Potty Training Chickens, How-to!

[The Gremlin]

Quote:
Not that far from reality, a lady here in Corvallis managed to teach the chicken to fly to her hand (she's a professional chicken trainer apparently, didn't know they existed), if the load was extremely small, it could be done. All it takes is careful application of magic!

 

[SproutGirl]

So what do your house chickens do all day? My chickens spend their days looking for insects and tasty weeds. I can only imagine them scratching up the carpets thinking they can get to bugs and dirts somehow. Isn't it chicken instinct to hunt and peck? Won't they think electrical cords are wonderful worms? Or try to eat any little thing they might find? I just can't imagine a chicken in a house. How do you guys live with them?

 

[Dinkadoo]

My step grandmother used to keep her pullets in the house all the time. She would put little diapers on them.

Of course, all the adults thought she was a nut but as kids we loved to go to her house and see chickens with diapers on. LOL

 

[materum]

So, assuming you worked with a day old chick, how long would the entire potty training process take approximately?

 

[roadislandred]

Chickens can be trained to do lots of tricks also, I have seen them dance for treats play tic tac toe play the piano etc, so it is possible but for me I just put them in a coop and say lay mama some eggs.

 

[goldnchocolate]

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Here is a link for Karen Pryor's clicker training site and it includes birds:
http://www.clickertraining.com/allanimals

 

[Miss Sebright]

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Cool!!! Though I already have a chicken that lives in the house and she poops inthe bathroom sink, I didn't train her to do this. Oh and to you people who don't think chickens are very smart... you are soooo wrong!!! River is the one that lives in the house and one day we put her in the coop for the day with the other birds, well there was a hole in the top of the coop wire about 6 in by 6in because of the tree. We got home after dark and turned on the porch light so we could get inside, and found River asleep by the door waiting for us to come home so she could sleep in her cat carrier. She is the only chicken that figured out the hole, but she is a year older than the others.

 

[Miss Sebright]

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Well River doesn't act like a chicken as much as she acts like a dog or person, she watches TV and movies with us, she follows me around the house, she begs for food , and will stay up till 3 am If we do

!!!

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

If you train a momma hen to poo in a certain spot, will she train the chicks to do the same?

 

[Chickenaddict]

I think I'd have to train with the clicker because the whistle is what I use for getting them to come to me.... Just had a thought of one of the neighbors walking their dog and whistling a litle tune only to look over and see all of them pop a squat at the same time

. I do believe it can be done tho, my cochin hen who has spent a few winters in the house with me tells me when she has to poop and never goes on your lap or the floor. That started when I had her in the house over winter the first year because she was sitting on eggs, twice a day i'd get her off the nest and onto some newspaper and thats where she went every time.