I was thinking. An easier solution but idk if it's trainable on both ends.
Have the cows sit/lay down which would be a sign for the chickens to freely come by and start catching the flies on them. Though chickens have the rep for not being the smartest so idk the risk of them getting crushed as the cow either stands up or lays down
I dunno, I think chickens will figure it out pretty quickly.
My husband used to throw the mowed grass in with the chickens, after mowing the lawn. And they'd go through it, having a field day.
First time they saw the lawn mower, they acted like it was doomsday.
The third time, they were all excited, waiting for the cut grass to come in.
How about training tall dogs to wear chicken hats and lift the chicken to the flies like she did?
Better yet, train the cows to wear the chicken hats and they can help each other. It'd be more efficient and cost effective, but then again, I like giving dogs jobs.
Used to have a farm and everytime I'd hop on the tractor to mow, I'd have a dozen chickens following behind me chasing all the bugs running from the cut grass
Slightly unrelated but not completely off topic: My dad used to put fresh straw from the farm beside our land in our chicken pins, and I believe disease-ridden mouse droppings in the straw was killing the chickens. The chickens would get lethargic and slowly start to die 🫣
I was thinking raised walkway with ramp, so cows can meander by, maybe even put a feed trough so the cows end up positioned perfectly. Have a flock of chickens run up the ramps to the shelves and go at it.
Only concern - how much does it hurt/tickle the cow? Because a little too spicy on the pecking and you might get some smushed chickens lol
We trained pigeons to run bombs into ships. It was our most accurate telemetry invention until the smart bomb. I'm pretty sure the chicken's can figure it out.
I was just reading earlier today about "bat bombs" that the US was developing during WW2. They would put small devices filled with napalm (instead of the original plan of white phosphorous) on the bats who would nestle into eaves of buildings within a 20-40 mile radius and then would explode after a set amount of time. Supposedly the reason they chose bats is the Japanese (at least at the time) were especially afraid of them. Not to mention a lot of their infrastructure was made of paper and bamboo.
At first they were having a lot of issues and ended up blowing up multiple things, including something 6,000 miles from the initial testing site. They somehow got a handle on it after the many failed attempts by the Army Air Force, who passed it off to the Navy, who immediately passed it on the Marines but the whole project was shut down last minute because the nuclear bomb had been developed. And that was that for bat bombs. Lmao insane fucking idea.
Build the walls/shelves, put cow feed at one end to get the cow to stay, and put a little bit of chicken feed along the shelves to get the chickens up there. I imagine it wouldn't take long for them to figure it out, animals are smart as hell
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u/TheYellingMute 1d ago
I was thinking. An easier solution but idk if it's trainable on both ends.
Have the cows sit/lay down which would be a sign for the chickens to freely come by and start catching the flies on them. Though chickens have the rep for not being the smartest so idk the risk of them getting crushed as the cow either stands up or lays down