So, how DO you train.....

[ontimeborzoi]

...a chicken to pose, for showing??
I clicker train dogs, so not *utterly* clueless. : ) How early do you start, and how much time do you spend a day per bird, training? Can they live in a flock and be in training, or do you segregate the trainee?
I see everyone's chickens posed on the kitchen table or the bathroom vanity and think to myself, MY chickens would take off flying ( or falling and then running ) wouldn't they?! Or do they freeze up if they are in a strange place or something. I spend a ton of time with my girls ( and boys ) but they have NO desire to be picked up, much less turned over, wings spread, feet checked etc.
Would like to know how to get from here, to there, so to speak. Tell me how you trained your chicken to be a showman, please.

 

[chickendales]

i cage my birds for a month before shows and i also hold my young birds a lot un like dogs chicken useually do good job possing by then selfs

...a chicken to pose, for showing??
I clicker train dogs, so not *utterly* clueless. : ) How early do you start, and how much time do you spend a day per bird, training? Can they live in a flock and be in training, or do you segregate the trainee?
I see everyone's chickens posed on the kitchen table or the bathroom vanity and think to myself, MY chickens would take off flying ( or falling and then running ) wouldn't they?! Or do they freeze up if they are in a strange place or something. I spend a ton of time with my girls ( and boys ) but they have NO desire to be picked up, much less turned over, wings spread, feet checked etc.
Would like to know how to get from here, to there, so to speak. Tell me how you trained your chicken to be a showman, please.

 

[ontimeborzoi]

I'm feeling really ignorant here. ....my chicks run from my hands, so I have to chase them down in the brooder, which seems like a lot of stress for them. Are you saying that you do whatever you have to do to catch a chick and hold it, or is there a way of approaching chicks that doesn't freak them out before we even get to the 'holding' part? How old are they when you start handling them? and are they segregated out from the flock or are you just talking about having one or two chicks in a cage/pen/whatever... ?

There is some key piece of information I am missing. I have a brooder with 25 chicks in it. I can't tell show quality at 2 weeks, so i either need to handle 25 chicks to the point they are all tame, or i have to wait to see who grows into what. And by then, they are quite wild. ?? How many chicks do you raise at a time, and do you handle each one every day? Like puppies?

 

[chickendales]

i raise 100s of chicks a years my chicks are born and raise in our house for first 4 to 6 weeks any birds i am looking at showing are kept in cages for about month before the show it more about have then not fear you then holding every one every day

I'm feeling really ignorant here. ....my chicks run from my hands, so I have to chase them down in the brooder, which seems like a lot of stress for them. Are you saying that you do whatever you have to do to catch a chick and hold it, or is there a way of approaching chicks that doesn't freak them out before we even get to the 'holding' part? How old are they when you start handling them? and are they segregated out from the flock or are you just talking about having one or two chicks in a cage/pen/whatever... ?

There is some key piece of information I am missing. I have a brooder with 25 chicks in it. I can't tell show quality at 2 weeks, so i either need to handle 25 chicks to the point they are all tame, or i have to wait to see who grows into what. And by then, they are quite wild. ?? How many chicks do you raise at a time, and do you handle each one every day? Like puppies?