Comments on: Hypnotizing Chickens

By: cottonwood

cottonwood — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 08:02:40 +0000

Having been raised on a farm where we had many chickens amongst other animals I can appreciate and believe in the ability to hypnotize a chicken by the method described. I had not heard of doing it so never tried but certainly would have. I do know that if you chase after a chicken as with any other creature it will run from you. If I wanted to catch a chicken while it was not roosting I would draw it close with feed then grab it. On a number of occassions I have got a chicken to lay still for a bit by holding it down on its side and petting it along the neck and side. It would stay that way for a little while after I let it go without startling it. As for the question of what would I do with a hypnotized chicken? I would tell it that whenever I clicked my fingers it would walk and act like a human. lol

By: Pete Laus

Pete Laus — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 18:31:38 +0000

When I was a kid, My father told me about hypnotizung chickens. He told me when he was a kid he would sneak over to his neighbors chicken pen and hypnotize them by drawing a chalk line on the sidewalk, then grabbing a chicken and sticking its head under its wing. Then he would move the whole chicken around in a big circle a few times. Then he would set it on the ground, pull its head out from under its wing and aim it at the chalk line. He said that that chicken would stare at that line for a long long time. His neighbor would get mad at him whenever he did this.
I always took this story with a grain of salt until one day one of our next door neighbor’s chickens got loose and wandered into our yard where we were having a cookout with several friends. I cornered that chicken and tried my father’s hypnotizing trick. Much to my surprise and the amazement of all our frriends, it worked like a charm. I guess the old man wasn’t feeding me a line.

By: betty lou russell

betty lou russell — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 00:13:47 +0000

I have lived in country all my life (75 year) and contracted growing chickens for 27 years. In all these years I have never heard of hypnotizing a chicken. lol We produced about 245,000 head per year. But, I live in Texas and guess we do things different here. Too busy in taking care of the business instead of trying to put one to sleep unless he needed to be put out of his misery and that was a quick knock with the chicken catcher. Must be interesting to have time to try to hypnotize one. Bo Pilgrim may be interested in learning that since he has a stuffed chicken called Heneritta. Just thought I would give comment from a past poultry farmer.

By: giantjake

giantjake — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 18:24:25 +0000

Not FAIR! Lol I nearly lost my coffee out my nose reading “Is this the poultry version of cow tipping?” Thanks for the laugh! When I saw it in Oz it was a way they where getting the chickens to sit still for inspection as someone was coming over to buy most of their flock since they where older and downsizing not for entertainment purposes. Though sadly I must admit, I went cow tipping once… For me it was easy I was 6′8″ 380 I didn’t see the sport or fun in it like my other friends *though they where much smaller than I*.

By: shopper

shopper — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 04:42:01 +0000

You’re absolutely right. It doesn’t work at all when carrying multiple chickens by their feet. They tend to keep their heads up and eyes on each other. The lone chicken, however, after realizing that flapping and squawking are futile, drops its head and goes limp. I’ve only had two birds (both roosters) defy my logic and slash my arm instead. No one’s said yet just why you would want to hypnotize chickens. Is this the poultry version of cow tipping?

By: hypnochicken

hypnochicken — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 16:09:47 +0000

Actually the line should be drawn parallel the chicken’s head, not away from it. To catch said chicken we always used a long sturdy wire about 4 to 5 feet with a hook at the end, as the bird would try to run away (I don’t know why) the user just hooks it around the foot and picks them right up. To lay the chicken on it’s side you kind of have to get your hands down over their flapping wings and just lay them down on their side. The tricky part is holding the fowl down with one hand and drawing the line with the other, as the chicken will want to bolt. You might want to consider this a two man job, one to hold the chicken, the other to draw the line. I only ever hypnotized hens, never tried on a rooster as grandpa’s rooster (his name was Napoleon) was a bit malicious and would try to peck at us whenever approached.

By: giantjake

giantjake — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:17:18 +0000

I never saw ours lay still after being upside down. When we had to bring those couple dozen back to the coop that every summer would make a roost in the barn. We would hold them upside down by their legs so we could carry more back after we got the 1500 feet or so back to the coop and sat them down then they’d jump around clucking and trying to get away. Though I don’t think we laid them on their side.

By: shopper

shopper — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:21:35 +0000

I’m not sure why you would want to “hypnotize” a chicken, but you can effect the same result (stillness) by holding the bird upside down for 10 seconds, give or take. Then, guess what, you can lay it down on its side. This is especially helpful when training chickens to go in at night. The offenders are brought inverted into the coop and laid down (on their sides). Seconds later, in front of very curious roommates, the hen springs up, embarassed. Chickens hate to be humiliated in this way and never miss dinner call again.

By: giantjake

giantjake — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:30:17 +0000

If you don’t have a chicken catcher another way we use to catch those that tried to set up shop in the barn rather than the chicken coop was to wait until it was dark. When you walk in you shine a light directly into their eyes they can’t see you when you pick them up they don’t even struggle.

In Australia I saw them catch a chicken hold it down on the ground while drawing a circle around it. It sat in the circle until he clapped 3 times. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I told my dad about it after coming back to the states and he said that his dad use to do the same but with a handful of flour for the circle and the chicken would sit there until the flour either blew away or was covered up.

By: Mariah

Mariah — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:14:59 +0000

I have heard of this too. But for turkeys. Apparently you put their beak to the ground, draw a line (a white line I may have heard, chalk?) and then you can chop of their heads while they are standing their calmly and the meat is supposed to be better because they aren’t all pumped up with adrenaline.