By Rapunzel1974 - 01/09/2013 04:29 - United States - Gulfport

Today, while I was teaching my chickens to eat out of my hand, one of the hens bit my finger and I dropped the entire handful of treats. Result: bonanza for the bird. The rest decided they could get more treats by biting me rather than by behaving. I now have a flock of fingerbiters. FML
I agree, your life sucks 40 308
You deserved it 7 431

Rapunzel1974 tells us more.

Rapunzel1974 23

I'm the OP. I'm the one with the Fabulous Fingerbiters. These chickens aren't food: they're overindulged pets. Each one has a name, so chicken stew isn't an option. I've named them after various vaudeville stars or actresses because they're a lot of feathery drama queens. Actually, biting the hand that feeds them is right in line with the entertainment-industry theme I chose when naming them. A chicken bite from a baby bird isn't really painful at all because their little beaks are so soft. Even an adult bird's peck isn't painful in the same way a dog or cat bite is painful. They can't break the skin, although if they get you in the face it can leave a scratch or welt. A parrot, by contrast, can take your finger off. Chickens just aren't strong enough. These are going to be lovely laying hens. They're just a bit cheeky. I think I can break them of the habit by switching for a while to grass instead of mealworms, by *not* dropping the goodies no matter what, and moving on to the second phase of training, where I train them to hop onto my lap and sit there to be fed and petted. When training a chicken, it's important to use food as a reward. They're not like dogs and they don't consider attention a reward. They don't even consider petting a reward until they're conditioned to do so, because it's not a normal behavior or sensation for them. But it's straight-up operant conditioning, right out of B.F. Skinner

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Top comments

grimrepa2007 3

OP. I'm going to assume you like chickens.... alot

244 3
NinjaJellyfish 27

Let them have their treats OP. Fatten them up. And when they're least expecting it.... Chicken pie time.

184 19

Comments

lipun 8

for the first time I realized that all the hens in a poultry could be that smart! anyway, use tit for tat, use a stick with other hand but be careful not to hit hard when the first hen tries to peck ur finger. :-)

2 5
eternal_malaise 10

Some day the OP will be in the news when their chickens escape and peck some poor kid to death. :D

2 2
Rapunzel1974 23

Nah, that's too small a scale for the wanton destruction poultry is capable of. I'm thinking about training them to run (and flap) for public office. They're already halfway there: they bite the hand that feeds them, they rake up muck, and they refuse to maintain a fixed position. Even with their tendency to dump the contents of their bowels wherever they like, I still don't think they'll goof up quite as much as human elected officials. But, since a chicken has a brain the size of a cranberry, they might be overqualified for the job.

3 0
Thorzix 23

They're freaking birds, too dumb to be taught anything...

1 12
thedudeguy1 16

Probably not as painful as a sharp curves beak like my bird's. (profile photo)

3 0
Rapunzel1974 23

I'm the OP. I'm the one with the Fabulous Fingerbiters. These chickens aren't food: they're overindulged pets. Each one has a name, so chicken stew isn't an option. I've named them after various vaudeville stars or actresses because they're a lot of feathery drama queens. Actually, biting the hand that feeds them is right in line with the entertainment-industry theme I chose when naming them. A chicken bite from a baby bird isn't really painful at all because their little beaks are so soft. Even an adult bird's peck isn't painful in the same way a dog or cat bite is painful. They can't break the skin, although if they get you in the face it can leave a scratch or welt. A parrot, by contrast, can take your finger off. Chickens just aren't strong enough. These are going to be lovely laying hens. They're just a bit cheeky. I think I can break them of the habit by switching for a while to grass instead of mealworms, by *not* dropping the goodies no matter what, and moving on to the second phase of training, where I train them to hop onto my lap and sit there to be fed and petted. When training a chicken, it's important to use food as a reward. They're not like dogs and they don't consider attention a reward. They don't even consider petting a reward until they're conditioned to do so, because it's not a normal behavior or sensation for them. But it's straight-up operant conditioning, right out of B.F. Skinner

156 7
grimrepa2007 3

OP. I'm going to assume you like chickens.... alot

244 3
packrat 26

Hi OP. Chickens are fun. :) have you tried clicker-training? There is a great yahoo group called Bird-Click with lots of helpful people and advice. They don't only focus on parrots, but also on other species such as chickens and ducks. There is a thread on clicker training a crow in there somewhere as well. The long and the short of it is that you might be able to keep your fingers a bit safer, and still get them to eat out of your hand. Good luck!

52 0
hannahhlizz 18

I don't know about anyone else but all these nifty chicken facts has me intrigued. On to the Wikipedia page.

53 2
martin8337 35

Robot Chicken. Puk.

3 40
asnakelovinbabe 16

It's good to see you have a passion. Chickens make wonderful pets and a lot of people don't realize how smart and funny they are.

28 1
TogeBara 12

the smell...i live downwind from a chicken farm (one that raises them for eggs rather than meat...though eggs are meat...you get the point)

2 2
shannon.elizabeth 13

I call my chickens raptors. they also definitely do break the skin

0 0