Training Chickens

[Sony57]

3 of my chickens are 7 weeks old this week (1 will be 6 wks on Friday) and I have decided to teach them tricks. First trick is card discrimination.

Last weekend I put various treats (mostly chopped spinach) in a measuring cup with a clicker attached to it. I would click and then offer the treats. Today I resumed the training and they quickly learned the click meant a treat was coming.
Today I taped a small piece of spinach on to two face cards. I tried to teach my black chickens to peck the queen of spades and my red and brown chickens to peck the queen of hearts. I did this individually with each chicken just outside of their run where they could see their friends. It went really well. Each time they pecked the face card they heard a click and received a treat. The success varied from chick to chick but my EE was the only one who did not do so well. I think that is okay because she is a full week younger than the other three.

Tomorrow I intend to remove the taped spinach and see if they do as well. I hope to have them pecking the right face card when other cards are introduced by Sunday (except EE who gets an extra week).

Has anyone else trained their chicks to do tricks? What tricks have worked well? My chicks are all very friendly and love to be pet and held. I want to teach them tricks because they seem to enjoy the challenge, especially Ravyn, my black sex-link, who seems to really enjoy the game.

 

[Sony57]

My chicks are doing very well on their tricks... Two of them can flawlessly choose the right colored queen when the opposite colored queen is present. The first time I showed them a black queen and a red queen you could see the wheels turning! They looked at both several times before choosing the right queen!!!! By Sunday I expect all four of them to pick their respective queens when a same colored queen of a different suit is introduced. I also plan to construct an agility/obstacle course. I think the chicks really enjoy the games and respond to the joy in my "good girl" praises as much as they do the treats. I hope to get them used to doing tricks in front of other people so that I can show them at charity events to raise money for animal rescue groups. I will also have to kennel train them so they can go to the events but I want them to learn an array of tricks first.
Does anyone have any suggestion on tricks that I can teach them that would wow people at charity events? One of the chicks is definitely ready for new tricks, it is like she thrives on them!

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Cool. Make sure to get the chicken obstacle course performance on video. I have watched some on Youtube. It would be cute if you could train them to ring a bell.

 

[shorttimer]

I think this is AWESOME ! Just think of the possibilities.