A lot of folks dont think chickens have emotions...

[speckledhen]

Yes, Jill. The really dark ones are almost always pullets! That would be wonderful if your only one to hatch was a girl. Hey, you could have hatched more, but you'd have had to find homes for roosters, then, so there's a good side to it.

 

[Davaroo]

To those that care: we know that our chickens have feelings.

Am I to understand you, then, that because I am not convinced that chickens have true emotions (love, hate, envy, jealousy, etc.), that I don't care about them?

I was wondering if this would come up. It is elitism and should be guarded against.​

 

[DuckLady]

I don't know that chickens have emotions in the intensity and understanding of emotions as humans do, but they definitely feel and enjoy and want to be around us.

They have their own chickeny emotions in ther own chickeny way.
I agree about the jealousy part, though to us it is jealousy, to them it is more likely "Get Off My Treat Wagon", which in chickeny terms is jealousy.
Curiosity, while not an emotion, is definitely something they experience. If I am outside even without treats or something, they have to come stick their big fat beaks in whatever I am doing. And comment on the quality of effort I am putting into it.
And anger? Yes! Try getting eggs out from under a broody hen when you don't want to hatch eggs! LOL

Do they have emotions? I think so.

 

[SpottedCrow]

Heck Yes!!!
If you've ever seen a chicken wandering and looking for it's lost buddy and making all sorts of noises, that's their way of mourning...
Or going to the body and laying next to it...
Or stomping another's eggs flat because the broody's getting all the attention...

 

[Davaroo]

They have their own chickeny emotions in ther own chickeny way.

looking for it's lost buddy and making all sorts of noises, that's their way of mourning...
Or going to the body and laying next to it...
Or stomping another's eggs flat because the broody's getting all the attention...

Hmmmm, I'm afraid I remain hopelessly unconvinced. Ah, well {{{sighs}}}....​

 

[DuckLady]

Well, all I know is that Spotted Crow's story of her cantakerous bag of feathers (Slifer, RIP) chasing her son down the hallway convinced me.

I still think of that and crack up.

 

[Davaroo]

While I don't know the story, I really can relate.

We have a pack of dogs here at Tiznotta Farm that seem to do all sorts of things that are humanlike. Whether they emote while doing them, I suspect, is left to our interpretation of their behavior. I reckon that people have been personifying animals since well before Aesop wrote his fables.

It IS true that chickens are more intelligent than imagined by most, if you choose to use that term. They learn fast and are visually oriented, even more so than your average human child up to a point.

The chicks hit the floor running and only need a little coaching from the hen to "learn the ropes." As social (flock) creatures, they have a unity and structure that is remarkable. They also mercilessly eat each other, if given the chance.

I suppose I should bow out of this discussion at this point, as a lost cause. If I continue, Im only bound to muck up the chicken "shout out" session.

 

[barg]

I think the problem here is that you are equating emotions with intelligence.
Emotions are cause by the production of chemicals in the body that are produced in response to some stimulus in the animal’s environment.
Most emotions are initially interpreted by the lower portions of the brain, and then reactions can be filtered in the higher portions of the brain.

Animals may not be as intelligent as humans and may not be able to make the kinds of decisions or contemplate the meaning of their emotions, but that does not mean that they do not experience them.

Fear is fear.
How do you respond to fear?
Most human’s initial response is an immediate reaction initiated by the lower brain, you jump or flinch, then higher brain functions may take over and you interpret the cause of your fear and may suppress further fear reactions.

Even humans are not always able to keep their lower brain from handling their emotions, often when the brain is flooded with the chemicals that produce emotions, higher brain functions are shut down and complex thought becomes impossible.

Contrary to historical beliefs, it is not emotions that make us human, it is our ability to reason, interpret our surroundings, and think about things in the abstract.

I think many people don’t want to believe that animals have emotions because they don’t want to believe that the animal might fear or feel sadness about the fact that they my end up dinner.
Having emotions does not make you sentient, but whether or not chickens are sentient, is a topic for separate debate.

 

[jenichick]

I agree with Terrie. Chicken emotions in there own way. My dogs have emotions in there own way, and so does my cat, so did my guinea pig. They are not human but they have feelings in there own capacity. My dog are happy to see me when I get home, my donkeys are happy, my chickens are happy to see me. It's not just because of food because they are already fed and cared for. They get lonely and they get bored......very similar to humans but different!

 

[Davaroo]

So are you saying all true emotions are only based on physical reaction to environmental stimuli?

Sorry, dont buy it.
Sure all creatures fear being burned in a fire and run from the experience.

But, I suspect only humans can turn that physical fear into dread later - and enact prevention based on perceived threat of fire.
The former, dread, is an emotion; the latter, an intelligent response to that emotion. In that you are quite correct - the two are different.
While I do not know all the psychobabble, I also suspect that emotions are TIED to intellect - if you cant describe them, it's unlikely that you have them, so to speak.

I guess what I really do not attempt to do is to project human emotion and other capacities onto chickens because it SEEMS something they do is something I can relate to. I do admit that, in chickeny brains, there may be SOMETHING, an equivalent to emotions, that I can know nothing of. In turn, I wouldn't expect them to grasp our emotions or thoughts, either. So be it, I guess.

For me, that's good enough.