Hawk is like no other ordinary hen. Even though she still lays an egg daily and consumes chicken feet for breakfast, lunch and dinner, keepers stated that she is a little different than the rest of the other chickens.
“I’ve tried different chickens. But, Hawk here seems to be the most willing to learn. She’s eager to learn,” explained Miki Nagatoshi, an animal zoo keeper at the Honolulu Zoo. Over a gradual period of time, Miki managed to train Hawk to ring a bell, leap through a hoop and even play the piano. In fact, these are tricks that some even say could not be performed by a chicken.
“Chickens are so underrated because everybody thinks chickens can’t learn anything. All they’re good for is, ya know, to eat and lay eggs. But, we’re here to prove them wrong,” added Miki. That was exactly what they did. In just a short span of four months, the zoo keepers managed to train Hawk to perform for crowds at the Honolulu Zoo. Aside from teaching her to tickle the ivories, they also trained her to recognise different colors.
“Positive reinforcement. That’s how we got her with these behaviors,” said Miki. Miki also went on to state that training helps to promote mental stimulation. The key idea to take note of is to keep the training sessions short and sweet. This will help to ensure that the animals do not get bored to frustration. Miki did admit that at times training Hawk can be quite a difficult challenge. However, she still feels that it is worth it at the end of the day.
“She makes a lot of kids happy and it kind of proves that chickens are underrated. You know, chickens, they can be smart. They make good pets,” said Miki. The zoo keepers added that Hawk will perform “Happy Birthday” to any children who celebrate their birthdays at the Honolulu Zoo. However, they went on to say that just like most performers do, Hawk can get a case of stage fright every now and then. So perhaps Hawk can provide you with the answer so to “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Maybe, for the mere fact that it just wanted to play the piano. For the full story, you can read it here.
If even chickens can be taught to play the piano, it shouldn’t be much of an issue for us humans. Awesome piano provides piano lessons in Singapore at the comfort of the client’s home. For more information, do check out our website.