Do Chickens Mourn ?

now bee.... iv seen my chickens break out Kleenex and cry like mad over a lost flock member only to see em come running on slaughter day to come eat cousin Larrys remains
 
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So I just got to baby chicks the other day they seemed fine pleny food water well one ended up dead unknown reason. No sign of snake or mice but the one thats alive has blood on her beak in between her nostils. She is constantly chirping now seems to calm a bit when being held but as soon as she is back in the cage she chirps non stop. Why? And what should I do?
 
Hi Sadie and Jasmine

The little chick is afraid, that is why it is chirping so much. You should get at least one other chick to keep him/her company. Chickens are not solitatry animals, they like to do things together, in groups. Chicks usually have a mother hen to look after them, to whom they can run when they are afraid, alone or cold. The two chicks got a feeling of a bit of security from each other. The one that's left has now no security at all. You do not say how old the chick is. Maybe you know, but in case you don't, chicks need heat until they are 6 weeks old. They can not keep their body heat yet and they will die easily if they are too cold. Hope this help.
 
I agree with 1906 but if you can't get another chick right now try a small stuffed animal. This will give the chick some comfort and company.
Good luck and let us know how the chick is doing.
 
My experience with my soon to be 10 week old chickens is that they have the ability to memorize their surroundings, their coop mates, locations of various feeding and watering devices, and immediately recognize that something isn't right in their world. One example would be tonight, I was trying to herd two of the "wild girls" into the coop, but they were not cooperative. I picked up a box I had lying near the coop to block their escape...well, they went nuts and tried even harder to get away from me. Turns out the box was the one that I used to ferry them from the brooder in the morning to the coop....and they remembered how they hated it! One time, when the young roo got feisty with me and gave me a peck and the stink-eye, I locked up the coop and left him outside...watching close by while he got his time out. The three hens inside the coop were beside themselves, with their glorious leader trapped outside, desperately trying to get in. Perhaps they do mourn, in their own way....but I think that the "disturbance in the force" they sense drives their "emotions" more than an empathic feeling. Still like them a lot. Won't kill them for food. Cheaper than cable television and the programming is better! Must have better writers....
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We just lost our rooster, Samson last night. Something got in the coop. He was the sweetest rooster we have ever had and the girls loved him. They are very quiet today. One of them was making a weird noise like a a cat. I'm guessing that is a grieving sound. One experience I have had is when I had two roosters living together. They became best friends and were always together. One of the roosters was a meat chicken and eventually got too big to walk and died in the yard. That day I watched the other chicken go out to the yard and lay his head on his body and stayed there for about two hours. So yes, I do believe chickens mourn, I have witnessed it myself.
 
Of course they mourn! I could write books of examples and stories that show they have this emotion, but this is the internet - how do you know I am not lying?
Most humans just do not want to believe that fellow animals are really our fellow animals. They think that humans are superior and animals are too dumb to even comprehend our emotions. I guess it makes them feel better for what they do to other creatures...
 

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