? about chicken intelligence

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AinaWGSD

AinaWGSD

Free Ranging
15 Years
Apr 2, 2010
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Sullivan, IL
I finally got a copy of Chickens for Dummies from the library today! I haven't read the whole thing, but I have read bits and pieces here and there (as much as a 7 month old infant will allow anyway) and one of the things I found fascinating was the myths and misconceptions chapter. It says that chickens can count and understand the concept of zero. My question is, how do we know they understand the concept of zero (or any other number for that matter)? If anyone has any links to the research I would love to read more about this, and my friend who teaches an animal behavior course for a private college and I'll bet she'd love to read up on it too.
 
Along the same lines, I've read that chickens understand the concept that an object exists even when it's out of sight. Babies can't grasp this. It makes sense to me that they can be quite bright since many birds make the "smartest animals" lists (crows, parrots)
 
Oh, mine totally understand that things exist, even when out of sight. They're such shameless, pushy beggars on the patio that I got to the point I would hide their snack bag, while they were eating what I had just put out for them. I'd hide it behind my back, under my leg or in a pocket, when they weren't looking. You should see them inspecting me! Trying to look all over in the chair and pecking at the pocket of my shorts, even when it isn't in that pocket! They've seen me pull it out of my pocket or from behind my back in the chair in the past and they remember. "I can't see it, but it's got to be here somewhere!"

I love the look they get, when they're thinking about something, studying something. I can see their facial expression and body language change. Kind of a slight tightening of the skin around their eyes, hard stare and the way they hold their head. It's very funny!
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I've also seen that look when one of them is studying my bare foot and thinking about pecking it. Or when they are thinking about how to break out of an enclosure, steal food or get up somewhere that's a challenge.

I'm trained to watch for the "I'm thinking about getting in trouble" look, because I live with a parrot. Only he often turns his head to one side to look with one eye at something. This is know as "giving it the big eye." As in, "Oh, oh. You better watch out. He's giving it the big eye." He's also good at trying to look casual, so we hopefully won't notice what he's getting ready to do.
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Have you ever seen this?



The average chicken is easier to train than the average dog! That's why these camps use chickens (rather than dogs) when trying to teach people how to become dog trainers. Go figure.
 
That video is great! As if I needed inspiration to spend even more time out there with them... I liked the approach of using a measuring cup for the treat. The few times I've tried clicker training I was pretty fumbly with both the clicker and the treat.

How about research on listening to voice commands? One of mine knows her name, and the whole group knows to come when I call them, but I was thinking it would be cool to see if they could learn commands like "Up" or "Home" if I need them to go back inside. Has anyone tried this?
 
I have also been surprised at how "smart" chickens are. Two of ours are about a month and a bit old, the other is about three weeks old. When they eyeball us, there is something there, if that makes any sense. We haven't gotten to the point where they are plotting anything major, but I can see them eyeballing the screen covering the brooder looking for a way out. And it's quite interesting to watch them sight-in on the target they are going after....be it to roost on the top of the brooder or the top of my head.
My misconception of chickens as stupid animals has been completely blown away!
 
After watching my 5 week old chicks respond to my sounds and seeing things in my hands, I'm thinking that you could probably clicker train a chicken. Maybe not all of them, but out of my 4 there are 2 in particular who are very responsive and interested.

Edited to add - AND I should have watched the video first!
 
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Actually, they use chickens because people don't have any foolish preconceived expectations that the chickens will do something to "please their master" the way it seems to be expected of dogs. People also have no expectations that chickens will somehow magically understand English (or any other language for that matter) and so they go into it with a more open mind than they do with dog training. The average dog is actually really easy to train once you get rid of certain popular notions about how dogs think and start treating them for what they are. Chicken camp is an excellent way to learn the basics of clicker training and how animals learn and all of the forward-thinking dog trainers, even the ones who are already familiar with clicker training, would LOVE to get a spot in one of these camps. Chickens it seems are not only smarter than people give them credit for, they're also excellent teachers.
 

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