Turning into a Chicken Behaviorist 😁

[One Lucky Momma]

Because they are ventriloquists

 

[esme13]

I had to go back and reread the messages. There are many ways to communicate with our feather friends and train them. I haven’t don’t a verbal lip sound. I interpreted “beak smack” as in a tap. But I see you meant actually verbal.

for me, I personally have learned that tapping them on the beak (Bill, not the money or name kind ) or saying no teaches them what is or isn’t okay. All of my chickens went through a pecking time, as me being the subject. But they are pretty smart. Though I must caution that anything with a sparkle will be of interest to them.

 

[ssferret]

Dong!
the bell just went off in my head. Beak smack is a sound, as in lip smacking good, right?

I don‘t have any experience with it, but this sounds sort of like clicker training with dogs. If that’s the case, are you not reinforcing negative behavior here? Or are you able to make your beak smack sound like a reprimand?

No reprimand. More like "I'm no threat to your status" and "I'm your friend." That doesn't mean I'll actually submit though and so far he hasn't asked me to. It doesn't work on all my feathered children though.

 

[centrarchid]

I want to hear this sound and see bird's response. The ethologist in me has expectations

 

[ssferret]

I have a video I'm about to link through YouTube since I can't seem to directly download it here. Kotàra (on right) will start to submit by crouching and using a "beak kiss" (?). (Guess I'll use that phrase for now.) When there is no real conflict going on, the behavior is much more subtle and friendly and doesn't seem to include beak clicking. When the sound is used, I have a problem catching it since my phone's mic is not sensitive enough.

If the video or my explanation is confusing, let me know.

 

[centrarchid]

I have a video I'm about to link through YouTube since I can't seem to directly download it here. Kotàra (on right) will start to submit by crouching and using a "beak kiss" (?). (Guess I'll use that phrase for now.) When there is no real conflict going on, the behavior is much more subtle and friendly and doesn't seem to include beak clicking. When the sound is used, I have a problem catching it since my phone's mic is not sensitive enough.

If the video or my explanation is confusing, let me know.

The head to head displays where they are making the "chu-uh chu-uh" sound is aggression. The "chu-uh chu-uh" vocalization alone indicates aggression although it almost always involves some sort of posturing at same time. If you are doing that back at them, then you are training them to fight you later.

 

[ssferret]

The head to head displays where they are making the "chu-uh chu-uh" sound is aggression. The "chu-uh chu-uh" vocalization alone indicates aggression although it almost always involves some sort of posturing at same time. If you are doing that back at them, then you are training them to fight you later.

There were two pullets which ended up in front of Major and Kotàra who were being more vocally aggressive to each other. They might have been the ones you noticed.

Kotàra started flapping her wings at Major before the other two butted in front. But you can still see how she submitted from behind the two others. (Katàra is the one with no tail feathers, just a big fluff of white.)

 

[centrarchid]

I think there were two pairs of combatants. Even the ones that went submissive started off being aggressive. Aggression low intensity.

 

[ssferret]

That is true. I was just talking about the act of Kotàra's submission because this behavior seems to be used for both submission, sign of respect, and friendship. There are some minute differences but I used the submission one because it was more vigorous and so more obvious. I can look for examples that are different if that's not quite what you're looking for.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Interesting! But this all happens so fast! Slo-mo would be really cool, but I don't suppose ....