Do chickens know their breed?

[aoxa]

Yes I definitely notice this. The roosters are the exception, but the hens of the same breed tend to be closer than with hens of a different breed.

It also has to do with who they were raised with as well. If you have a barred rock and a wyandotte and add more barred rocks to the flock, the barred rock will not abandon the wyandotte just because there are other birds that look like her.

 

[alindm1]

I don't notice this.. I have 3 EE's, 1 barred rock, 1 golden comet, 1 silver laced wydonette, and 1 light brahma.

2 of my EE's think that they are more human than chicken....

All of my chickens sing (out of tune) to the radio....

 

[PrairieChickens]

I've noticed the tendency for birds of a feather to stick together among my birds as well, but there are interesting deviations. For example, I have a black bantam cochin who prefers the company of the black australorps over his own kind, and while my Polish Crested almost invariably prefer each others company, my two production red hens seem completely unconcerned with who they are mingling with and are rarely together.

 

[AmandaGrace]

This does make some sense mine do the same thing. The EE stick together and the Red Stars stick together. I don't know if this would have anything to do with it but I know with zebras and I think other animals too if their is one that is a different color then they are easier to pick out from the heard. I wonder if this is the same with chickens they could do it to protect themselves from preditors.

 

[Puddle Cluckers]

I have a americana that hangs out with a bronze breasted turkey. so much so that you would believe he thought he was one. The same turkey mothers 3 other chicks about 5 weeks old.

 

[tatt2dchk1]

I have a flock of 10 golden comets and 1 dominicker (I know I didn't spell that right lol) rooster, my while flock stays together at all times

 

[Homestead girl]

I have six Buff Orpingtons , six Black Jersey Giants, four GLW, 13 EE all different colors, and one we think is a polish he is black.
I have noticed that the black EE hang out with the Black Jersey Giants ,and the Polish is thinks he is one of the Jersey Giants can't wait to see how that work's out later down the road when size will matter. The brown EE hang out with the Buff's and GLW , but I have two white EE they hang out with everybody they seem to just float from group to group .
All my black chickens will roost on the top roost now. A couple weeks ago they weren't roosting. Then a row of Buff and GLW with EE mixed in.
They all eat together drink together, but I have noticed that the Black chickens seem to stay in a group more so than the rest of the chickens.
It is very interesting to watch them and see how they interact with each other.

 

[Freia]

I think it has to do with temperament more than breed.

I have 3 cochins, who are all very non-aggressive and friendly. They would all hang out together. I figured that yeah, they're all Cochins, so they stick together. Then I got a Turken, who's as friendly as can be. She can't stand hanging out with the uptight GLW or RIRs. She hangs out with the Cochin-crowd. I think she just doesn't like confontation, so she sticks with the other birds that don't mess with her. It makes sense to me. Why would a firendly Turken want to get bullied by a Wyandotte when she can snuggle with a Cochin?

My more aggresseive RIRs, Wyandottes, and now the new Mottled Java all kind of hang out together, thought truth-be-told, I don't know if they can even stand each other. It's like a group of bullies - nobody can stand them so they just hang out.

 

[shmccarthy]

I noticed that too. My reds all hangout together while the leghorns go do their own thing. My two porcelain d'uccle pullets are always side by side and sleep cuddling together and so does my silver duckwing pair and all my sebrights hangout together. Huh.

 

[Konra]

I got chicks in two batches. The first batch has barred rocks, blue laced red wyandottes, and ameraucanas. They all stick together and sleep together in a pile. The second batch was 4 bantam cochins and 5 buff orpingtons. They run around my yard in two distinct groups, but the buffs and cochins all sleep together in a separate pile