what can you teach a chicken?

[mopinko]

i am having a ball with my chicks. now that they are fledged out, i am letting them out more, and having fun with them. they already know "chick chick chick" means- food here. teaching them to step up on my hand so i can put them back in the cage.
next up will be teaching them to follow me. they will get to go forage in my yard soon, so i need them to follow me back in.
i am wondering if they can follow reliably enough to follow me over to the farm, about 35' down the alley.
but really just hoping to teach them a couple fun tricks. i know they are actually quite smart. fun little birds.

[Lionessa]

1. Just as children are not adults and kittens are not cats,

chicks do not remain so attentive to you. Even if you get them to follow as chicks, they will quit and go there own way one day without you.

I seriously doubt you will ever be able to walk them that far or back ever.

[bvar22]

2. Ours will follow us around,

...especially IF they believe there might be a treat in the deal for them.

During Berry Season they will congregate outside the garden fence waiting for over-ripe berries that we toss over the fence, and some have developed their own personalized scams and routines to get attention.
One of our Australorps will sneak away from the flock when she sees me working in the garden,
and will sidle up to the fence near me,
and very softly call to me "Hoo, hoo, hoo?",
with the raised inflection of a question,
asking for worms, berries or bugs,
but quietly, just for her... so no one else will notice.
She believes we have a special deal, and we do.

We have never tried to teach them to jump through a hoop or anything like that,
but if your walk leads to good forage, they WILL learn that quickly,
and they WILL come home on their own just before sundown.

You will have to be careful with chickens in the garden.
They WILL scratch out young seedlings,
and dig BIG holes in the soft earth looking for worms
or a nice dirt bath.
They can tear apart a compost heap like Piranhas on a hot dog.
They will destroy Tomatoes on the vine,
and can even peck holes in Watermelons and Cantaloupes.
We only let ours in the garden in the Fall.

[mopinko]

3. they will be in a chicken tractor, mostly.

and the garden is all containers this year, not that that would deter them all that much.
the tractor is waiting on some volunteer labor, that will get it done, but....
totally counting on them to completely decimate the weeds that have had a 20 year romp on this property. and that sounds like i a good thing about the compost. i can use some piranha power.

great pic. so psyched.

[Vanje]

4. You're a naturally born leader!

[EFerrari]

5. Parade Marshall.

lol

I don't know why but chickens on parade fascinate me. They are so busy and sociable. The only thing they don't do is wave like the Queen.

[Redford]

6. Mine will do anything for McDonald's french fries

This time of year I try to catch grasshoppers and give them to them. Mine recent flock is still pretty young (about 7 weeks) so they have to stay in the coop or in a horse stall. Looking forward to them getting a bit bigger so they can free range.

[handmade34]

7. chickens are easily distracted

now ducks...