Give me some ideas for chicken tricks

[thndrdancr]

I want some ideas to teach a chicken tricks. This silly Lily is driving me crazy and she likes to learn, so maybe this would be a good way to keep her/us occupied.

I am serious, if anyone has any ideas for simple tricks like a dog would learn. I taught my dog to shake hands, and she was dumb as a post, so I know this gal can learn things that would be cute.

So...gimme some ideas, everyone!
Jill

 

[Kirstyaa]

The most my chicken does it answer to her name when she feels like it (lol) and stand on my leg if i sit cross legged on the ground. She does like her throat stroked rather a lot and will stretch her neck out a little in response

 

[hinkjc]

My husband taught our wild turkeys to fly from the roost to his outstretched arms and then they'd turn around (facing forward like he was) and lay down. They would respond when he put his arms out and clicked his fingers.

DD "trained" our chickens to jump up for blueberries. Hold them in the fingertips up over the head.

I have 3 hens who will hop on your lap for a snuggle with a finger click too. The one has to walk circles around you first to assess the situation, but she always hops up after some whining for me to invite her.

My Rocky (buff orp roo) always responds when I tell him to "go to bed" - he hops on the roost and lays down.

I'd imagine with food, you'd could teach them simple things like going thru a hoola hoop.

Jody

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

I remember back in the day, before it was politically incorrect, that there were dancing and piano playing chickens (not the same chicken; can they only learn one trick?) at the fair. You'd plunk a quarter in the machine, they'd dance, and then they'd get a treat at the end of their gig.

 

[TerrasCritters]

Check out
http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001/howitrained.htm

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i thought i read that the chicken danced when you put in a quarter because the floor had a heater under it that got hot so the chicken would hop around. i vaguely remember hearing or reading that years ago.

 

[hcammack]

you could clicker train your chickens we do that at the zoo.

Henry

 

[hatchcrazzzy]

my grand father said that the floor was heated up hot and it caused the chickens to dance.you could not get away with this today people would hollar.i would

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

I think the hot floor might be an urban myth. Those cages were very small, and if the floor was hot, the bird would not have been able to do repeat performances over and over and over again; it would have burned feet because it could never have escaped the heat. Also, in behavioral science, giving an animal a painful experience and then rewarding that experience will cause an animal to lose it's mind in short order. So, I just never did believe that story.

What would have caused the chicken to play the piano, if not the food reinforcement?

 

[LittleChickenRacingTeam]

I remember the penny acrade up at our cottage in the sixties. They had the dancing chicken glass booth which had a wire floor & cost a nickle to make the chook dance. A few years ago, I saw a similar one for sale at a flea market. I asked the vendor how it worked. The chicken danced cause the wire floor was hooked up to a 12 volt battery & the chicken danced/jumped cause of the shock it would get.

Anyways, I have a chicken who flys a kite & another that races pulling a chariot. So you can teach them tricks without hurting them.