November 2016 Hatch-a-long!!

[OneMountainAcres]

Thank you. Our DD enjoys working with animals, so last year she trained a few chickens for part of her 4H project. She made this video to show the detailed steps.

We taught several chickens to do misc. pet tricks. They really enjoy the mental stimulation & it makes for a better relationship.

awesome! Loved it and now my daughter wants to train a chicken

 

[Faraday40]

awesome! Loved it and now my daughter wants to train a chicken

Lucky for her that you're hatching some!
I say, "Go for it." When visitors see our trained chickens, it completely changes their idea of a a pet chicken.

My all-time fav hen was named Cuddles. She was trained to peck at a tiny black dot - like a period. I brought her to my classes sometimes & would ask the toughest questions. Her pre-made answer cards looked simple, but my students thought that not only could she read, but Cuddles knew all the right answers! From Literature, to chemistry, to geography, Cuddles always pecked the right answer. She enjoyed coming to school with me & showing off.

Sadly Cuddles past away in May 2016. Before she died Grace wanted to have her own chicken assistant & chose Bubbles. As smart as dear Cuddles was, Bubbles is smarter. Bubbles learned the basics in ONE session. By the end of the 4th session, she was using 3 targets. About a month later, she was introduced to playing cards. After the state fair, DD stopped doing the trick. Last month, she took out the cards & sure enough Bubbles remembered!

 

[kyeschicks]

Unfortunately It was not fertile but she did lay the two days after I set that one so I added in the other two. One of those other two are developing. I'm going to save her eggs the rest of this week, whatever she happens to lay and set them for the new years hatch a long. Hopefully a couple hatch.

I hope so too!

 

[OneMountainAcres]

Lucky for her that you're hatching some!
I say, "Go for it." When visitors see our trained chickens, it completely changes their idea of a a pet chicken.

My all-time fav hen was named Cuddles. She was trained to peck at a tiny black dot - like a period. I brought her to my classes sometimes & would ask the toughest questions. Her pre-made answer cards looked simple, but my students thought that not only could she read, but Cuddles knew all the right answers! From Literature, to chemistry, to geography, Cuddles always pecked the right answer. She enjoyed coming to school with me & showing off.

Sadly Cuddles past away in May 2016. Before she died Grace wanted to have her own chicken assistant & chose Bubbles. As smart as dear Cuddles was, Bubbles is smarter. Bubbles learned the basics in ONE session. By the end of the 4th session, she was using 3 targets. About a month later, she was introduced to playing cards. After the state fair, DD stopped doing the trick. Last month, she took out the cards & sure enough Bubbles remembered!

That's really awesome that Bubbles remembered her trick! I'm sorry that you lost Cuddles She sounds like she was quite a chicken!

DD is more than welcome to try to train one if she'd like to. I have a feeling that she'll probably have to wait until summer vacation though. Her schedule is so full right now that she barely has any time to herself. Between dance 2 evenings a week , girl scouts every week and 100 minutes of flute every week, she's a busy girl! Lucky for her, I hatch nonstop lol.

 

[NysiaAnera]

@NysiaAnera Adding young chickens to the flock is never easy. Only recently did I have broodies, so I always had to do the "look but don't peck" approach. Basically, the chicks I was hoping to integrate would move into the coop/run inside a separate cage. (Looks like you already have that. I had a mama heating pad set up that did very well helping the chicks feather out quickly.) When the days were nice, they got to go to the chicken tractor for grass time & returned to their coop cage at night. We trained them to walk back & forth. When chicks were between 7-10 weeks old & seemed confident enough, I still let them use the tractor & night cage - but began leaving the doors open. They enjoyed some freedom, but still had a safe spot to return for food/water. Because of previous experiences with broodies & adding chicks, my flock is not as [COLOR=696969]pecky[/COLOR] about young newcomers. Here's a video we made about it. At the time it was made, we had some hungry predators camping in the yard, so this bunch used the day tractor much longer than the night time coop cage.

Lol Nice! I love watching chickens run! Last time we introduced chicks, it was in the spring so we put the brooder outside and went through a several week integration process. I would do that again, but the temperatures are just way too cold now. I thought about putting the brooder into the hen house, but then there would be a heat lamp in there, and I don't want to endanger all our birds. I thouggt about purchasing a heating pad instead, still thinking about that option. Then, of course, I likely could just take them out in the middle of the night and stick them on roosts, and not worry about it. My chickens are so used to having chicks all over, and they are all pretty docile, so they probably wouldn't care much... but again, it is SO cold out there I cannot do that. So, now I am coming up with a design modification to accommodate this kind of situation in the future.

 

[Faraday40]

That's really awesome that Bubbles remembered her trick! I'm sorry that you lost Cuddles She sounds like she was quite a chicken!

DD is more than welcome to try to train one if she'd like to. I have a feeling that she'll probably have to wait until summer vacation though. Her schedule is so full right now that she barely has any time to herself. Between dance 2 evenings a week , girl scouts every week and 100 minutes of flute every week, she's a busy girl! Lucky for her, I hatch nonstop lol.

Your DD sounds a lot like mine. (but she plays clarinet instead of flute) She does dance (tap, ballet, & lyrical) & 4H. Daily house chores include caring for our 2 dogs and feeding the chickens. During the school year, I must do the cleaning of the coop, because she leaves for band at 6:45am.

 

[theceltichorse]

@Faraday40 How old do you think they should be before working with them? I'd love to train my two!!!
Mind are just babies-one week old.

 

[Faraday40]

@Faraday40 How old do you think they should be before working with them? I'd love to train my two!!!
Mind are just babies-one week old.

You can train chicks. They're naturally curious, so getting them to peck at something is very easy. (They have shorter attention spans, though.) Best thing to do is build a good relationship. Hold them for a bit to get used to handling. (I'm sure you're already doing this.) After some snuggles, say their name + give treat. That way when you call an individual hen, shey'll come. (Specific Name = treat!)

You can also train them to go into their cage / coop in the same way. Say "go coop" & start throwing mealworms down inside the coop. All chickens learn to follow the treats & that's an easy way to coop them up when needed during the day. Even if you never plan to officially train them, being able to easily get chickens back inside the coop is a good idea. When I go outside & have kitchen scraps, I call, "Ch-ch-chickens" and they all come running straight to me. Some may also follow me around without food, but when I make that call, ALL come running at their top chicken speed. So much fun to watch.

 

[theceltichorse]

You can train chicks.  They're naturally curious, so getting them to peck at something is very easy.  (They have shorter attention spans, though.)  Best thing to do is build a good relationship.  Hold them for a bit to get used to handling. (I'm sure you're already doing this.) After some snuggles, say their name + give treat.  That way when you call an individual hen, shey'll come.  (Specific Name = treat!)

 You can also train them to go into their cage / coop in the same way.  Say "go coop" & start throwing mealworms down inside the coop.  All chickens learn to follow the treats & that's an easy way to coop them up when needed during the day.  Even if you never plan to officially train them, being able to easily get chickens back inside the coop is a good idea. When I go outside & have kitchen scraps, I call, "Ch-ch-chickens" and they all come running straight to me.  Some may also follow me around without food, but when I make that call, ALL come running at their top chicken speed.  So much fun to watch.

What treats would you suggest for week old babies? I do hold them. Haha. As much as I can!

 

[Faraday40]

What treats would you suggest for week old babies? I do hold them. Haha. As much as I can!

If you soak their reg feed = simple treat
Plain scrambled or hard-boiled eggs are other good ones.
I wait until over 4+ weeks before trying mealworms, and avoid scratch grains until they're much older.

Young chicks don't get as excited about treats as much as the older birds. Teaching them about treats is one of those things that comes with age. (Think of a baby who plays with the shiny candy wrapper, compared to his preschool sibling who tears it open & devours the candy!) LOL