Chicken Tricks

[Project Blue]

A few years ago an ad was posting in my local Craigslist, saying they had two trick roosters for sale. Both knew the trick of playing dead on command and the seller posted pictures of roosters in a prone position as well as normal. I doubted it at the time, but now I thought I'd ask, is it possible to teach chickens tricks? Many moons ago, when I was a kid, I hatched a few chicks out of a cardboard incubator with a light bulb. Those chicks were handled quite a bit and would ride on my shoulders as I walked around the neighborhood. I think of this now as less of a trick and more of hanging on for dear life. So has anyone trained their chickens to do something specific out of normal for a chicken to do?

 

[nuthatched]

It is possible to teach a chicken basic tricks, however, laying a bird on its back suffocates it into unconsciousness.

 

[Omelette-in-progress]

It is possible! Some chickens are actually quite intelligent (by chicken standards) while others... well not so much. Mine come running when I whistle, (not sure that counts as a trick) one will fly to my arm, however I know that trying to train my frizzle (my profile pic) would be a pointless endeavour. So it is absolutely possible, but it all depends on your flock.

 

[Altairsky]

My chickens know their name.

 

[MROO]

My chickens know their name.

Many of mine do, too! And while it's not technically a "trick," my roosters and a few of my hens will walk on a leash. I used to do breed conservation talks in classrooms and control was a "must," so they learned. It's pretty cool to walk into a classroom with a tiny rooster on your shoulder and a massive BJG hen on a leash!

 

[Omelette-in-progress]

My chickens know their name.

I've been wanting to try this for a while now! How did you manage it?

 

[Mother of Chaos]

With two of my older ones, they learned their names as I repeated them over and over when I greeted them or gave them raw almond slices, always making eye contact.

With the third, it was from continually hearing me holler, “Trudy, NO!!” She then freezes very impressively. (In addition to the greetings and almonds.)

(Trudy is the Barred Rock in my current avi pic.)

 

[Altairsky]

I've been wanting to try this for a while now! How did you manage it?

To teach them their name, I always called their name and fed them BSF while calling them. Obviously you need to be able to do this one bird at a time. So if you call for one specific hen, you should feed only this specific hen.
They also know the command "in" and "out" if I want them in the coop or out of the coop. I thought them this with the shepherd stick.