Potty Training Chickens, How-to!

[vanillaice]

Love this!! I am currently in the process of potty training my chick so she can live in the house because the other chicks won't let her eat or drink! She loves being in the house!

 

[AnRamire]

The only chicken in my house is in 1 of 2 places...
Hatcher/incubator, or refrigerator...

Agreed

 

[hedz82]

Agreed

Mean, but funny. I have two house chickens, they both poop about 2.5 times an hour, I have calculated, which isn't as bad as one would think.My hand-reared hen also tries to not poop at night when she's on the bed, there's usually only one dry one. Sounds gross, but its not really, just a bit of grass, fruit and insects. Think of dogs eating human faeces and licking their genitalia and then sleeping in people's beds and kissing you in the face. Chickens are amazingly clean. You know the black oily layer you get when scratch a dog or a horse? Chickens don't have it. They're pristine. You can scratch a chicken for hours and you won't have to wash your hands.
Just make sure they're healthy and dewormed regularly. This over-hygiene with disinfectants everywhere is bad for our immune-systems and the environment and it breeds superbugs.
Oh, and by the way, the most pathogens you will ever pick up is from that chicken in you refrigerator, not the one in your bed!!
Trust me, I am a PhD student in Microbiology!!
House-chickens are THE best pets ever!!

 

[hedz82]

P.S. Leather sofa and hard floors are a must though. I tried to have a rug once. Forget it.

Here's a link to an article about chicken intelligence. You can look for the actual papers from there..

http://modernfarmer.com/2016/03/chicken-facts/?utm_source=Modern+Farmer+Newsletter&utm_campaign=9b354438b4-Monday_March_14_20163_14_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e8a89c7e43-9b354438b4-75451617&mc_cid=9b354438b4&mc_eid=7760fe8d56

 

[DuckysGran]

I have should chicken, she's a pet! Crazy I know! Anyway I've been watching her all day and there is no warning or "thing" that she does before pooping in the floor!

I guess I'll be ordering diapers, although she is caged when no one is home it's a pain constantly cleaning up!

 

[nlc219]

I wish i would have found this article earlier it is very interesting considering my girls try to come in the house all the time. They are free range and if i leave my door open during the day they walk right in LOL

 

[kajira]

Posting so I can bookmark to find this thread later. My daughter wants to potty train her new silkies she's getting.

 

[arleneforrest]

what do i use in my chicken poop box? cat litter, paper, dirt? i have an abundance of saw dust, can i use that?

 

[SpunkieT]

The first step to forming your chicken into a wonderful pet is potty training.so you can bring your favorite chicken inside, and enjoy each others company more often, without having to pickup after him at the same time.

A few notes:
1. In order to potty train your chicken,He MUST be hand tamed this mean he can sit on your hand without assistance.(Such as holding him in place or having both hands on him).This means the chicken should sit freely on your hand, and more importantly,enjoy it.

2. There will be accidents even after training your chicken to use a specified area to poop, just as would a dog, or any other household pet, accidents happen, you may have to pick up a few .

3.No Praise! Chickens do not do well with complex words as praise it will just confuse things, and we do not use them to tell them that they have done a good job. If you want to reward a chicken, give him a treat.The way to a chickens heart is through his stomach.

4. Patience! Training your chicken does take time, especially with complex exercises such as this, you must be patient and work with your chicken.

5. The younger the betterAs with any animal, Young chickens who have been hand tamed make the best candidates for potty training, it is easier to train them at a younger age(around 3 week's is optimal) but this is not saying that it cant be done with older birds.

Ok let's get down to business! (no pun intended)

First we will teach your chicken to poop on command, this is not absolutely necessary but it does help a lot. Training this behavior is all about Anticipation anticipating when your bird is going to go is a key factor in training him. Many birds ruffle their feathers right before they do, some don't. watch your bird in the coop and, see how he acts right before pooping.

When you bring him inside have an area for him to go in, Such as a litter box, or paper's.

Hold your chicken on your arm, and do something idle like watching tv, or even forum'ing on BYC, watch your bird closely for signs that he is about to go.

Side-NoteYou need a signal such as a Click,hand signal, or whistle for the next step,No words!! this will be the command for pooping, try to choose a signal that you don't use everyday , it may lead to accidents)

When you think the bird is about to go, swiftly take him to the designated area and hold him over it, until you hear the tell-taleSquit! use the signal that you've chosen , and IMMEDIATELY reward him with a treat.

Repeat this process when you think he is about to go, until you can give the signal for him to go!

Once you have trained the above you can move on to the next step,this one is pretty easy.

During training the above
you should have noted a pattern in timing around which your bird will poop,
when it's almost time, set the bird down on the area designated,and give the command for poop,if he goes reward him promptly, if he doesn't do not reward him. (Only reinforce the behavior your trying to train, nothing else.) Systematically practice this exercise until he start's going on his own.

Wishing you good luck and lot's of Fun-
Mark

(A.K.A. Hackles)

PS:If there is interest I will write another article keeping chickens as house pets just let me know!

what would be a treat for a little baby chicken it doesn't like anything but its food, sesame seeds, the crumbs on the carpet and the bugs out side.

 

[clickerchick727]

Chickens absolutely do have the brain power to learn where to potty and many other things. Birds in general are smart creatures. I am a dog trainer, but I have also trained my hens to run a chicken-sized agility course: balance beam, teeter-totter, weave poles and a tunnel, all with clicker training. Clicker training would work very well for potty training. But note that the click marks the behavior you want to reinforce. It should NOT be the cue.