Potty Training A Chicken Guide

Potty Training A Chicken

Tips on Correct Chicken Potty Training

Firstly before potty training your chicken you must have hand tamed it. This means that the chicken can sit on your hand without assistance or the chicken can sit freely on your hand and enjoy every moment of sitting there.

Accidents are still bound to occur. This is even after you have trained your chicken to use an identified area to poop. Just be patient and pick up the mess.

The way to a chicken’s heart is through her stomach. Praises will not work with chickens but will only continue to confuse them further. After a chicken has gone poop, reward them with a treat.

Potty training a chicken takes a lot of time and patience is one of the virtues to have throughout this period.

Start potty training your chicken at a tender age, the earlier the better for example from around 3 weeks. Young chickens who have not been house trained make the best candidates for early potty training. But this is not to say that older chickens cannot be potty trained.

potty training a chicken

First and foremost, teach your chicken to poop on command, though this is not completely necessary but it helps a lot. Training this behavior is all about anticipating when your bird is going to go is a key factor in training him. Many birds ruffle their feathers right before they do, some don't. Watch your bird in the coop and, see how he acts right before pooping.

When you bring him inside have an area for him to go in, such as a litter box, or papers. Hold your chicken on your arm, and do something idle like watching TV, then  patiently  watch your bird closely for signs  that he is about to go.

You need a signal such as a Click, hand signal, or whistle for the next step,  this will be the command for pooping, try to choose a signal that you don't use every day

When you think the bird is about to go, quickly take him to the chosen area and  hold him over it, until  you hear the tell-tale. Use the signal that you've preferred, and instantly reward him with a treat. 

Repeat this process when you think he is about to go, until you can give the signal for him to go. Once you have trained the above you can move on to the next step, this one is pretty easy.

If you want to enjoy an indoor poultry presence but either you can't commit to training or your chicken just doesn't get it, a second option exists for controlling their manure -- chicken diapers. They're commonly used by chicken keepers who, for whatever reason, keep chickens indoors. Chicken diapers require changing at least once a day and are custom-made to keep feces away from a bird's body
Also read can you house train a goat

It does take time and dedication on your part, but yes, you can train new and old chickens to discover and enjoy time with their human family.  After the chickens become familiar with you, then you can introduce other family members and train the chickens to like them using the same steps that you did.  With a lot of time and patience, you will soon discover at least one snuggler in your flock.  

As always after handling your chickens, be sure to change your clothing and wash your hands thoroughly. Also wash your face, if you were lucky enough to get some chicken hugs!

During training the above
you should have noted a pattern in timing around which your bird will poop,
when it's almost time, set the bird down on the area designated,and give the command for poop,if he goes reward him  promptly, if he doesn't do not reward him. (Only reinforce the behavior your trying to train, nothing else.) Systematically practice this exercise until he start's going on his own.

Wishing you good luck and lot's of Fun-