how to train a chicken to follow you 1
4 Ways to Train Chickens
After that, they’re much more likely to return each evening. Keeping them inside the coop for 2–3 days when they first arrive helps them recognize it as their home base. Soon enough, your evenings will end with the comforting sight of all your chickens tucked safely into their coop, ready for another day.
Lap training requires patience and consistent positive reinforcement to build trust. This technique is particularly valuable for exhibition birds that require frequent handling. Establishing a daily routine is crucial for effective crate and recall training with your backyard chickens. Within 1-2 weeks of daily practice, most chickens will come running at the sound of your call, even from across the yard. Join him on this blog as he shares his experiences in homesteading, gardening, and composting
So, you want to ensure that the area you’re working in is quiet, with no distractions. Distractions can make training your chickens 10 times harder. If you do these things right, training your chickens will be a piece of cake.
They will learn quickly from the other girls what that funny clinking sound means. Now we want to ensure it’s permanently engrained, so keep doling out treats once or twice a day after the girls come running at the sound of the coffee can. I kept our bag of black soldier fly larvae in the house next to the coffee can while we were training, so the girls didn’t see me walking to the shop where their food and treats are kept. Do this in the morning and again in the afternoon for two days.
We don’t even need to call them for this – when they hear the back door open, they all come running for something good to eat. You know your birds, and know what they get to eat on a regular basis, so just choose your treat accordingly. Wear old clothes, and wash your hands after handling your chickens.
Why You Should Train Chickens to Come When Called?
- You can also choose a hen that’s in a flock with a rooster, as she’ll be more used to crouching down when approached if the rooster covers her regularly.
- If all of the birds don’t get to enjoy the treat during training, the birds get squeezed out of the activity will either stop coming when called or not learn to get with the routine in the first place.
- These buckets are a brilliant white and very easy to see—a good start when you want to train chickens.
- She’s an expert in all sorts of homesteading skills such as hide tanning, doll making, tree tapping, and many more.
- This is because it’s already in the chicken’s instinct to lay somewhere safe, dark, and where they feel safe.
- Praise and pet them regularly, and if they become panicked, hold them for a moment until they’re calm before you help them out of the water.
Using a simple cue-action-reward system, you can teach your chickens pretty much anything that’s within their physical ability range. In the study, they reportedly used plastic containers from Kinder eggs for the mini math tests. Most likely, they will get closer to people who treat them well than others who don’t. Surprisingly, chickens can recognize up to 100 faces of different people. Praise and pet them regularly, and if they become panicked, hold them for a moment until they’re calm before you help them out of the water. If your chicken gets scared because you start walking around, it won’t want to sit there again.
Why Train Chickens?
She has worked on a rural chicken farm built around marketing free-range eggs, where she managed the care for the poultry year-round. Sessions work best when they are part of a larger routine that includes balanced feed, clean water, secure housing, and low-stress handling. This can reduce stress during routine care because your bird is choosing to participate. Calling chickens to come to you is an extremely useful skill for their safety and makes catching them easier. Some skills may take days or weeks before the chicken understands what you want them to do.
Crate and Recall Training for Free-Range Management
I think chickens are a lot smarter than people usually give them credit for. With adequate treats and a call your chickens will recognize, you can train your chickens to perch on your hand, come when called, and even run an agility course! All tip submissions are carefully reviewed before being published
thoughts on “How To Train Your Chickens”
Over time, they will come running when they hear the call, regardless of whether you have treats or not. You can also use treats to train your chickens to follow you by walking around the yard with treats in hand. This can be done through positive reinforcement with treats, which rewards desired behaviour. One of the most important aspects of training chickens is creating positive associations.
Tip #3: Choose a Simple Command
Clicker training is a positive reinforcement method that uses a distinct clicking sound to mark the exact moment a chicken performs a desired behavior. Most chickens learn to come when called within 1-2 weeks of consistent daily practice. The bond you’ll develop through these techniques creates a backyard flock that’s healthier happier and more connected to you as their keeper. You’ll be amazed at how quickly they respond when training becomes part of your daily routine. These seven techniques work together to create a flock that’s not just manageable but genuinely interactive.
A good bedtime routine doesn’t just make life easier for you; it also keeps your chickens safer, healthier, and more productive. Making this part of your routine ensures you know every bird is safe. Teaching your flock to reliably roost in their coop is essential for their safety and your peace of mind. Raising chickens is full of daily joys, from gathering fresh eggs to hearing the soft clucks of a content flock. There are really only three sure-fire ways to get your chickens back into the safety of their coop. While the less confident chicks will hang back until safety is assured.
- If your chicken panics, go back a few steps in training and try again.
- Breeds that are more flighty, and thus less tolerant of people are often breeds with large crests such as polish or silkies.
- Anytime we even open the sliding glass door to the back yard, they hear it and again, come running to the gate expecting to be paid attention to.
Increase Distance Gradually
Just like chicken train game with any animal, distractions are a major component when training chickens. One thing to keep in mind when training chickens is that you will probably never be able to wean off rewards. The training method called ‘clicker training‘ would be considered a marker action when training chickens. This is when you teach the chicken to do the trained behavior when it hears or sees a particular action on your part. The main concept that you use when training chickens is positive re-enforcement.
Doing this may make them more of a pet than livestock, and that’s ok, although chickens kept as livestock can learn to come when called, as well. Of course, you can find friendly individuals in any breed, but your chances are the best with choosing breeds that are known to be people-pleasing chickens. These are all breeds that typically like to be around people, are smart, curious, and quite friendly. For example, Leghorns, fayoumis, and other game-type chickens are pretty skittish, and often don’t enjoy being kept as pets. Although there are exceptions to every rule, your best chance of getting your chickens to come when called is to start with a breed of chicken that likes to be around people. Chickens are surprisingly intelligent, but they aren’t cats and they sure as heck aren’t dogs when it comes to their interactions with people.
Taking time early on to train chickens to return to the coop guarantees their safety and makes your job easier. Animal welfare chicken behavior chicken care chicken management homestead chickens homesteading poultry raising chickens training chickens Here’s how to care for your birds every day, whether you’re raising them for their eggs or their cackling companionship.
The remaining, tiny fraction of their thoughts is occupied by ways to get on your nerves, and that’s it. Before we get on to the actual nuts and bolts of training your chickens to respond to your call, you must understand the one and really only thing that is going to motivate them reliably. From there you can put them in the coop or run where they will be safe, or they can just stay next to you since your presence will be deterrent enough for most predators.
Dole out some of the larvae, and while the girls are eating it, shake the coffee can full of pennies. So, pick a time when the girls are nearby, or even better, do this in the run while the girls are still inside. The entire process takes roughly a week, but you may be surprised to find your birds have it figured out within a couple of days.
Teaching them to come when called allows you to quickly guide them to safety if danger arises. You must be able to work with their natural tendencies and limitations if you’re going to successfully train your chickens to come when you call. While it is possible to dive right into training chickens, it’s a lot easier and more rewarding to get some basics right. Chickens can talk to people by imitating the sounds they usually hear in their surroundings. To prevent your chickens from panicking, keep them near your body in the water, so they know they’re safe with you. You can also choose a hen that’s in a flock with a rooster, as she’ll be more used to crouching down when approached if the rooster covers her regularly.
Speaking in soft, reassuring tones during handling helps create positive associations. Practice short, positive handling sessions during evening hours when chickens are naturally calmer. Reduce handling stress by approaching chickens from the side rather than above, as predators typically attack from overhead. Most chickens will show noticeable comfort within 1-2 weeks of daily practice. Extend your hand with treats without sudden movements, rewarding any chicken that approaches.
Having the ability to recall your birds makes for a safer flock and makes you a better chicken owner.
It’s so easy once you know the secret to training chickens! Learn how to keep your chicken flock safe and healthy through biosecurity measures, and knowing the common causes of health problems. If you’re quick to respond with an arm to adjust the direction, you can usually bring all your chickens into a herd formation moving forward once again. It can be in the outside pen, in the garden, or while they’re free-ranging.
An automatic coop door makes this even easier by opening and closing at set times each morning and evening, creating a consistent routine for your flock. In the early days, you may need to guide or even carry a few stragglers back inside, but over time they’ll learn. If they know when to expect bedtime, they’re more likely to cooperate. When you move chickens into a new coop, keep them in a run or enclosed space for two or three days before letting them roam. It only takes a few seconds, but it can save you from heartbreak or a dangerous overnight loss. If you’re introducing new birds to your coop, place them inside at night.
Understand a Chicken’s Primary Motivation: Food
By pairing this reward with your desired behavior over and over your chickens will form an association that’s likely to stick! So, chickens are actually much more capable of being trained than a lot of people think. The simplest way to train your chickens to come when called is to pick a verbal queue, whether it’s you calling their names or screaming “chickens! This task is actually surprisingly easy to teach your chickens, by using the best technique for training chickens – using treats and trust. The best way for any new chicken owner to teach their hens to lay in their nesting box is by placing “mock eggs” or golf balls in the nesting box and making sure your chickens see them. This is because it’s already in the chicken’s instinct to lay somewhere safe, dark, and where they feel safe.
Step-by-Step: How to Train Chickens to Return to the Coop
But, the call should not be something the flock can hear at any other time than when you use it for them or they will quickly become confused during the training, and the call will ultimately be rendered useless. The first, simplest, and most important step of training your chickens to come when you call them is to decide upon what exactly the call will be. On our survival homestead I refer to this as the “beak and bill” count since we free range and keep our chickens, ducks, and guineas together. Not only is this homesteading task one of the easier ones you may ever learn how to do, it is an important one, as well. Chicken training is a rewarding and enjoyable activity that can strengthen the bond between you and your flock.
Choose the Right Treats
Whatever you choose, be consistent and use the same thing each time. It is pretty easy to train chickens to come running when the reward is a tasty treat. Here are tips to train your chickens to come when called. She’s raising lots of fancy chickens and goats on her small homestead (among other things). Amanda is a homesteader and a Jesus-loving, mother of 6 toddlers. However, the key to training your chickens to come when called is… you!
Training a chicken to come when called is one of the easiest and most rewarding backyard poultry skills. Daily short sessions typically produce noticeable results within 1 to 2 weeks. Some chickens begin responding within a few days, while others may take longer depending on personality and consistency. Best of all, you and your friends will soon learn to appreciate your chicken for her mind as well as her eggs. Most tricks consist of many little steps, but because chickens peck quickly and love to eat, you can get lots of practice in a short period of time, which will lead to very fast learning.
Initially, you may need to guide reluctant birds, but within 2-3 weeks of consistency, most flocks will return voluntarily when called. Establish a consistent routine by feeding treats inside the coop before letting chickens out each morning. Chickens raised with gentle handling from a young age adapt more easily, but even adult birds can become comfortable with handling through patient, consistent training sessions. Most chickens can be trained to accept handling, but results vary based on breed, individual temperament, and age when training begins.
When this happens, you have to retrain your chickens to return to their coop every night. When this happens, however, your chickens may decide to find a place to roost that they feel more comfortable and safer than the one you have provided in your coop. There may come a time or two when you, gasp, forget to close your chickens up at night, or simply can’t due to unforeseen circumstances–hey, you’re human after all.
I give them the care they need, but I don’t handle the chicks any more than I have to such as to make sure they eat and drink. Of course, I continued to care for my chicks’ health. But later, when they started free ranging, they followed me everywhere and made it hard for me to do my homestead work. The first set of tame chicks we raised became beloved pets. Anytime we even open the sliding glass door to the back yard, they hear it and again, come running to the gate expecting to be paid attention to. Anytime hubby comes home from work and they hear the garage door open, they all run to the gate, knowing he’ll be out there soon to give them treats.