BIRD BRAINS?

[Chickylove12]

I told a friend of mine that I am planning on getting chickens but am researching and preparing in advance before getting them. I have always loved chickens.. and dreamed of having them. She tried to gently tell me that "chickens are stupid" and have little bird brains. I disagree..I don't think they are stupid..they are capable of love don't you think?

 

[Lazy Farmer]

I have a few that are smart as K-9... Some are questionable, but most are pretty intelligent.
Creatures of habit. Once they gain your trust, limits are limitless.. EXCEPT FETCHING A BALL..lol

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

I’m not sure about animals and human feelings. We tend to project that type of emotion on them.
However, I have had my 4 chickens for almost 2 weeks now and they have learned where to roost (from totally free ranged) to me wanting them inside a coop in the evening. In fact tonight I locked them out of the coop into the run extension so that I could do some maintenance and they basically were knocking on the door, “Um, hey lady, do you know what time it is?”
The other day I forgot to open the run extension (which was new to them only a couple of days)and they ran through it once I opened it squawking and reminding me how awful I was for forgetting. They know that I bring them food. They trust that I’m not going to hurt them. They are creatures of habit for sure as @Farmer Connie stated.

 

[Maddison]

Its already been established that chickens can be taught trick much like dogs, THEY ARE NOT STUPID! I saw a youtube video of training chickens and how they learn, but I cant remember what it was called

 

[PirateGirl]

I have had a few different kinds of birds as pets over the years. The chickens have proven to be the dumbest.

 

[N F C]

I told a friend of mine that I am planning on getting chickens but am researching and preparing in advance before getting them. I have always loved chickens.. and dreamed of having them. She tried to gently tell me that "chickens are stupid" and have little bird brains. I disagree..I don't think they are stupid..they are capable of love don't you think?

There was a BBC production a few years ago...something like The Secret Life of Chickens. Part of the show addressed the intelligence of chickens and I was impressed by their findings. If I'm remembering correctly, they found chickens can recognize up to 100 human faces and they can learn their names. Whether or not they can feel an emotion such as love, I don't know, but they sure know the person that takes care of them the most and is their dispenser of all good things to eat.

If your friend hasn't ever spent much time around chickens, she probably just doesn't 'get it'...don't let her comments bother you.

 

[BantyChooks]

Not stupid but not intelligent in the same way humans are. I don't think they feel "love" but they do have longer term memory than one might give them credit for.

Also varies bird-to-bird. I had an EE hen that was the smartest critter I've come across yet---whenever I fed them rather than running after the food with the others she would run to me and get some more. She also was quite good at recognizing human body language such as pointing. Other birds would stare stupidly up at me but she would (mostly) move in the direction my finger was pointing at. Again, she was still a bird, but she was sure the smartest one I've come across.
On the opposite end of the spectrum I have had the idiots that can't seem to figure out what a fence is, how to go around a board, or various other simple things.

An interesting thing I have noted in a few birds is going to "get help" from the human to fix something uncomfortable, say, a string down the throat or wrapped around feet. Just as many of mine freak out and go tumbling around the yard evading all attempts as help.

 

[BantyChooks]

Its already been established that chickens can be taught trick much like dogs, THEY ARE NOT STUPID! I saw a youtube video of training chickens and how they learn, but I cant remember what it was called

I would classify learning how to do something when a certain stimulus is given in exchange for a reward as something very basic that is necessary for survival of a species rather than measuring great intelligence. Perhaps how quickly they figure out a situation would be a better meter? For instance, the aforementioned "smart" hen could pick up on patterns after only a few repetitions and hold that pattern for a long time, especially if food was involved. The dumb birds took me a lot longer to work with.

 

[sourland]

More instinctive/instinctual than either stupid or intelligent. I seriously doubt that 'love' is part of their psychological make up.

 

[MarySue]

I told a friend of mine that I am planning on getting chickens but am researching and preparing in advance before getting them. I have always loved chickens.. and dreamed of having them. She tried to gently tell me that "chickens are stupid" and have little bird brains. I disagree..I don't think they are stupid..they are capable of love don't you think?

They may not "love" the way we think of it but my girls like to snuggle in the evening when they are getting ready for bed, they talk to me, and always come for treats. I adore them as pets and don't find them stupid at all. Before I started with chickens I thought they were stupid too.