If you chase the chickens with empty hands, the chickens will run and dodge you. But if you have rice in your hand, the chickens will follow you.

You must never get carried away with pride, because what the chickens like has never been you—it’s the rice in your hand. If there is no rice in your hand, then you are nothing in the chickens’ eyes. Even if you feed the chickens until they’re full, they will still leave you, going behind your back to lay eggs everywhere.
So the rice in your hand can only be shown to the chickens, not fed to them to eat—only then will they follow you wholeheartedly.