---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Nancy taught two hens to help her sort…"
description: "\"“Nancy taught two hens to help her sort flowers to make leis. She set them down by a basket of three colors of plastic flowers. One hen quickly pulled ..."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c93/karen-pryor-39019_chickens_nancy-taught-two-hens-to-help-her-sort-f_568915.jpg"
---

#  Nancy taught two hens to help her sort flowers to make…

![“Nancy taught two hens to help her sort flowers to make leis. She set them down by a basket of three colors of plastic flowers. One hen quickly pulled out all the red flowers, and another the white ones, leaving the pink flowers in the basket.” quote by Karen Pryor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c93/karen-pryor-39019_chickens_nancy-taught-two-hens-to-help-her-sort-f_568915.jpg)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c93/karen-pryor-39019_chickens_nancy-taught-two-hens-to-help-her-sort-f_568915.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c93/karen-pryor-39019_chickens_nancy-taught-two-hens-to-help-her-sort-f_568915.jpg)

> ““Nancy taught two hens to help her sort flowers to make leis. She set them down by a basket of three colors of plastic flowers. One hen quickly pulled out all the red flowers, and another the white ones, leaving the pink flowers in the basket.””

[Karen Pryor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-pryor/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

A trainer used hens to demonstrate sorting by color, showing animals can learn simple categorization tasks.

**In simple terms:** Hens can be trained to sort items by color.

Key Takeaway

Use clear cues to teach sorting.

Themes

learning animal behavior training

Mood

curious informative

Type

anecdotal instructional

When to use this quote

- pet training
- education
- behavioral experiments

Key Concepts

conditioning categorization

Questions to Reflect On

- Can this method be applied to other species?
- What limits animal learning?

A Different Perspective

Animals may not generalize beyond the specific task.

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[Flower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/flower/) [Gardening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/gardening/) [Pink flower](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pink-flower/) [Pink Flowers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pink-flowers/)

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