Inadvertently trained chickens

[Saltysteele]

i've got an orange pumpkin Halloween bucket that i keep their corn in and feed them from (their favorite treat), and if they hear the corn in it when i shake it they come running (they're fat sussex, so it's amusing

)

 

[andalusn]

I use my husband

he steps outside and does his funny buuuuck, buuuuck, buuuuuuck call and the next thing you know there are pounding drumsticks running across the yard to find the goodies he usually has in his hand. Of course don't do it and not mean it... a dirty look from a hen is a sad thing.

 

[kimntep]

BOSS is the way to go around here. I use any container that makes a good sound when I shake and they can hear it for what seems like miles! They all come at me in a full running chicken stampede and it warms my heart every time. They follow me right to their yards and the big girls go to their side and the littles to theirs. I love them.

 

[stilldeb]

Mine go insane for dried mealworms. They like other stuff, but mealworms are their favorite treat. If they see me with the worm container, they all start pacing and going nuts. Or if I say "who wants worms?" they also go crazy. If they are out free-ranging in the yard and I need for them to go back in the pen, all I have to do is shake the worm container in the gate and they will run in and I'll give them some worms for going in.

deb g

 

[poseygrace]

These are great stories! I love how mine follow me around the yard, just in case some BOSS should fall out of my pocket.

 

[azygous]

I just recently found that all I need to do is call, "Come on you guys! Come on! Hurry up, come on!" They all turn on a dime and run straight for the pen and crowd around in a circle at my feet.

In the beginning, I'd shake the scratch grain jar and, because I'm impatient sometimes, I'd urge them to hurry. Now I don't even need the grain jar. It's very convenient if I need to gather them in in a hurry due to danger approaching from the forest and I don't have time to go get the jar with the grain.

When they were all tiny chicks, when I brought them a treat, I'd call, as I approached their brooder, "Babies! Baaaybeeees!" Even after they'd grown and gone to live in the coop, that call worked to get the youngest bunch to come to me.

Training chickens is easy and a very useful, too.