How trainable are chickens?

[6of6chicks]

Hi BYC,

Total newbie question, but how trainable are chickens? I have six 5-week-old Buff Orpingtons who mob me whenever I have food or treats. Every other time I'm with them they are calm and docile. They like being picked up and for the most part have stopped pecking me (a few very gentle thumps to the beak got that message across). But if they think I have food it's like they lose their minds and become this tornado of squawking, flapping, pecking monsters. They have food available 24/7, and they're plump little things so they're obviously eating well and aren't getting too hungry. Can I train them to be calmer about food? Is that even possible? (and how??)

That might be a stupid question, so feel free to laugh. I ask because 1) I'm totally new to birds, and 2) I've managed to teach them to come when I whistle, so I'm wondering if it's possible to teach them other behaviors.

Thanks!

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Hi BYC,

Total newbie question, but how trainable are chickens? I have six 5-week-old Buff Orpingtons who mob me whenever I have food or treats. Every other time I'm with them they are calm and docile. They like being picked up and for the most part have stopped pecking me (a few very gentle thumps to the beak got that message across). But if they think I have food it's like they lose their minds and become this tornado of squawking, flapping, pecking monsters. They have food available 24/7, and they're plump little things so they're obviously eating well and aren't getting too hungry. Can I train them to be calmer about food? Is that even possible? (and how??)

That might be a stupid question, so feel free to laugh. I ask because 1) I'm totally new to birds, and 2) I've managed to teach them to come when I whistle, so I'm wondering if it's possible to teach them other behaviors.

Thanks!

They are absolutely trainable. On the calmness at feeding time - it sounds like this is when you are giving treats, correct? How do you go about this - are you going into it with an excited attitude (voice, body language, etc)? Do you hand feed the treats or scatter/use a dish?

 

[6of6chicks]

It's mostly with treats, but they also get worked up about new food as well. I started hand-feeding with their regular food as soon as I got them (2 days old) to get them used to me and get them used to being handled. That worked out really well - they are super tame and like being picked up & stroked. But last week the corn was finally ripe in the garden, so I hand-fed them a few kernels to see if they would like it. They went completely nuts. I tried a few more times hand-feeding treats, but they peck so hard and get so wild that I gave up. The last few times I just scattered it and then stood back and watched the shark feeding frenzy that took place. If I don't scatter the treats IMMEDIATELY they will mob me trying to get at my hands.

I'm guessing I went wrong somewhere in my approach. Put a dog in front of me, ANY dog, and I can train it. But I don't know anything about training birds! Now it's like a comedy routine - open coup to mob scene (feathers, pecking, & squawking galore), hurl corn at them, slam doors shut and run away!

They're only 5 weeks old, so hopefully whatever bad habits I gave them I can still undo (?)

To answer the other questions - they're still eating the chick food out of a round chick feeder (the one with the quart bottle on top). I just fill it up once a day and there's always still food in there when I fill it up. I usually talk to them as I walk up to the coop. There are large vents (Houston heat), so they see me coming and crowd the openings. I've tried to make sure I use the same 'calm' voice I always use ("Hi girls..." etc.). Somehow they know when it's just me (and greet me nicely) or it's me with food (and greet me like velociraptors).

 

[aart]

You need to withhold the treat until they sit-stay.





JK....kinda ........ don't think chickens are as trainable as dogs...but maybe.

 

[Jersey101]

Actually withholding the treats is a good way to go about it! Maybe don't hold out for a sit-stay though!
Chickens are pretty responsive to training in my experience. Use the principles of positive reinforcement/negative punishment (rewards for desirable behaviour and removal or withholding rewards/desired objects for unwanted behaviour) just the same as you would with a dog... Just a dog with extremely low attention span and no motivation without food!

I would only give them the food once they are calm. Might take a while of waiting, but if you give them the food when they are mobbing you then you are teaching them that this is what they need to go to get food. Basically they think mobbing you is the cause of the food arriving. You need to teach them that being calm is now the way to get food.

It takes a surprisingly short amount of time for chickens to understand things like this. I recently got fed up with my chickens habit of suddenly deciding to fly out of my hands when I'm holding them, so I've started working on only letting them go when they are calm. If they begin to fidget on the way to the floor, I bring them back up towards my body (or just stand back up with larger breeds), wait a second and try again. Its only taken a couple of repetitions for even the most flighty ones to calm down a little and wait to be set free.

I even had one hen that I taught simple tricks using well timed food rewards...yes, my friends and family so think I'm slightly mad