Train chicken to be tame and stay in pen

[Outta Here]

Just posted this about taming chickens... https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/taming-and-keeping-chickens-tame.1476761/#post-24604807

 

[SarahGfa]

Just posted this about taming chickens... https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/taming-and-keeping-chickens-tame.1476761/#post-24604807

that's great but these were not chicks that i hatched myself. they were feral chickens living in the wild, who encountered predators on a daily basis. if they were my own chicks then it would have been easy.

 

[Outta Here]

that's great but these were not chicks that i hatched myself. they were feral chickens living in the wild, who encountered predators on a daily basis. if they were my own chicks then it would have been easy.

Yes, in that case, it would be extremely more difficult to tame them. I agree that not chasing is first, and second would be creating an eagerness to eat so that they would be willing to eat closer and closer to you.
I read a book about how the most famous Walt Disney trainer tamed down various wild animals for the movies. One was a wild, adult wolverine. The trainer entered the dark cage and immediately sat down, head down, eyes averted. For a hour...(in those days, he didn't even have his phone to check social media to while away the time!) Each day he did the same, gradually lifting his head more and more until he could finally look at the cringing animal in the corner. Gradually, with a bit of hunger and careful placement of food, he was able to get the wolverine to eat closer and closer to him.
The movie script called for the wolverine to attack a character, so this trainer actually had to finally place the food on his chest when he was lying down and start gradually to writhe side to side while the wolverine was eating off his chest. Finally, after months, the wolverine would rush to attack the downed actor (really eat his food off his chest), who was writhing and screaming.
Anyway, of course you are not going to spend this extreme amount of time (the trainer was getting paid big bucks!), but the principles and methods are the same. It takes a long, gradual, patient time to tame feral animals.

 

[SarahGfa]

Yes, in that case, it would be extremely more difficult to tame them. I agree that not chasing is first, and second would be creating an eagerness to eat so that they would be willing to eat closer and closer to you.
I read a book about how the most famous Walt Disney trainer tamed down various wild animals for the movies. One was a wild, adult wolverine. The trainer entered the dark cage and immediately sat down, head down, eyes averted. For a hour...(in those days, he didn't even have his phone to check social media to while away the time!) Each day he did the same, gradually lifting his head more and more until he could finally look at the cringing animal in the corner. Gradually, with a bit of hunger and careful placement of food, he was able to get the wolverine to eat closer and closer to him.
The movie script called for the wolverine to attack a character, so this trainer actually had to finally place the food on his chest when he was lying down and start gradually to writhe side to side while the wolverine was eating off his chest. Finally, after months, the wolverine would rush to attack the downed actor (really eat his food off his chest), who was writhing and screaming.
Anyway, of course you are not going to spend this extreme amount of time (the trainer was getting paid big bucks!), but the principles and methods are the same. It takes a long, gradual, patient time to tame feral animals.

Wow that is a cool story! I never knew wild predators could be trained like that. A wolverine sounds totally crazy, seems like there is always a risk they will attack the trainer, like the white tigers who attacked the Las Vegas magician.

 

[Outta Here]

It was a fascinating book, now out of print. Koehler trained every animal used in Walt Disney films for 21 years--all the movies people my age watched in childhood-- Swiss Family Robinson; Ugly Dachshund, Incredible Journey, Big Red, The Shaggy Dog, etc. Most were not young, nor tame when he started working with them, but he used lots and lots of heroic patience, kindness, and fairness and was hugely successful.