Chicken Harness Training Diary

[robinwhiskers]

Day 3 (training session 1) I slipped one part of Jagger's harness over her head and gave her dried corn. She seems pretty chill when I put it over her neck and buckle it behind her wings and put her wings over the straps. She paced the border of the coop again, but would take treats out of my hand opposed to the ground. I let the other chickens out and thank goodness they're used to seeing Jags with her harness on! While the other chooks scratched for corn in the run Jagger continued to eat out of my hand. Jagger even did one of her tricks (ringing a bell) with the harness on, although during the time she wore it she kept looking down on it like "what on earth is this thing?". She didn't tend to care much while I took it off and accepted lots of yummy treats while I did so. So far, so good!

 

[Kiki]

I'm into dog training and I've taught the chickens some things (Jagger, technically my own chicken, can ring a bell, knows her name, and gets fluffy when you call her a pretty bird and all the chickens sort of know their names and come when called). Jagger is never feisty, she's sweet and quiet and very calm and cute and pretty. When she was only a month or two old for a week or two I did some harness training, so maybe that paid off. I'm harness training her because I want to be able to take her for walks (even if it's at an incredibly slow pace) so she can get mental stimulation from seeing our neighbors' cows and horses (that would be interesting) and if I ever wanted to take her to Tractor Supply, lol. (Our TSC has no chickens so she can't get diseases) Just a fun thing to do, of course I want it to get to where she has no stress wearing it. I'm not just doing this for my own pleasure obviously. I'll be posting a diary update every day, so stay tuned and I'll answer any more questions!

Other chicken owners probably frequent your local TSC...they can carry their chickens diseases in on their shoes.

 

[robinwhiskers]

Hmm, I didn't think of that. I may have to reconsider, unless I carried Jagger and she wore the harness and leash just to be cautious.

 

[Kiki]

You might want to start researching some of the most common chicken diseases, crazy how many nasty ones there are out.

I'd never take my chickens to a public place where other chicken owners frequent.

 

[robinwhiskers]

I'm just curious, if diseases can be that common, how do breeders keep their birds healthy even when taking them to shows often where lots of other birds are?

 

[BantyChooks]

I'm just curious, if diseases can be that common, how do breeders keep their birds healthy even when taking them to shows often where lots of other birds are?

First off they're tested for at least a few diseases. Then, most breeders serious enough to show are mindful of bird health and so are cleaner than other places. You also quarantine after shows and kill the showbirds (sadly) if they turn up sick.

Good luck with harness training!

 

[robinwhiskers]

Hmm, I'm just taking it one day at a time with the harness and then decide about all that. What I'm most excited for is to eventually get it to where she can walk with me down our gravel road (even if it's at an incredibly slow place, good thing she's ok with being picked up if need be) so she can see the neighboring horses, cows, and donkeys through the fence. She'd be quite interested, and so would the horses!

 

[robinwhiskers]

Day 3 (training session 2) I grabbed Jagger and had no trouble getting her to stay still getting the harness on. She did some pacing, but ate out of my hand whenever she could and wasn't too fazed. I'm soooo proud of her progress, she's such a sweet bird and she has the perfect personality to be learning to wear a harness and go for a walk. She's already had 5 amazing sessions. Tomorrow I'll do another training session with her in the morning, and for the second session tomorrow I'll clip the leash on her harness and let her run around with it (with the other chickens locked in of course so they don't chase it!). Pray it goes well! Fingers crossed!

 

[Kiki]

Can you post pictures?

 

[robinwhiskers]

I'm not sure how, but once she's fully trained for it (which hopefully won't be long!) I'll figure it out.