During chicken breeding , we are going to utilise positive reenforcement . It ’s unbelievable that a volaille would learn anything from minus reinforcement or negative penalisation . More likely , she would just shake a bottom feathering and take the air away .
Plus , we do n’t desire to aim our chickens — or any animals — through penalty . written report show thatchickens have proficient memoriesand will avoid situations that they remember as minus or dangerous .
So positive preparation it is ! This term is used rather broadly , so I ’m going to break it down to relate to our chicken training .

Reinforcement
flight simulator use reinforcement to help increase the chance that a specific behavior will occur in the hereafter by delivering or off a stimulus immediately after the conduct .
More simply put , reinforcement , if done correctly , results in a doings occurring again in the futurity . The reinforcement can be anything that the animal find pleasing .
My dog find piece of steak pleasing . They also savor attention and strong-arm praise .

manfredrichter/Pixabay
My volaille also rule pieces of gist pleasing , and they will work for mealworms and graham cracker skunk as well . They do n’t find strong-arm praise pleasing , so that would not be reckon “ positive reinforcement ” for them .
reenforcement can be overconfident or negative . Let ’s take a closer look at both types of reinforcement .
Check out these 5 recipe for homemade crybaby dainty .

manfredrichter/Pixabay
Positive Reinforcement
Positive reward works by lay out a motivating / reinforcing stimulus to the wimp after she displays the desired behavior . It makes the conduct more potential to materialize in the future .
For example , when you call “ chick - chick , ” your Gallus gallus comes lam . That ’s because each metre you say “ chick - chick , ” you lead yummy treats for her .
She is more likely to display this behavior in the future tense .
Negative Reinforcement
Negativereinforcementoccurs when a certain stimulus — unremarkably an aversive input — is get rid of after the beast displays a particular demeanor .
The likeliness of the deportment occurring again in the succeeding increases . That ’s because either you ’ve taken off the negative consequence or the animal can avoid the negative consequence .
An instance of negative reinforcement is a horse that learns to “ give , ” or turnits head , to avoid the imperativeness on the bit in its mouth when the reins are pull back .
Another model of negative support would be my husband building a new volaille cage to annul listening to me asking him each weekend ( just pull the leg of , of course!).manfredrichter / Pixabay
Punishment
When you hear about using punishment in training , you usually think of it as being something uncollectible . But this is not always the casing .
Trainers use punishment to help minify the probability that a specific behavior will occur in the future tense . In other words , when a consequenceimmediately follows a doings , it decreases the succeeding frequency of that behavior .
As with reinforcement , you may add a stimulus ( positive punishment ) or take away one ( negative punishment ) .
Are you still with me ? A effective way to opine about it is that you use penalization when you desire to decrease an undesired behavior . But you use reinforcement when you want the behavior to befall again .
Just like with strengthener , there are two types of punishment : positive and negative .
Positive Punishment
This work by presenting an aversive consequence after an unsought conduct is exhibited . It makes the conduct less likely to pass in the future tense .
For illustration , my poulet remembers that when she walked across the private road , it was super spicy . The next metre she approaches the private road , she walks alongside it , on the grass .
Another example : A dog , wearing a shock collar , barked at the neighbor and receive a blow .
Negative Punishment
You do this when a sure reinforcing stimulus is hit after a peculiar undesired doings is exhibited . It results in the conduct happening less often in the future .
For representative , my youngest son had an position before dinner . So he did n’t get ice ointment after dinner .
Research with humans , wiener and just about every other metal money shows that cocksure consequences are more powerful than negative consequences .
If you ’re ready to start training your chickens , break out my Koran : tick with Your Chick : A staring wimp grooming course using the clicker .
This article originally appeared in the January / February 2020 take ofChickensmagazine .