I kind of wonder about some chickens intelligence...

[thndrdancr]

Ok, I know I posted last nite about trying to look thru my EE's feathers to figure out if she has an ingrown hair, its her gland, or what have you.

Well, she is a smart lil bugger and the loves to jump on my shoulder. Now this chicken will ONLY poo on me if she is mad. Its only happened about 5 times in her life and its only when she is ticked off with me about something. She will usually poo before she jumps on me, or if she has to go, will jump down, so she KNOWS. She is no dummy. If she is in a loving mood, she will even start to squirm a lot when she has to go, so I can tell and I let her down, she goes and then she will jump back on my shoulder or lap.

Well, the lil booger jumped on my shoulder, cuz mom was talking to her thru the window, and my Fussy wanted to "see" her. Then, next thing ya know...kerploooop, then she jumped down and strutted off, all self satisfied, the lil stinker! I got to thinkin, why is she mad....ohhhhhh, yea last nite....lots of indignity...

Darned chicken!

 

[TreyClark281]

lol silly chicken.

 

[PurpleChicken]

I'm still trying to figure out the poo timing of my chickens but they
have only poo'd on me a few times. This is amazing considering
the amount of time they spend on me.

Now Vinny, my conure, is trained. She knows that when I open her
cage door she has to poop before I pick her up and will do so within
30 seconds of opening the cage. When she has been on my shoulder
for a while she'll fly back to her cage, poop on the top, then squawk at
me to pick her back up. An occassional accident is rather uncommon.
If she is on my chest, under the covers in bed, she'll NEVER poo.
She'll emerge from under the covers and poop on the comfortor but
will usually give me enough time to get her back to her cage. Now if
she is on my shoulder and I'm walking around all bets are off. I
think she gets nervous or something.

I don't think I have used the word poo so many times in my life.

Chickens are smart.

 

[FarmerDenise]

I definitely think that chickens are quite smart (way smarter than they are given credit for) and that at least some can be potty trained, same as parrots etc. Refer to my post answering "Potty Training Chickens".
D

 

[rosyposyosy]

how did you train your chicken to do that? i want a relationship with that with at least one of my chickens! please tell me how that ended up happening. i am getting a chick in august maybe i can tyry that with her

 

[PurpleChicken]

Are u asking me or FarmerDenise?


If your asking me it was simple. First, Vinny is a parrot, not
a chicken but I suppose this would work with a friendly chicken.
I'd stand in front of the bird until she pooped then I'd pick her up.
This took a lot of patience. When she pooped on me I'd immediately
throw her back in the cage. She figured it out on her own.
"Poop, I go on his shoulder... Poop on his shoulder and I go back
to the cage..."

 

[rosyposyosy]

haha yeah. my parrot just says go poop pedro when he is ready to go poop. he also says it when hes bored and craving attention... but yeah i was referring to a chicken. currently my 2 pullets (used to have more) hate me. i am working on that, by getting them a treat everytime i go outside, but i dont think thats working... i had a roo who i absolutly loved and i am replacing him with a cuckoo maran chick, and i want at least one chicken to love me

 

[PurpleChicken]

Good luck to ya. Chickens really have diverse personalities.

 

[barg]

Better trained then mine, hehe.
Does she know your fingers arnt worms, mine dont know that either.

 

[thndrdancr]

I have wondered about potty training her, I was the one who posted oh so many months ago, how she would hold it when I had her in the box, cuz she didnt want to "soil" her box up, and hated walking in it.

I am not real sure how FRIENDLY she is...she is a bit like a cat we used to have we called Miss Priss, she HATES being picked up and handled, and is very flighty, but loves attention on HER terms. If she wants it, she will jump on my shoulder, come up to me, jump on my lap, etc. She KNOWS I dont like being pooped on. Like I said, if she is in a loving mood and not mad with me, she WILL go before she jumps on me, and makes a deliberate effort to NOT go on me, I have seen it and it amazes me no end.

This evenin, she was asleep in her box in the kitchen and I was microwaving a bbq sandwich. She woke up, hopped out, walked over to me to see what I was doing. So I gave her a bite. She didnt like it. So she walked back over, hopped back into the box and went back to sleep.

She really does NOT think she is a chicken. The fact that if I dont have the fan on, and she is hot, and she will jump on the edge and look at it, then look at me...and keep doin it til I turn it on, tells me she has some real brain functioning going on. That kind of thing...

She is one of the reasons I have procrastinated on (finishing and) putting her outside in a coop, she cries and cries if she is out when it starts getting dark and it just breaks my heart.

On the other hand, my other chicken Red, I cant say she is smart and will just go "whenever" she has to. lol I love her but no brain in that lil pea head.

I think the one that was my lil cross beak might have smart too, she would jump on one thing to get to the next higher up. She wasnt particular about her feet tho, but I could see her work the process out in her head ahead of time, fascinating to watch that process. Red tries to go straight to thing she cant reach right off, then when she fails, gets upset and wont try anymore. lol

Jill