A bird is a bird is a bird?

[bawkbawkbawk]

Wondering how different in temperament my chickens will be than my cockatiel. Are all domesticated birds similar in intelligence/behavior/personality?

I know that as a pscittacine a cockatiel is of lesser intelligence than a parrot - where do chickens weigh in on that spectrum?

I saw somewhere - maybe here - that the only difference between a parrot and a chicken is $3,000 so am assuming there's similarities, although clearly chickens don't talk...or do they????

I remember the process of taming my cockatiel many years ago; it was fun and easy - will it be similar with the chicks when I get them?

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

anyone?

 

[JennsPeeps]

I've had cockateils and parakeets in addition to my chickens. I think that all are social animals but that parrot-type birds have much more intelligence.

Chickens are not smart critters.

ETA: Chickens can be trained, though. Go to youtube.com and search for chicken training to see what others have done.

 

[seriousbill]

Just now saw this one. Parrots are roughly as much smarter than a chicken as a dog is smarter than a goldfish.

 

[gritsar]

Yep, chickens can be trained to a certain degree. However, they still are not the sharpest tacks in the box.

 

[Akane]

Most people rather underestimate the intelligence of a goldfish since they do not interact in the same ways as us. A chicken though is not near a parrot's intelligence. They can learn and they can be tamed but they aren't that smart. They are actually a bit smarter than I expected but they still amuse me frequently with their inability to reason simple things out.

 

[bawkbawkbawk]

Just now saw this one. Parrots are roughly as much smarter than a chicken as a dog is smarter than a goldfish.

So my cockatiel will feel like Einstein when the chicks arrive. Bring it on.​

 

[gritsar]

 

[Wifezilla]

They are actually a bit smarter than I expected but they still amuse me frequently with their inability to reason simple things out.

Same with my ducks. The ducks are so goofy they make the cats look smart sometimes​

 

[GoldenSilverLaced]

I have a parakeet and 2 zebra finches in addition to my 2 hens, and I grew up with several other parrot species as pets (including 4 cockatiels). The hens are rather intelligent, but they also have had a LOT of personal one-on-one attention. They lived in the house for about 4 months before being put out, and I played with them for 1-2 hours a night in my kitchen. I know that is a bit over the top, but I am a bird lover

I treat them as beloved pets and they respond as such. My SLW is trained to jump either to my knee or arm (approx. 4.5-5 feet off the ground) when I tap it and say her name. It works 80% or more of the time, and the times it doesn't work it seems like she acknowledges the command and chooses to ignore it. Our golden buff is not trained, but she is more docile and calm overall than the SLW, who is already pretty tame and calm. Dunch (GB) can't jump nearly as high as Linner (SLW) so she runs around anxiously whenever Linner jumps up on me. Dunch does run to me when I say her name and point at the ground, regardless of whether I have a treat or not. She's done it from 30-40 feet away. So they can be trained, tamed, taught...they're not stupid by any stretch, but they are not as trainable as a parrot/cockatiel. My parakeet can say 30-40 words and phrases and manipulates me and my fiancee.

The girls aren't quite at that level.

If you want your chickens to be tamed/trained, spend a lot of time with them, and unless they are particularly dumb, they will respond to you in kind.

BTW, the zebra finches we have are so obnoxiously dumb that it aggravates me. I consider them way less intelligent than chickens, even though zebra finches are one of the gold standards in neuroscience research.