7 Things to Train Chickens to Do

My chicken is smarter than your dog! Did you know that cognitive research has actually proven that chickens can be smarter than dogs, cats, and even 4-year old toddlers!? Chickens are entertaining in and of themselves, but training them can be both fun and functional. These 7 things to train chickens to do work great as boredom busters for both you and your flock and help stimulate a chicken’s brain. Each one of these skills can be taught by using the methods mentioned in The Secret to Training Chickens.

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#1. Obstacle Course

One of the very first things I trained one of my chickens to do was an obstacle course. If you’ve been into chicken keeping for any length of time, I’m sure you have seen those YouTube videos of a chicken doing an obstacle course. Well, you can teach your chickens to do that too!

I taught one of my hens to go through a tunnel, over a jump, over a teeter totter, and up and down an A-frame. She would do the whole course and then get rewarded with sunflower seeds at the end! Here are some common obstacles that you can teach chickens to do:

• teeter totter- this obstacle is pretty easy to make at home, I just used a long board placed over a block.
• a jump- a jump can be just about anything: hoola-hoop, wooden dowels, branches
• dog walk (or chicken walk in this case)- to make this element, all you need is a balance beam type set up with a ramp on either end for going up and down
• A-frame- I made an A-frame using two boards that peaked at the top and were supported by a block
• weave poles- you can use dowels, stakes, or sticks stuck into the ground, cones would work too!
• tunnel- a tunnel may be a little harder to make at home, but I just used an old play set tunnel that I used to play in when I was younger

When choosing a chicken to train for the obstacle course, I recommend choosing your friendliest, most outgoing hen who is also food motivated. Friendly hens are always easiest to train and confident, out-going hens are less likely to be scared of the obstacle course elements. Food motivation will make training go a lot faster too!

#2. Musical Instrument

While I actually haven’t tried this myself, I do know that chickens can be taught to play certain musical instruments! Two common instruments that chickens can play are the xylophone and the keyboard.

You can just have your hens peck out a random tune, or actually teach them to peck at certain keys and play a song. The easiest way to teach a hen to play a tune would be to place treats on the keys you want her to peck at. Keep it simple at first. Only do a few keys at a time and slowly lengthen the number of keys she has to remember to peck at. Constant repetition and reward will help your hen memorize her tune!

When choosing a chicken to train to a musical instrument, pick an assertive hen. A hen who naturally pecks hard will be able to play better than a light pecker. Food motivation and long attention span are also important when choosing a musically talented hen!

#3. Come when Called

After the obstacle course, training my chickens to come when called is probably my second favorite chicken trick to teach. I free-range my flock on the homestead, so whenever I want to put them in their enclosure, I just call for them and they come running!

Every spring and summer I have to teach this trick to the new pullets and cockerels I raise. It helps that my older flock is already trained. The younger birds take their cue from the older flock and learn very quickly!

Training chickens to come when called requires two things: a marker action or word, and treats! The marker action that I use is running to the coop while clapping my hands. You can also use a verbal phrase to call your chickens as well. Make sure the action is loud enough that your hens can hear you even when they are far away.

Next, have some treats in a bag. I find that re-using old chicken treat bags work best. When I shake them, the contents rattle around and make noise. My flock loves the sound of a shaking treat bag! If the first marker cue isn’t enough, the rattling of the bag is usually enough motivation for the stragglers to hustle on over so that they don’t miss the treats.

#4. Give Hugs

You can actually train your chickens to be friendly! While friendliness training is often best started at a very young age, you can still teach older hens to become friendly too. All it requires is some high-value treats and patience.

Start off by teaching your chickens that seeing you means treats. And don’t throw the treats! Sprinkle them around your feet so that your hens have to come near you to eat the treats. After they are comfortable with that, squat down near them while they are eating the treats. Chickens often get frightened when something stoops down near them or over them, it’s just instinctual. Conditioning them to you moving up and down will make for less flighty hens.

The next step would be to get them comfortable with eating out of your hand. Then, while they are eating, slowly start petting them. Once they are used to your touch, you can incorporate in picking them up for brief periods of time. Do this gently and slowly, and never chase the chicken you want to pick up! Repeated treat time and holding time will condition your flock to being around and near you.

Once you have a friendly chicken, you can even teach it to give hugs! Simple squat down near the chicken and offer treats over your shoulder. The chicken will have to nuzzle up near your neck in order to reach over your shoulder to get the treats. You can even teach the hen to hug on cue by teaching her a command!

#5. Showing

Training a show chicken is important if you plan on attending and participating in poultry shows. However, even if you don’t show your chickens, training them to do some of the show skills is fun and helpful!

Of course, you will have to condition your chicken to be held in the proper showing manner as well as get them used to you flipping them upside down and examining their different body parts. However, one of the most important and hardest skills to train your show chicken will be to pose.

Posing means the chicken has to stand in the proper posture for it’s breed and it must stay still for a lengthy period of time. Chickens who are as close to their breed standard as possible will not have too much of a problem with striking the right pose. Many breeders breed their chickens to have the proper composition for their breed, which thus ensures the proper posing posture.

Either way when a chicken is posed, it must have its head up, its tail held a certain angle, and its feet evenly spaced apart. Show chickens should be taught to hold this pose for a lengthy period of time. They should also be used to you walking around them and even to you using a posing stick if necessary.

Training your chicken to pose will take time and patience. Handle your bird A LOT. Continually posing, repositioning, and treating will be necessary. Remember to always make the training session an enjoyable experience for both you and the bird!

#6. Wear a Chicken Harness

We’ve all seen those cute videos of chickens nicely strutting beside their owners while on a leash and harness. While in reality, your hens are terrified of a chicken harness and only want to walk in reverse when they have it on.

Just like when training a dog to loose-leash walk or put on a harness, chickens must be taught the same thing. Positive re-enforcement is essential to conditioning your hen to the harness. Choose a hen who is naturally more laid-back and docile. Get her to associate the leash and harness with yummy treats and a positive experience. You will have to use treats to teach her that she can’t pull on the leash or back out of the harness.

Once you have a hen trained to a leash and harness, you can do many things with her (always bring treats though!). Going for a walk, riding in a bike basket, or attending therapy events are all fun to do with a harness trained chicken! Just remember, the more activities a chicken does, the more exposure to disease and parasites it gets. Always keep in mind the health and well-being of your hen! Sometimes just a walk around the homestead is sufficient!

#7. Brain Games

Brain games are any skill that requires a chicken to really think about what it’s doing. Really, you can teach chickens to do just about anything!

With brain games, a chicken has to observe its surroundings and evaluate what it must do in order to get rewarded. Researchers have actually had hens watch a video of other hens performing a trick, and then had those hens perform the trick as well. They learned through observation!

Some fun brain games that you could teach your chickens may include:

• teach a hen to peck at a certain playing card, no matter what sequence of cards are presented
• have a hen do a figure-eight around cones but then she has to switch directions when you place different color cones down
• teach a hen to only peck at objects that are a certain color

Studies have been done that show chickens understand rudimentary math, can recognize shapes and colors, and even understand delayed gratification. See how smart your chickens are by coming up with some ‘brain games’ to test those bird brains in your flock!

Do you have a fun game that you play with your flock? Let me know, I’d love to hear how smart your flock is!

Functional Training

If you’re anything like me, I like to have fun but I also like to know that I am investing time into something functional. While training my chickens to do an obstacle course is lots of fun, I also like to teach my flock functional skills too.

A lot of times the functional training doesn’t even have to be purposely trained. Chickens can quickly learn certain routines. So, if you stick to a consistent chore pattern, your flock will learn to expect what comes next. Here are a few functional skills my flock has learned:

• coop training- the flock knows to return to the coop even when free-ranging because that is where food, water, and a safe place to roost can be found
• afternoon is free-range time- my flock only mobs the enclosure door after noon time, they know they don’t get free-range during the morning
• nesting boxes are for laying eggs- some hens have a harder time learning this than others
• treats and clean-up- my flock knows that they get a few treats each morning to keep them entertained while clean up the droppings in the coop
• herding- every spring, when the young pullets and cockerels get to free-range for the first time, I always have to teach them to be herded back into their pen

Smart Birds

A lot of times functionality can be combined with fun! Teaching your chickens to come when called is helpful when you free-range them. Friendliness is helpful when you have to do health examines. Teaching chickens to be herded is helpful for getting certain groups of chickens in their respective pens. I love seeing how smart my chickens are! Showing off what my chickens can do to friends and family members is rewarding too!

As a modern pioneer, I love doing fun things like training my chickens, but I also like to build life skills and create a more self-sufficient lifestyle. If that describes you too, why don’t you join our modern pioneer community! Anna and I would love to have you come along and we’ll even send you our Modern Pioneer Starter Package!

by Alexa

Also, don’t forget to check out this amazing video course! It’s the one and only video course that teaches you all about raising chickens on the homestead! There’s tips for beginners and advanced chicken keepers alike!