Science class question

[Cindyluwho]

My DD12 needs to do an experiment for science class. She would like to do an animal experiment, like training the mouse the hit the button to drop food. Only she would be using one of her chickens. Where in the world would I buy the button thingie that drops the piece of food???
She actually wanted to train it to ring the doorbell for food but I can see me losing my mind because the chicken won't stop ringing the door bell. The bird she's going to use already has a habit of breaking out of the chicken yard and standing by the back door asking for food.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Anything here in this Google search?

 

[Megster]

could she train it to go through a maze? I had to train a mouse in high school to go through a maze that I built myself. However, mice are a lot smaller than chickens so I don't know if that is a practical solution. But a maze/button are going to be using the same techniques/training ideas so its a thought? good luck!!

 

[Kirk]

I don't know about chickens but here's a Parrot place:


Training Toys

 

[ErikdaRed]

Better check on animal testing laws before proceeding. Her teacher should probably know the details.

 

[Kirk]

Better check on animal testing laws before proceeding. Her teacher should probably know the details.

I don't think we had any intention of harming any animals here - just feeding them!

 

[paigevz]

Yes, but, we had a science fair kickoff just last week, and we can not accept ANY experiments involving any creatures. The regs are quite strict about it.......we are not to make a judgement on it, just can't take it.

 

[Cindyluwho]

Better check on animal testing laws before proceeding. Her teacher should probably know the details.

Ummmm I think you may be jumping to conclusions here. I'm going to be very direct here. We raise chickens. Some are show birds, some are layers and some are meat birds. We are never cruel, ever, to our birds. We respect the life of every bird we own, even the meat birds meant for butchering. The show birds are already trained for showing at the State Fair. They stand, stay & turn their bodies to face the judge as he walks by, etc. Showing & butchering of chickens is accepted by our state and every other state. The only thing illegal in most states is the cockfighting.
I'm sorry if I'm sounding harsh but there's enough politics involved in life without politickin my chickin.

And Kirk, thank you so much! That site is terrific. I never thought to check out parrot sites.

Edited to add: I just read your last post Erikdared. I see what you're getting at. Was it the school district or your state that mandated that rule? Completely bizarre considering every state & county in the US shows animals at their fairs. More regulations.....just what the country needs.

 

[paigevz]

I did not know that people showed chickens...........and especially that they know they're being shown and act accordingly! Learn something new daily!

 

[paigevz]

Ummmm I think you may be jumping to conclusions here. I'm going to be very direct here. We raise chickens. Some are show birds, some are layers and some are meat birds. We are never cruel, ever, to our birds. We respect the life of every bird we own, even the meat birds meant for butchering. The show birds are already trained for showing at the State Fair. They stand, stay & turn their bodies to face the judge as he walks by, etc. Showing & butchering of chickens is accepted by our state and every other state. The only thing illegal in most states is the cockfighting.
I'm sorry if I'm sounding harsh but there's enough politics involved in life without politickin my chickin.

And Kirk, thank you so much! That site is terrific. I never thought to check out parrot sites.

Edited to add: I just read your last post Erikdared. I see what you're getting at. Was it the school district or your state that mandated that rule? Completely bizarre considering every state & county in the US shows animals at their fairs. More regulations.....just what the country needs.

You mean mine? It's the school district, I think. But, you may want to check with yours just to be sure. I think it's one of those, "we don't want to think about what is and isn't allowed so just make a rule that they can't use animals" type of regulations. I suppose someone, somewhere would think it is cruel to make a chicken work for it's snack!

 

[mick67]

Here's an experiment: feed a chicken food dye for a week and see if lays Easter eggs!

 

[paigevz]

You have seen the little pink and blue chicks at Easter haven't you? How do they do that? Inject dye in the egg? I think that's messed up.

 

[daisyduck123]

In our county...no animals of any kind are allowed to be included in the science fairs either.

 

[Sparx]

get a door bell and train it like any other animal. Positive re-enforcement. get a door bell and put a little food on it so the chicken will hit it with its beak. when it does, bell will ring. slowly after a habbit of pressing the button when the animal is hungry start taking the food off of it and hand feeding the bird. then slowly the bird will press teh button in order to be fed. Its very simple.

 

[Sparx]

You have seen the little pink and blue chicks at Easter haven't you? How do they do that? Inject dye in the egg? I think that's messed up.

the birds are dyed as chicks, I believe. Its very cruel. It can kill the chicks.

 

[Cindyluwho]

the birds are dyed as chicks, I believe. Its very cruel. It can kill the chicks.

The only way I know to do it is to inject the egg. The syringe is not injected into the chicken (ewwww), it's just injected into the egg white. They have shown it at the fair also. At the fairs the kids can do 3-5 minute presentations, I've seen the egg injection there. What's really fun is the artificial insemination (big giant ewwwww)

As far as the doorbell idea, this particular chicken would take full advantage of that - all day long. She would much rather hang with us than with the flock. I think it's because she's the only game bird variety bird that we have, she doesn't seem to "speak" the same lingo as the other chickens. I can just imagine her ringing the darned bell all day long. This same bird actually got into our house, went into the office and laid an egg in the printer tray and pooped on the fax machine. If you'd like to see what she looks like, go to http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Games/Mods/BRKModerns.html Also check out the Polish breed, they look like Brian Setzer of the Stray Cats!

 

[paigevz]

I would imagine so (referring to can kill the chicks)...........dye isn't good in great big people, much less little tiny newborn chicks. Poor things. I hate seeing those year after year.

Injecting the eggs at the fair as a demonstration. And it may kill the chick.

Is this the same fair your daughter's doing? If so, I doubt if they'll have a bit of problem with your doorbell ringing chicken.

 

[Cindyluwho]

Injecting the eggs at the fair as a demonstration. And it may kill the chick.

Is this the same fair your daughter's doing? If so, I doubt if they'll have a bit of problem with your doorbell ringing chicken.

No, it's the 6th grade science fair/exhibit. It's a private school and the teacher has already suggested animal behavior so we know it's not an issue. The doorbell thing is a great idea, I just don't want a doorbell ringing chicken living at my house.