I knew they were smart, but were they teachable? . Sure, my chickens knew the best places to find food, how to escape their coop and how to get into the barn. (Chickens hopping out of cat doors is a funny thing to see.) I had seen videos of chickens pecking only a red circle or blue square, but my chickens never seemed interested...they just ran me over to get the food they were supposed to only get when they pecked the shape. Well, today, I tried again with my buff orpington, Dandelion. She's my favorite and by far the tamest. She also goes wild for raisins. (Seriously, she gets a beady look in her eyes.) I rummaged around in my basement and found one of those plastic shape sorters for toddlers. I picked out a purple circle, red star, and green triangle. Armed with my shapes and raisins, I set out to the coop. ONE MINUTE LATER, Dandelion had conquered the art of shape pecking!!!! ONE MINUTE! It was so cool to see her little brain working, trying to figure out how to get the raisins! The red star is her friend. She is a very...erm...enthusiastic pecker though and completely ATTACKS the star every time.
She sure sounds intelligent! I taught my Columbian Wyandotte a few simple tricks a while back but I don't know if she remembers now. She would jump onto a little chair when I pointed and said "Up!" and also jump down and follow me.
