My job for the last three summers in a (very awesome and cool) nutshell.
So many people (certain university professors included) are unaware of the fact that chickens can be “clicker-trained”, or trained using operant conditioning, let alone be taught all of these fairly complex tasks. Not only is it a great and easy enrichment activity you can do with your pet chickens if you have any, but it’s used by research laboratories all over the world to try and make important discoveries in areas like animal behaviour and neuroscience.
I’ve done/currently do both - I train my pet chickens to provide them with some physical and mental exercise, and I train laboratory chickens and turkeys for studies that try to solve pressing concerns about the welfare of farmed poultry. In my first summer, I compared the learning abilities of egg-laying hens fed diets with different nutrient levels to see if commercial diets impair brain function in these chickens. The next summer, I trained laying hens to peck a green light for a reward, while also teaching them to ignore a red light - exactly as shown in this video - to determine whether an “impulsive” personality was one of the factors contributing to aggressive feather-pecking behaviour on farms (no post about that one yet, as the results still need to be published)! And that’s just me. There are other animal behaviour & welfare labs at my university, and at universities across many countries, that use operant conditioning as a technique to objectively ask animals about their feelings, preferences, etc. The same goes for other farm animals, zoo animals, and basically any other animal used by humans - there is always scientific research going on to figure out what is best for them.
look, if a species of colourful bird suddenly materialized that was friendly like a dog, could be cared for easily, was domestic, lived for around 10 years, not endangered at all, and readily available you bet your ass i’d have one
oh wait
Don’t get an exotic bird when you can get a chicken
Chickens make just as fun and comforting companions as parrots, if not more - and I currently care for both <3
I’ve had companion parrots my whole life, and chickens HANDS DOWN make a better pet if you can accommodate their needs. If you don’t know chickens as pets, you might be amazed by how incredibly friendly, personable, silly, smart, and affectionate they can be.
chickens are the best
“Eternal” Barn Owl, 24"x18" oil on panel. Painted for my current exhibit, “Featherlight” at the Crary Gallery. A lot I could say about this one but I really enjoy the idea that everyone takes their own meaning!
“Incandescent Deity”, digital painting (Corel Painter). A Patreon reward for @almonihah of their character, Sar'Tket, in couatl form. The metallic and iridescent forms were fun, but very challenging, to paint!
“Storm’s Departure” Scissor-tailed Flycatcher, 16"x20" oil on
panel. One of my headline pieces for my solo show at Crary Gallery in Warren, PA, for the month of August. One of my favorite memories of
TX was seeing these perched high up, in the evening sunlight…
“Tiny Watchtower” Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 5"x7" oil on panel.These little dudes are SO FIERCE and defensive of their territory. I once watched one chasing off a cooper’s hawk!
“Icy Perch” Black-Capped Chickadee 5"x7" oil on panel. The icy branch was both challenging and really fun to paint!
“Woodland Queen” Eastern Wild Turkey 9"x12" oil on panel. This beautiful hen raised her poults behind my house last year, and I feel like I got to know her a bit.. I knew I wanted to paint her portrait when she was among the Persicaria sagittata; it has tiny white flowers on thin stalks… it looks like they are hovering!
“A Moment of Peace” Mourning Dove. 12"x24" oil on panel. Very excited that this and 12 more of my paintings will be part of the spotlight exhibit at West End Gallery in Corning, NY… opening reception is May 24th!
“Grey Day Gift” Northern Cardinal. 12"x16" oil on panel. I love that in winter I can look around the grey, overcast yard, devoid of much color… and often, out there on a branch, glowing red, is one of our resident cardinals! For West End Gallery’s Spotlight Exhibition this month.
“Evening Sun - Bald Eagle” 5"x7" oil on panel. This eagle is for the Tri-County Arts Council, for their annual fundraiser Celebration of the Arts.
Special thanks to Chuck Rondeau for the kind permission to use his photograph as inspiration/reference!
Philippine Eagles are critically endangered, and every chick is precious. When necessary, the Philippine Eagle Foundation uses a puppet to hand-feed captive bred chicks. They needed a new puppet and I’m honored that they asked me to make it! Video demo: https://youtu.be/YwB0mdNMvDU Hand-feeding with puppets is not ideal, but aims to imprint the baby chick onto its own species, instead of humans. I am so thankful to organizations like the PEF that work hard to save wildlife via thoughtful cooperation and respect, with habitat restoration and stewardship. I crafted this puppet for ease of use and cleaning as it will be used to feed an eagle chick raw meat. To this end it’s not finished the same way my masks are. Built from scratch using a wire armature, foam, worbla, faux fur, and a food safe waterproof finish on the beak so that it can be washed.
“p u l l e t s” (Bielefelder chickens), 8"x10" oil on panel. Painted
as a reward for one of my supporters on Patreon, I was SO excited when
they let me paint whatever I wanted with chickens. Thank you so much to
everyone that’s ever supported me!!
You can also buy some amazing art from a Native artist right here on our very own almost-past-its-expiration-date tumblr: @baapi-makwa
Boost!
“Evening Light” Blue Jay, 5"x7" oil on panel. This was a way to
experiment with warm evening light on a tricky subject to toss this
light upon (black/white/intense blue). I enjoyed putting the background
in with a palette knife!
