Experiment in classical conditioning to make quieter chickens

[LCEchickens]

I am in a similar situation with my chickens (actually just one loud hen). I realized early on that I was the problem. By going out when she started complaining and letting her out of her run, I was reinforcing her behavior. I have been an animal trainer for years at a zoo. The only training I have ever seen work for any length of time has been with positive reinforcement. With some animals you can extinguish a behavior by ignoring it. This is what is working with my hen. If she is yelling, I ignore her...when she is quiet...I show up and open her door or throw in some treats. As long as I am consistant, it is working. I have seen people put the unwanted behavior on a cue (ie: your hens go nuts with noise when you give them a command) and then never give the command!! Not sure this would work with chickens though!

It would be an interesting experiment though!! I wish you luck with your training. I have seen some amazing things done with operant conditioning when used correctly (even with chickens!)

 

[Orange Ribbon]

This thread has me laughing my butt off! Poor Matimeo would be in the penitentiary for life if some people had their way. Years ago I had a neighbor who wouldn't keep his goats penned up and they kept coming in my yard. I talked to him several times about it, but he wouldn't put them up. One day he came by and gave me a pellet pistol. He said to shoot them if they came in the yard again. So after shooting it enough that I knew it wouldn't go through their hide, I did! I burned the leader's butt up a couple times, and they never came back again.

On another note, when I was a teenager, me and one of my brothers were in the basement shooting pellet guns at each other. Our rules were no shooting above the waist. He had me pinned up behind the dryer and being a big boy I couldn't get all of me behind it. One leg stuck out on the right and he shot it. I'd pull that one in and the other would stick out on the left, and he'd shoot that one. He was really burning me up! So I took off across the basement for better cover and I just pointed the gun in his direction and shot without aiming as I ran. Dang if I didn't hit him right between the eyes. I took a look at it and there was a little round bloody spot about like a scratch. We decided we better not do that anymore. A few days later he was sitting at his desk in school and a boy turned around to talk to him. The boy looked at my brother and said, "What's that piece of metal sticking out of your skin between your eyes?" Sure enough it was the pellet! So, boys and girls, don't be shooting bb's and pellets at each other. Just chickens and goats. JUST KIDDING!

 

[whoacowboy]

Goes to show you these chickens are getting off easy!

 

[Rustywreck]

There are a few problems with the BB gun/water plan. First, whatever reinforcement you use (positive or negative) has to be consistant and immediate. Chances are you won't be have to have a bead drawn on them throughout the day to provide the immediate reinfocement. If you are slow to reinforce, you could, theoretically, be teaching them to make noise. Also, if you are only implementing this training in the morning and not the rest of the day the inconsistancy will work against you.
You also will need to find a way to make sure that the reinfocement is associated with the behavior. In otherwords, the chcken has to be able to know that it is receiving the reinforcement for making noise and not something else. Since you have to be present to shoot them with the BB gun or whatever, it is likely that they will connect you with the reinforcement; that is, they will learn the gesture of you raising the BB gun as the thing to avoid.
I don't think chckens have the cognitive ability to learn the what you want them to in the way you are teaching them. Good luck with the problem though.

 

[matimeo]

Update:

Today the chickens made zero noise. I think they must have quickly learned that squawking brought no reward. I'm optimistic we won't have to do much else to keep them quiet. I think the automatic door has been helping so they can expect when to be let out without having to see us or call for us to meet some need that they have. I don't know if the squirt gun helped to accelerate the change process by introducing a negative stimulus (on top of them just not getting a reward for making noise) or if they would have stopped anyway. In reality (as someone pointed out) there are way to many variables and without several control groups of chickens I'll never really know what made the difference- but I'm glad to not have to hear them so early!

 

[RickMiller]

I totally understand what you are getting at. I would maybe go with a squirtgun like the supersoaker you said your wife used but I understand your wanting to find a way to quiet the chickens. I am only really concerned in the early morning, after about 9:00 am they can yell all they want but I too have neighbors that I don't want woken up at 5:30 in the morning. It doesn't happen every morning but we have 2 that take turns being as loud as possible first thing in the morning, maybe 4 days a week. When this happens, I usually throw on clothes as quickly as possible and run out to give them some scratch to quiet them down. I was afraid of this being possitive reinforcement for this behavior but since they do not do it every morning, I don't think they are doing it for treats.

I give my three closest neighbors eggs every once in a while and ask if they are still ok or if the chickens ever bother them and they all say no, it is fine. I didn't know two of them until I paid my first visit. I would try that route if I were you because I doubt you will be able to "train" them to not squawk when they want to.

 

[matimeo]

I haven't posted on this thread in a long time and I just wanted to give an update. After making the changes I noted, the chickens went through a couple of phases where they were noisy again. Without even having to squirt them after the first few days, the noisy times seemed to be just little bursts of old behavior but not a complete return. Now it has been several weeks and they don't ever make noise early in the morning. They still do their egg song and whatnot, but nothing crazy early.

So take heart all you backyard chicken farmers who worry about their noisiness. There's most likely something you can change in their environment that can reduce the noise level. As others have argued (and with whom I agree), chickens will be chickens and still make noise, but I think it is probably very possibly for just about anyone to isolate and change the variables that make their chickens EXTRA loud.

Matimeo

 

[brandislee]

Quote:
I know this post was like five pages ago (I just read it, though) and I just wanted to add that, while not as extreme, my mom was shot in the shoulder by her brother with a BB gun when she was a kid. Her pinkie and ring finger on her right hand have been paralyzed ever since.

So while I'm choosing not to weigh in on the matter at hand, I strongly discourage anyone from thinking that you can't hurt anyone with a BB gun.

 

[welasharon]

Quote:
I read this and realized I was doing the same thing inadvertantly. I have a serama that screeches like a banshee in the mornings...early mornings. She was so bad that she would wake me up and I would go out and feed them. After reading your post I stopped going out to feed them unless she was not screaming. It worked. Very, very seldom do I ever hear her and when I do it is very short-lived.
Thank you. I can smile roll over and go back to sleep with the roosters crowing but she was a nightmare of noise.

 

[MANOZ]

i think the simplest thing would be to just give your neighbors free eggs, apologize to them for any noise the birds make,then hatch some more to keep the neighbor payed off......lol works like magic and everyone's happy.save your pellet gun for the coons and possums.