Can chickens smell?

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IggiMom

IggiMom

Songster
10 Years
Apr 12, 2009
1,742
84
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West Virginia
Someone told me that chickens have no sense of smell. Does anyone know if this is true or not? I cannot think why they wouldn't be able to smell--others birds can. How do they know what to eat if they cannot smell it?

Just wondering.

Catherine
 
Maybe thats why they eat their own pooh? No sense of smell?
hu.gif
 
Link below for entire article

Chicken Sense

By Dr. Clive Dalton and ScienceDaily.com
16 November 2008
Senses in Poultry, by Dr. Clive Dalton

Smell

Not much is known about how important smell is to poultry.
Hens are not keen on food that smells of mould or is sour, so presumably smell is involved in this feed rejection.
It’s suggested that birds can definitely smell blood.
 
Pretty sure they do smell - My girls shake their heads in absolute disgust to any food they don't like, and especially if they are curious about poo - Wow they don't look at it again.
lol.png
 
If they can't smell, then why do they have a nose? I think they can smell but it is not that good. Each sense has a dominant one and the rest decent. So smell is probably at the bottom of the totem pole. This is what I think.
 
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I don't know if they can smell or not but I would guess they have a nose so they can breathe. Maybe they can breathe through their beak/mouth but then they would look like they're panting all the time!
 
Quote:
Thanks!

I will check it out.

We have the swarming ladybugs here, which smell truly horrible, and I notice there is not one bird, not even the Guineas, that will eat them.

Catherine
 

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