Chicken training

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Happy
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Chicken training

Post by Happy » Sun Mar 18, 2018 3:53 pm

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Re: Chicken training

Post by labradors » Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:00 am

Normally I adore Rick Mercer, and maybe I was being overly sensitive, but I thought he was overly callous towards chickens. Obviously, he was going for laughs, and some of the things he said were funny (more-so to non-chicken folk, I expect). Letting the bird fall off the table was just plain stupid and NOT funny IMNSHO :(.

Linda
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Re: Chicken training

Post by Jaye » Mon Mar 19, 2018 9:18 am

I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and realize that his main objective is to go for the laughs, but I too found it a bit off-putting. In fact, I thought it stopped just short of mockery in places - not just of chickens, but of the trainers. He could have made it into more of an opportunity to educate "non-chicken people" about chickens. There were some funny moments, though.
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Re: Chicken training

Post by Ontario Chick » Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:07 am

:)
Thank you ladies, I was trying to talk myself out of being perhaps to "sensitive" and too "in tune" with the poultry, glad other people saw it the same way.
The only real laugh I got out of it, was the effort to have the hen peck at the circle to get the treat, and the hen going for the treat, because what's his face didn't have enough brains to keep it out of the hen's site line.
Also proved my opinion that most people don't have enough brains to train a dog, and practicing on a chicken only proves that the same applies chickens. ;)
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Re: Chicken training

Post by modern17 » Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:19 am

Lol Not to offend but some times we need to laugh at our selves... as my wife says .. anyone who has chickens have good hearts but all are a little different lol. I'm good with that !
Not much to say about the event portrayed here as I think I would laugh as well.. ( hope I do not offend anyone on this site as not my intention ) .. I run poultry shows and have for 25 plus years.. never heard of this sort of thing.. although it does remind me some what of the seramas movement. That I have not got a full grasp on and probably never will ,but understand there is a disire to have these events so who am I to say otherwise. I am a purist when it comes to how poultry are shown .. I am a chicken person through and through .. but I know we are a different bunch, no matter what the reason we keep your birds is . Some days I laugh at some of my daily activities regarding my interactions with birds. My thought is what do people who live without chickens do for relaxation ,fun and escape from the daily grind.
I have dealt with many " celebrities " who don't get chickens.( Long list from all over north america ) .I have worked with several producers who all have ideas on how they want to bring our birds to the public eye. I have had one that has been working on one for near 15 years now that keeps in touch with me on a somewhat regular basis . Most want to poke fun at it .. our problem is we try to get them to see past chicken on a plate and producing breakfast eggs, and make them understand they are more than a food source. After 45 plus years .. I have given up on the conversion process to this regard .If they do not get that I am serious about this and it is a large part of my world.. so be it, their loss . I have been filmed all over north america regarding my interaction with birds. Everything from being interviewed for the 6 PM news in several US cities , to being in " Fowl Play" the movie ( filmed in California and other areas of the USA back in around 2001 ) .. among countless other productions that have not got " picked up" . All have good ideas but to sell them to big production companies for furtherance to the main stream audiences is the kicker..The one that did the best job was a few years back " Chicken People" . Yet still it had its silly moments that I did not enjoy that made the hobby look "goofy" . Think about it like this.. who in the 60s- 70s , thought we would be watching people on TV getting voted off a n island or watching a bunch of nutty redneck Millionairs runing around fishing and hunting like Duck Dynasty or singing shows ( American Idol /The Voice) ??? Yet the popularity of these types of shows.. are mind boggling.. it all started with one idea that " got picked up". To me there is still hope .. maybe some day . Rick Mercer is what he is .. an entertainer. I am not offended at all with his antics in this feature. I just look at it as typical of how most of the world sees non commercial poultry people. I find him most humorous and take him for what he is .. one that makes satire out of everything , no one is off limits. Lol.. and I am ok with that.
TL
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Re: Chicken training

Post by ross » Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:55 am

Well said .
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Happy
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Re: Chicken training

Post by Happy » Mon Mar 19, 2018 1:36 pm

Nobody treats their chickens with kid gloves more than me and I get teased relentlessly for the amount of time and energy I invest in my little flock. But I wasn’t offended by this. Rick Mercer is a goof and he makes a living making fun of anybody and anything. To be honest I typically don’t find him overly funny but I think he approached this piece in the only wAy he could. I also don’t think that the average non-chicken person wants to learn much about chickens. It’s uncomfortable to see your food as smart. I guess you’ve just gotta laugh at yourself sometimes.
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Re: Chicken training

Post by WLLady » Mon Mar 19, 2018 2:09 pm

i have to admit i don't get "training a chicken" to do agility, but i did think this was pretty funny.....but i also don't show chickens, and tend to let the "chickens be chickens" and "do what chickens do" which we all have to admit sometimes is pretty funny....i have a chicken that falls off the roost regularly. they have wings, they'll figure it out.....i took this as "well, this is what Rick does best"....from a person that raises chickens for food, egg, sale, whatever, you will not catch me training a chicken to ignore a triangle in favour of a red circle...just personally. although i did have one that would ride around on my shoulder a while back.
if people want to do chicken agility, great. at least they're learning about chickens.
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Re: Chicken training

Post by KimChick » Mon Mar 19, 2018 3:24 pm

I..... LIKE it!!!
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Re: Chicken training

Post by labradors » Mon Mar 19, 2018 3:57 pm

Having delved into dog training (although my dogs will tell you that I'm not very good at it), I really think that training chickens is a great way to learn Clicker Training. The premise is that you can practice on a chicken, get the timing right and not mess up your dog as you learn. As an example, if you taught your dog to come and messed it up so much that he always ran in the opposite direction when he heard the command, it might be really annoying to have to train another word.

One of these days I will dust off the ole clicker and try my hand at clicker training my chickens :).

Linda
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