Chicken Training

[Malibu99]

So... I found my old dog 'clicker' the other day along with a few chicken training videos. I am planning to keep a record of Miracle's progress on this thread; Feel free to join me.

What I'm planning to train Miracle to do:

-Jump
-Peck at a blue target (Most chickens peck at red; I want to see if they will do other colors)
-Dance (that'll take awhile; but it is possible. And I'm prepared for the challenge.)
-Obstacle courses

That's it for now, I might add more later. I will check off what she learns when she learns it.

I will also try to post videos of her tricks. Meanwhile, here's Miracle the chicken.

 

[centrarchid]

See if you can get her to fly point to point. Based on her looks she should be able to fly 10 feet horizontally with ease. You may also be able to train her to manipulate something to get a reward.

 

[Malibu99]

I will try that; yep, she's flown 30 feet in one go before. The top of the coop (middle of yard) to the property line. She is kind of a runt... Not a bantam, yet not full sized. she is a sweetheart too; she will wear clothes, loves cuddling, and of she's free ranging and gets scared, or wants to be picked up, she will fly on top of the coop.

Just found out she will jump for crackers. LOL. I am thinking of maybe training her to grab and pull a tiny little wagon or something.

 

[sharebear29]

Cool...I need to keep an eye on this thread. I've considered trying to train some of mine...but not sure where to start.

Thank you.

 

[centrarchid]

Try live mealworms. She will put forth a lot more effort for those than for any other type of treat, even crackers.

 

[centrarchid]

Look at what I managed with minimal effort with chicks. Same birds as adults could be called by name through crowd of people to fly up into my hands.

 

[Malibu99]

Wow, Centrarchid, that's awesome. I'll see if I can get live mealworms. Starting training today with dried mealworms for now... hopefully those will work.

 

[centrarchid]

Wow, Centrarchid, that's awesome. I'll see if I can get live mealworms. Starting training today with dried mealworms for now... hopefully those will work.

Dried are not as effective.

 

[Malibu99]

Dried are not as effective.

Okay, thanks. Where do you get live mealworms? I can't hatch my own. Will BOSS work better than dried mealworms? Those are the two things I do have.

 

[centrarchid]

Folks selling wild bird related products or pet stores. They cost about $7 per 500 mealworms but that can last a week's worth of training for one bird.