starting clicker training with chicks

[gingerpeach22]

The chicks are about seven weeks old, so I'm sitting on the coop floor with a clicker and tiny cup of scratch. The very first step is teaching them that a click means food. It involves repetition over a number of sessions as they are afraid of the cup, of the click, of me, of coming close. About half a dozen are catching on. I click and slowly put the cup forward (they first fear something coming towards them). Then I pull back the cup (a little 1/8 cup plastic cup), click, and push forward. They like scratch a lot. I should add that I began offering them grit weeks ago, so they can process more than chick kibbles.
So, that's where we begin!

 

[exop]

How would it work to toss a little scratch mix down in front of them, while working the clicker? My chickens respond very well to visual stimulation (moving food rolling on the ground looks even tastier!) , maybe yours will too.

If they are shy you might be able to get them eventually to come to scratch grains thrown down at your feet. Or, give them some credit! they may figure out that the clicker and the scratch grains are both really you, and that you therefore ARE SOME KIND OF GOD.

Best of luck! exop

 

[Orps]

I'm going to clicker train my chickens as well. Been told they pick it up really quickly. It will be interesting to find out

 

[AlpineSpringsRanch]

I'm curious what behaviours you all are going to try to teach. As far as chickens go I heard they can only do a simple A to B. Pretty much that's how I get my girls in. They free range 3 acres and all come RUNNING when I bang the trash can lid (with the feed in it) against the trash can. They also all come running when I call CHICKEN or TURKEY (the turkey answers to turkey).

 

[cmedeiros17]

Ohhh, this sounds interesting. I would love to know how you make out. And I may have to try this as well. I wasn't sure how people round up their chickens when they needed to. This sounds like a great idea.

 

[Orps]

Here are some youtube videos of clicker training chickens.

I do agility with dogs so this will be interesting if I can do it with one of the chicken.

 

[gingerpeach22]

ooh, I'll check out the videos. I saw one where the hen pecked only on a yellow square but not the other two colors. There was no click and treat for pecking the other colors. When the yellow square was not there, she got a click/treat for not pecking either of the two remaining colors. When I get that far, I'll think about how to do something else. There are many tiny steps just getting to that task and that is what interests me - the communication, the tiny increments of understanding.
I clicker trained a horse and it was easy as pie. A chicken has an entirely different way of seeing the world, so I have to think like a chicken. So who is training whom, she wonders.

Here is a great video of teaching the discrimination of colors:

 

[gingerpeach22]

Most of them associate the click with the cup of treats coming toward them and will get what they can. Next is to isolate one, put down an object and begin to reward the smallest move towards it. Inch by inch...and then touching with beak. That will be really fun, but it sure calls for time and patience. Chickens are so suspicious of movement in people. I'll tell them to think about food...yummy meal worms.

 

[Orps]

That's pretty cool.

Most of them associate the click with the cup of treats coming toward them and will get what they can. Next is to isolate one, put down an object and begin to reward the smallest move towards it. Inch by inch...and then touching with beak. That will be really fun, but it sure calls for time and patience. Chickens are so suspicious of movement in people. I'll tell them to think about food...yummy meal worms.

 

[GatorBunny]

We just got four 1.5 week old chicks this weekend and I've begin clicker training with one of them. She caught on that click=food in less then 5 minutes! I'm now working on her understanding that this is actually a reward for a behavior she preformed. I just wanted to join this thread!