How the Hen House Turns

In earlier columns, we’ve talked about the importance of routine in animal care. Repetition also counts. It’s hard to tell if a duck understands that they may not go out of the pen, but repeating the same simple phrase may help, along with body language to go with the verbiage. How much is actually learned?

It’s quite clear that the ducks know how to ask me to dig for worms with the trowel. They’ve got me well trained with a quiet “Mack mack” and their close approach. Maybe it counts that I have only broken the trust a few times by reaching out to touch them or pick them up. Their body language makes it quite clear that they don’t want to be human-handled.

However, it was a big surprise when Gwendolyn chicken learned what “No!” meant. She had discovered that she could come out into the yard through the outside access to the duck’s nest box. It was okay with me, as long as the little ducks were out having their morning swim and Scooter dog was on watch.

One day, when no one was out and the dog was not on watch, I caught Gwen sneaking past me as I cleaned the duck’s nest box. It was too dangerous for her to be out alone. (Hawks had taken several chickens over the life of the Hen House, and a large raven who comes in for deceased mice could also take a live chicken.)

I told Gwen, “No. Stay in,” caught her, and pushed her out of the pen-side entrance to the nest box ─ several times ─ probably eight times. At last, she gave up and went off into the pen to hunt for leftover corn.

The next day, the ducks were out swimming and Scooter was on watch. Gwen approached the nest box when I was collecting eggs with the outer door wide open. Instead of dashing through as usual, she stopped at the inner door and looked at me.

“Okay,” I said. “You can come out today.” She did, and we had a grand snuggle that morning when I sat down on the bench by the stock tank.

Sure enough, however, when I was bragging to a friend about Gwen’s intelligence, she refused to take “No” for an answer. The lesson needed repeating, but maybe a few times fewer? I like to take the optimistic view that birds are not dumb, but they are also very stubborn and set in their ways, in some ways.