Can chickens be trained? Stupid rooster!

[mariel37]

Quote:
I am assuming you are directing this at me since I am the only one who brought up personality.

And if for some reason you felt I was referring to any part of some one's personality as a "flaw", you are very mistaken. I am a trainer of people, with my specialty being personality profiling and behaviors. The second sentence of each and every one of my presentations is "There is no right or wrong." I truly believe that, how you took it is not how it was intended.

I was only asking, because one of the traits of someone of the really nice "people pleaser" style of personality sometimes has difficulty with the being "assertive" part of leadership. By nature, they prefer to be in the background.

Besides, I was asking for my personal inquiry only. I am truly interested since this is what I do for a living. So, please smooth your ruffled feathers. No offense was intended.

Also, I fail to see where I wrote that what I said applies to chickens. I was pretty clear that chickens are not my specialty, but I was also clear to draw the predator/prey connection and the psychology behind it. I also said that what to do with this rooster is left up to those who have more chicken experience than I.

Didn't I? I'd have to go back and look, but think I was pretty clear in that fact.

So, please calm down. No harm was meant at all to anybody - I'm sorry you took offense at my obviously feeble attempts at sharing my thoughts or my experience in Natural Horsemanship and Horse Psychology. I'll try not to upset you again, but I can't promise.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
This. There are many good tempered roosters out there, why put up with one that can permanantly injure a child? What's more important? The child, every time.

Chickens are NOT people, horses or dogs.

 

[Mervin]

Quote:
I'd like to second what bakerjw said and take it a bit further. I think, like bakerjw, that you might be able to altered behavior a little. I think, however, there are some roosters that can't be changed or at least not significantly enough to warrant them sticking around. Even if I can/could make a significant improvement, I'm not sure I'd let the rooster remain on premises. Roosters, IMO, are good for three things...
1. Protecting/tending the hens
2. Making more chickens
3. Over dumplings
Their performance of the first two is inversely proportional to the probability of the third at my place. If they're not good at item #1, I have no desire for them to participate in item #2 which leads to item #3. Similarly, if they've got a track record with regards to human aggression, I have no desire for them to participate in item #2 which, again, leads to #3. Who knows, maybe I could get good a rooster-behavior modification. I really don't want to though. I'm guessing that if I have to do that for one generation, I'll have to again for successive generations and that doesn't appeal to me one bit.

 

[Mrs. K]

what bothers me is the original posters statement that the attacks are not real bad. They are going to get worse. These first attacks are a warning to you, that this rooster is not a good match to a family with a small child in it. Even if they were cooped up 24/7, I would not keep this roo. Would you keep a rattle snake around your child?

In my honest opinion, I do not recommend keeping any rooster with small children around. Just keep hens until your kids grow up. The brain of a chicken is small, with little reasoning skills. One cannot count on an intact male animal's behavior. Those people that were talking about horses, are you talking about stallions? Extreme caution needs to be used around adult male animals. A child does not have those skills or attention.

MrsK

 

[FireTigeris]

Chickens can be conditioned, they are often the vict- er... subjects of clicker training...

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1906

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/2854

http://www.training-dogs.com/blog/clicker-training-chickens.html

etc...

Just saying that if you want to train him to go to a particular place every time you (do action/word/sound) then click and reinforce it.... you -could-

I do not keep agressive roosters myself tho- one (free chance) and done...

 

[acissej]

Wow, thank you all for such thoughtful responses! My husband tried the stalking technique last night. Beatrix (our roo) doesn't really walk away when you walk up to him quickly. He stands his ground and jumps at us. But eventually he walked away as hubby was standing there, and hubby followed him around the yard for about 5 minutes. He said Beatrix was pretty nervous about it.

I don't know though. I don't want my kids to get attacked, not even once. My son is 3.5 and he is pretty aware to stay away from the roo, but all it takes is one instance. Our daughter is only 7 months but it will be a concern for her soon as well.

Is there any problem with not having a rooster? Does he protect the flock? Could there be more problems with predators without him? Currently we don't have any problems with predators *knock on wood*. We have no interest in making baby chicks.

 

[KlaHaYa Gardens]

Quote:
Your husband should walk quickly enough that the bird doesn't have the option of standing. Ever seen speedwalking? That's the pace. Go STRAIGHT at him and DON'T stop. Let him think you'll go straight into him if he doesn't turn and run.


Keep up the stalking! Do this several times throughout the day over the next two days. (And any time you want to remind him. He will effectively turn "wimp".)


The nervousness you mentioned is exactly what you want to see and reinforce with more stalking.

Let me know how it goes!

 

[Chicken.Lytle]

I practiced rooster stalking today. Works a treat! I was already doing this, but at a slower pace. The speedier pursuit got a much stronger reaction from the rooster.

BTW, any time the rooster fails to get out of my way I just walk into him. He only did this once deliberately.

 

[KlaHaYa Gardens]

Chicken.Lytle :

I practiced rooster stalking today. Works a treat! I was already doing this, but at a slower pace. The speedier pursuit got a much stronger reaction from the rooster.

BTW, any time the rooster fails to get out of my way I just walk into him. He only did this once deliberately.

That's what I'm talking about!!

*Thrilled that you guys are trying this!*

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
You don't need a rooster. A good roo will provide a front line of protection in being a meat shield, and seeing as he's "protecting" his girls from you, he'd probably be good at protecting them from anything else by scaring them off or him becoming the meal instead of one of the girls.

One thing to note... a rooster who may see adult humans as humans to avoid, might not think the same of a smaller human.