Do Poultry Mourn Over The Loss Of A Flock Mate?

Very sweet.

Well written article. My favorite hen, Sweetie, lost her best friend from a hawk attack. Sweetie spent the next two days searching the yard and making mournful sounds. Sweetie taught me so many things. One of them is that hens do mourn after the loss of their best friend. Fortunately, she didn’t stop eating.

Beautifully written and full of emotion. I have always wondered this, particularly since I’ve twice had to remove keets from their broody hen mom so they could live with the other guineas. It seems they cry and cry, alarm call and if they are out will immediately head for mom’s run to sit outside the fence and stare at her. It is heartbreaking to watch but they do, eventually, become independent and do well with their own kind. I also had a rooster who decided the coop with the girls of his breed (plus some other large hens in the adjoining coop) were his destiny and started to completely ignore the hen in the coop where he lived, as she decided to ignore him because he would run across the yard and hang out with them as long as he could- until he absolutely had to go back with his former girlfriend. He stopped mounting her and he cried constantly if he heard any of the other hens make a sound. I couldn’t conceive of a rooster mourning the loss of hens he hadn’t lived with but it was obvious he was distressed and I eventually gave up and housed them together. The hen he was cheating on was completely unconcerned at his sudden loss and seemed to revel in her new freedom. So much for mourning an adulterous mate! ?

Five stars...easily six if possible.

Good article about birds missing flock mates when they are gone

This article made me tear up, but it also made me realize that I need to think twice before choosing who, when and if I should eat birds from my flock that aren’t strictly meat birds.

What a sweet article. Yes, I'm sure they mourn. Last June we had a bald eagle attack, which left one dead, one mortally wounded and a third in shock. They were from my original flock, so about 3 1/2 years old. I lost all 3 that week. The only remaining hen from that flock, Lucy, was the top hen before that day. She has been off by herself ever since. She's not the top hen anymore, but also doesn't take any guff from anyone. She started using the small coop she shared with Ethel by herself. A few weeks later, another one died suddenly in the run. She had been out with the others in the morning acting and eating just fine. In the afternoon, I arrived to find her dead on the ground, with Lucy and Girlie Girl sitting next to her. I checked her over and couldn't determine a cause, but I think she just keeled over with a heart attack or something like that. After that, Girlie Girl moved in with Lucy, but Lucy still stayed by herself during the day. She sure seemed depressed to me.

I just added two pullets, Alice and Abby, to Lucy's coop. I kept Lucy's run closed to everyone else for a few days so they would learn to go to that coop at night. I knew I could trust Lucy with them. Girlie Girl wasn't too sure about the newbies, and went back to the big coop to stay. Now that I've been able to integrate the pullets with the rest of the hens, Lucy seems to be coming back to life. She still has not resumed her position as top hen, but is hanging out with the other hens more. It has been months since I saw her run to or from anything, but I finally did this week. She has the cutest gate of all the chickens. It was good to see her get excited over something again.

Oh, yes, and when I first took Alice and Abby away from Mad Hatter, it was at the end of the day. Mad was certain they were gone forever. (He had been getting too rough with them at about 5 mos old, and I was concerned for their wellbeing.) The next morning, Mad's crow was different. It sounded like he was crying out for his lost girls. Normally the last syllable is high and loud, but this time is was drawn out and descending into nothingness. When I walked out and let Alice and Abby out of their coop, Mad was elated. His crow changed. When they moved to the fence line near him, he started his little cooing to them. It was amazing.

Do they mourn? I don't know about anyone else's chickens, but I've seen it in mine.

My conclusion: birds DO mourn. They have some semblance of emotion just like other animals do. Good read, thank you

This is an excellent article and expression of something many poultry keepers never really think about. It is perfectly articulated and well-researched. Wonderful job, Leyla!!

I have had several chickens mourn their friends or a baby that did not make it. The first time I let my BSL hen hatch eggs, one of the chicks ended up passing shortly after hatch and she was super upset when I went up there to check and she was very distressed and was acting upset for a few hours at least. I am glad this article is here because I felt like I was the only one noticing this in chickens and every time I told some people that they do mourn like other animals do, they laughed Such a good article and thanks!

Yes they have emotions, fear, happiness, anger.

WOW!! I do believe animals grieve.My dog turned 2 Dec31 He never knew My Husband or Nephew .My Husband passed in 2013 :My Newphew DIDN't live around here. But every time My "Shadow"gets out of the yard He goes straight to the Cemetery and lays between Their graves and I have to go pick Him up and carry Him home.Seems like this happens close to when I'm feeling depressed.

Thanks for this article, confirming the intelligence and sensitivity of our avian friends....

This mad me cry!

This is a very thoughtful article.
I do believe that chickens mourn the loss of others. These funny, entertaining, little creatures have so many facets to their personalities that peoplevoften don't think about.

I thought chickens were too "birdbrained" for that! I am the one in our family that does all the chores morning and evening. Which includes: Feeding our dog and cats, making sure they have fresh water, gathering eggs, cleaning out nesting boxes, feeding the chickens, feeding the ducks, and making sure they have fresh water. Quite a few months ago, I went on a trip with my cousin. Our dog was prescribed with eye drops at the time and was quite finicky with them. My 12 year old sister was left in charge of doing then chores. Our dog, Benjamin would not eat or let my sister put eye drops in his eye. Then when I came home we went on happily with life!

At our dairy we have a lot of different species that buddy up. Our goat loves our pigs, the cats love my Cocker Spaniel Grace, the baby turkeys love the baby chickens, we had a bunny and a cat that were best friends. The girls (cows) all have special friends but love the cats too.

I loved that article. I had no idea chickens mourn but after reading g this I know doubt believe that that do.