Clicker training....a chicken?!

Positive Reinforcement (PR) training if by the far the best way to train any animal.

Clicker training refers to training using a clicker. A clicker is a training device that's used as a 'marker', that is to mark when an animal has done something right...the same as when you say "good dog," only a clicker is much more useful because the brain processes and understands the meaning of the clicker faster than verbal praise. The clicker also sounds the same every time, which the human voice doesn't.

Positive reinforcement training is basically where you positively reinforce (ie. do something the animal likes, such as feeding them a treat) for doing the behaviour you want them to do.

So how does clicker training tie into PR? Well, clicker training IS PR! Essentially you wait until the animal does what you want (in the video I waited for Tilly to peck the CD, for example), you click the clicker the instant the animal does what you want, and then the animal gets a treat. Thus, click of clicker = treats = animal will be more willing to do the behaviour more often. Every time you click the clicker the animal must be rewarded within a few seconds; for harder tricks use nicer, higher value treats!

Below is a video of me training Tilly to peck a CD, using breadcrumbs for a reward. She was 9 years old in this video and this was the first time I had tried to clicker train her, or any chicken as a matter of fact. The first clip on the video was after about 20 minutes' of training, with Tilly wandering in and out of the coop whenever she wanted. She was probably in the coop for a total of 5 - 10 minutes and knew exactly what I wanted her to do...see link below!

Tilly sadly passed away recently. I didn't get a chance to say goodbye to her, which I feel very bad about. She was a great chicken and is greatly missed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpiMp2dtkXk

With clicker training you could easily teach a chicken to: stand on a coloured spot, peck a target, stand on a perch, jump etc. With ongoing training you can achieve advanced tricks such as teaching a chicken to walk in a circle around a cone, complete an obstacle coarse, cross a bridge, flap on command etc.

Red

I think I'm going to give the clicker training a try with one of my little Silkie chicken.

That would be cool! What are you going to try teach her (or him!)?

I'd like to try clicker training the budgies, but I'd need to separate them which would be no easy task as they love each other and aren't tamed at all yet!