I also tell them a frightened horse can stop listening if it thinks fleeing is a better option than the protection you are providing.
No arguing unless you weigh 1000# too

"Instinctively", I dealt with my teen rooster's first (& so far only) aggressive act toward a human.
A friend was tossing scratch to the hens when he jumped at her - this is how she described it, my back was turned.
W/O thinking about what I was doing, I stalked him into the coop, picked him up and carried him back to her, where I had her pet him as the hens watched.
That was over a month ago, and so far no more aggression to me or anyone else.

No kids here, but I would not hesitate to get rid of this rooster if there were.
Just like I would not let a child near a horse who had displayed any aggression to humans.
No sense waiting for the other shoe to drop in either case.

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

Quote:
OK, now I have a better mental image of the pace. I actually did mean a video of a human stalking, but the peacock video would be cool too.

Help me out.

Do you suppose your spouse would be kind enough to video YOU stalking a bird?

Not a chance. The camera would explode.

 

[KlaHaYa Gardens]

I was raised with horses.

Horses we rode for fun. Trotters for racing. And regular "run around the track" race horses. One of our trainer's preferred "I'm the boss" techniques involved blowing tobacco up the horse's snout and pinning it to the ground as a colt.



I was raised with dogs.

As an adult, we've worked closely with a dog trainer for years, for "special" dog training (beyond obedience, agility, flyball, etc.) we worked to train a service animal or two. We get the whole "alpha" thing.



I was raised with chickens, too.

I keep chickens now. I am a "confident" person. My "inner energy" and my "outer energy" say so. But THAT doesn't matter with regards to aggressive roosters!

Chickens are VERY different from dogs and horses. Chickens do NOT emote. They can be "conditioned" but not trained. Dogs and horses can be "trained".


I know how to be the boss with a horse. I know how to make a vicious dog -- and I mean a VICIOUS dog -- that I've just met, "sit", "lie down", and "come" within minutes of meeting him. Dogs, that I have ZERO interest in, are quite "fond" of me and "submissive" to me -- apparently because of the message I send without effort.


HOWEVER, this does NOT translate to chickens. ABSOLUTELY does NOT. Chickens are wired differently. Walking "confidently" into a yard and emitting "confident inner energy" to a chicken, may as well be an invitation to get attacked if anything.

Asserting dominance over a chicken IS important, but it doesn't happen the same way as it would with a dog or a horse.



It bothers me that the implication to the OP is that there is a flaw with the OPs personality and the OP's child's personality that somehow "caused" the chicken to be aggressive. That simply isn't so. Neither BEFORE, nor AFTER.


I know you mean well, but so did a guy who sent me an email asking me to take his chickens because he was going to be homeless -- except for two hens (which he needed for eggs), and his "service rosster" that "predicted anxiety attacks" -- and this guy offers "chicken counseling services" and might become a "chicken psychologist" and he was "training" his chickens to use a "litter box" -- not that he'd had any success yet, but that's only because the chickens were still "experimenting" and knew that he was "saying 'something'" when he used the training word for litter box, but they "hadn't quite figured it out yet", but when they did, he was going to "lure them" with the "training word" to the litter box.

Anyone who has spent any reasonable amount of time watching chicken behavior would find his email to me, along with his ideas, absolutely hilarious and completely off-base. This self-proclaimed "chicken expert" -- who kept 9 chickens for over a year, thus his "expertise" -- was trying to translate dog behavior and dog training techniques to chickens, BUT THEY DON'T TRANSLATE.


Okay, I'm busting up laughing too much just thinking about this guy's 100 page email to me . . . a "service rooster"

. . . chicken counseling services

 

[ChickInDelight]

The only barnyard animal that has ever induced fear in my own youngsters was an attacking chicken - and my own, now-grown, three are pretty fearless. Even as young adults, they all remember that nasty chicken.

Consider carefully the fact that the chicken may damage your son, and also, that he may inflict patterns of fear and behavior on your son. How much is that rooster really worth? If I had not young ones around, I may consider trying a behavior modification program. I doubt your time and attention to re-train a chicken is worth the lesson you are teaching your son. Training is always easier than re-training.

What time is supper? I am in the mood for some roaster rooster.

 

[bakerjw]

I think that the point comes in a roosters life where its behavior has developed to what it is going to be. And in some breeds it boils down to aggressive genes. Their behavior might be able to be altered a bit but there are plenty of good roosters out there. Lots of good roosters. My 2 boys aren't 10 pound cuddly bundles of white fluff that love being held. I do pick them up off of the roost on occasion and they tolerate it and read me the riot act afterwards but they show no signs of aggression toward people at all. They tend to the hens and do good rooster things.

I guess a good point to make is that it is never good to get attached to a young rooster. Wait until they get older to completely appreciate them. There isn't alot going on between their ears.

 

[BuffsareBad]

I’m very new to chickens but if one of my 5 is aggressive to my 3 y/o daughter then its over for that bird. Simple as that. No rehab, no training. When she older then maybe not so fast but for the next few years the game is up for that bird.