Hey all you forum members. I would like to tell you a little about raising chickens and my experience with them, and would like to ask anyone if they have stories or experiences with them. I hope this is okay to post about mods. Raising chickens is quite easy if you have done research on them. I have raised them for about four years now, and here is the basic steps and info about them:

1. Profile: They are great animals, and although not always the cleanest, they do have a nice look to them. They strut around the yard as if they own it. Most chickens don't like to be held, they would rather be left alone. You should only have a rooster if you are prepared to be attacked. However, this can be avoided if you train them properly. (See step two) They are usually gentle and like to eat, a lot!

2. Training: It takes a keen eye, a gentle yet firm hand, and a knack for being mean to those who are mean to you. There are a few steps in training chickens. 1. A rooster is naturally mean. You have to get the natural part out of mean and the mean goes away by its self. To get that mean out, it is quite simple. You go outside and wait for the rooster to come and try to attack you. This is where the keen eye comes in. Right as he goes in for the attack you swoop your hand down, grab him by the tail, and hold him there for a second. Look him in the eye and tell him you will NOT tolerate any of this. Then toss him a few feet and return to what you were doing. I know it sounds mean but it does not hurt the rooster and he will straighten up fairly quickly. Repeat over the course of the next few days until tamed. 2. You can also train chickens to come to a whistle. Every time you feed them, whistle a consistent tune every time. Within a few days the will come every time. These are the tools of the trade and what they do.
Broom= strikes fear in a chicken if it goes out of the area it is suppose to be. i.e. Porch
You= source of food, whistles a melody we should come to
food=eating mode on

3. Feeding: Habits vary with each animal but in general, they are pigs dressed in chickens clothing. They will eat whether they are hungry or not. They love table scraps as long as it isn't too salty. This is what the like: Worms, and bugs in general, table scraps, crack corn, grass, seeds, and nuts.

Well, I think that about does it. Anyone have anything to add? I decided this would be a good topic to discuss. If you own chickens, then feel free to add your experiences. Have a great day guys.

Notice: Actually training methods vary. Remember, be kind to animals!

Moving your topic from General Talk to Real Life Experiences. Please, please be aware that we have designated forums for this. Make yourself familiarize with the forum structure.

Thanks. Sorry, I thought this was for more serious stuff. You know, like a car accident or something. Thanks for moving it.

Naughty Chickens
My Experience, With Chickens

My chicken has been very naughty lately. It has been it out of bounds areas, escaped from an eclosed area, wrecked our garden's plants and been chasing us to get food off us. We have been mean to her and she has gotten a bit better, but then she worked out a way to do something naughty again. We do also, though it might sound strange, talk to her like she is a human and tell her off.

-reply by Stefanie Carino

Oh, I have a great chicken story! One I would not of ever believed if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

Most people don't give chickens credit for having any intelligence, and I suppose in many ways they arent' the brightest animals there are. (hence the nickname "bird brain") I knew they had some intelligence, and could be taught tricks. I had a little bantie hen once that I trained to fly up and land on my arm when I snaped my fingers. She would fly to me even if she was all the way across the yard. My old fat hens who were not flyers, I taught to "sit up" they would jump up and take a bite of corn out of my hands.

But this incident went far beyond simple repetitive training tricks. It really looked like it showed that chickens have contemplative abilities, something not really thought to exist in those tiny bird brains.

I had the chickens running loose in the barn yard, they had pretty much free run of the farm. We also had a wire fox terrier that was chained up in the back yard when we didn't have her in the house. The chickens were acustom to her presence there and generally gave her a wide berth, which in itself was intelligent of them, however, one day they got a little sloppy in their paying attention to their exact location and the proximity of the dog. She pounced and one hen lost a big mouthful of tail feathers. She was not hurt, just detailed. :-) Anyway, I had to punish the dog as I did not want her to become a chicken killer. I busted her butt, and she went to the back of her dog house and cowered there. I started to walk away, and in just about a minute I looked back, and there were ALL of my chickens, at the front of the dog's house, eating her dog food. The dog was still cowering in the back of the house, not daring to attack a chicken, and madder than she could be having to sit there and watch all the chickens eat her food. She did not dare attack them. As soon as the chickens polished off her food, they left and NEVER went near her again!

Now how on earth did those chickens know that this was the one time in their lives they would have the opportunity to raid the dog food dish and not have to worry about repercusions from the dog? They certainly seemed to know that she would not attack them at that time. I sure thought that was very strange.

stray chickens
My Experience, With Chickens

4 small chickens appeared in my driveway about 2 weeks ago. I would walk the 500 feet down the driveway and feed them, slowly walking backwards to get them closer to my property. Although they eat and follow a little...They don't come-a-runnin like I thought they would after feeding them so many times. They also only come so far down the driveway and the turn and run away. Nobody else is feeding them that I know of ( I only have a few neighbors) and they always stay in my neighbors yard and he doesn't like them. Any advice on how to better interest these fowl?

Thank you.

-reply by Henry