Show off your Peas!

[zazouse]

Trefoil that blak stuff is actually dark green... it fresh cooked spinach

 

[KsKingBee]

Zaz, that's funny and reminds me of the looks my Purple peas gave me when I brought them home and fed them wet mash for the first time. Since I base it with alfalfa pellets it is dark green and looks pretty much like it already has been processed by peafowl. They stood there looking at the feed and then me like, 'You want us to eat THAT?'

 

[Garden Peas]

Ok I have no idea about tethering or about that click thing but im going to start off simple the way ive trained my birds for 3 years i have them used to come to HEY CHICK all my animals do and they know its treat time and all that they are getting real better i spend atleadt 2 hours a day with my birds. And with the calling if they are at the neighbors and im wanting them to come back i jsut call HEY CHICK and they normally come back to me but my point is there my friends not pets and im treating them like friends my geese i got the same day fromt the same guy and they were terribly skittish and I got them used to seeing me and a few months ago i got them to hand feed and now they will bite me if they don't get there fair share of scratch so im getting them closer to me with treats and as soon as I can come up to them without them freakin ill get them hand feeding then petting

Nate, that's an excellent way to work with them.

The "click" thing is just a way to tell the bird it did the right thing. It signals the bird's brain like getting a treat, it's a reward. It works incredibly well because it can happen pretty much instantly, so the bird more accurately figures out which thing it just did that earned the reward. It's just a really powerful way of communicating praise and positive reinforcement to the bird.

You start by treating the bird every time you click, so the bird learns to associate the click with getting a treat. Pretty soon, the click itself becomes a reward.

The problem with only using treats is that it isn't fast enough. So for shaping behaviors, the clicker is a great help. And it doesn't have to be an actual clicker. Some people make a little noise, some trainers blow a little whistle... it just has to be instantaneous after the desired behavior, and the bird has to know that that particular sound means "good job" -- success.

 

[nate1the1great1]

Oh ok so if they are getting better u *click* whatever ur using and they will think of it as a reward im confused

 

[thndrdancr]

Birdrain, if they are so tame why even need the tether? My fear would be unexpected situations like a big dog being loose and running up to you. My birds are terrified if I am holding them and my pyr runs up just to see what I am doing with "his" birds. And they all know and trust him even, but its just instinct to launch and fly for them?

 

[Trefoil]

I'm not bird, but he wanted to show a pea for 4h and they required that the bird be tethered. This has all been discussed ad nauseum in earlier threads.

 

[thndrdancr]

Thanks for bringing me up to speed, trefoil.
I have been plowing thru the old threads but not up to speed yet.

And destinduck, great to see you post pics.

I feel old, I remember when Zaz was first posting pics of her peas, especially Pie, and minxfox with dragon and damsel. Dragon is such a pretty bird in my opinion.

You guys made me fall in love with the pieds.

 

[zazouse]

Fresh greens for the peas before

Showing them it is good to eat

a couple hours later half gone

Pretty babies


Hoss is growing up so fast

Hoss is learning to make rounds with Elia



Doe-nut trying to check duck butts, they were having no part of that.

OK i will just eat this tree branch here

they love dragging branches all over the place

Pesky peacock.

Eating the last green lufa



Guess it is time to clean the door again.. darn window lickers

 

[KsKingBee]

Nice pics Zaz, (no surprise there...) Between the ducks and peas, our watercress is pretty much gone.

Here are some updated pics of the kids. Drat, I thought I had closeup pics of Prince too, but I don't.

Note it is ten degrees and windy early morning bad light. OK, enough of the excuses.

SweePea getting a little lovin'.





Nanu, and @new 2 pfowl , notice the blue at the bottom with the white on the back of her head? Her daddy is a IBBS/Cameo.



Nanu showing his best side. He is getting more and more white all the time!



Prince, upper left corner, the whites and IBBSWE have moved in with the free-ranging adults.
I am now using upturned buckets to feed off of. The peas seen to eat more readily off them, it works great for mash, probably not so much for dry crumbles.


I also cut down some buckets and put the bowls on them. The birds are less likely to turn the bowls over and they don't walk in them getting them full of sand and crap. I did notice that whites will get a green stain on their neck from the food.

 

[zazouse]

Pretty peas, what color do you call sweet pea?