In response to our Monday post on clicker training chickens, Root Simple pal and fellow Master Food Preserver Diane Trunk posted a video on our Facebook page. Diane explains,
Here’s a link to a silly video of our trained chickens. My son trained them to come running in response to a beep. The beep signaled that a lego-robot box (you’ll see) was going to open, and the hens would get their favorite treat: string cheese. Alas, these hens are no longer with us. Our new ladies don’t care about string cheese, or even Lego robots.
It’s pretty amazing how astute animals are. We have never tried to train anything here, yet so many of our animals have trained themselves. We had a lovely guinea pig who, upon hearing the rustle of plastic wrap anywhere in the house, would stand on her hind legs and squeal, because to her, plastic = lettuce from the fridge. My kitten knows the sound of the cabinet door behind which her kitty treats are stored, but only comes when that cabinet door opens. I had never noticed that the kitchen cabinet doors do not all have the same sound, but she did and she comes running when she hears that one. Guess I’ll have to move the drinking glasses now.
My hens need a contraption like that so I can be sure food left at night does not draw vermin.
When I creep in the kitchen in the morning, they are all standing at the door of the pen, away from the house. As soon as they hear me in the kitchen, they run to the corner of the pen nearest me. They learn fast…well, except when they could not find the huge open door to get into the pen for about a year!
Genius video. I have shared it on my facebook page already! The thing is that animals have senses which are more acute than humans. The hearing and sight are two examples. They associate behaviors with certain sounds and they can be quite easy and fun to train. However, your video made me laugh. I kept wondering what on Earth possessed your son to go for this mad idea. But it worked perfectly well, didn’t it? Thanks for the share. I have shown in to my kids and it has already put some ideas into their brains. Pray for my chickens.