Can chickens smell?

[dawg53]

Vultures can smell a rotting carcass many miles away. So i would think other birds including chickens, can smell different things in their own way.

 

[zoomia]

Chickens have a sense of smell:
http://genome.wellcome.ac.uk/doc_WTD020725.html (8th paragraph)

 

[Penturner]

I've heard that if you don't clean up after them they start smelling really bad..... Oh you mean does their nose work. Do chickens have noses? Okay seriously now, yes birds including chickens have a sense of smell. I don't think it is as acute as it is in other animals and they rely on sight more than smell. this would partially account for why they are day critters rather than foraging at night.

 

[Backyard Hencam]

I've read that chickens, and most birds in general, have a poor sense of small. Vultures, that search for decaying meat, and the kiwi, that searches for earthworms, are exceptions. I am sure that our domesticated chickens have a poor sense of smell as they depend on their eyesight and hearing for survival.

 

[suzettex5]

Quote:
I don't know if they can smell or not but I would guess they have a nose so they can breathe. Maybe they can breathe through their beak/mouth but then they would look like they're panting all the time!

That was pretty funny!! .......so they can breath... LOL!!!!

 

[IggiMom]

Quote:
Got it! Thanks.

So apparently they can smell at least as well as we can.

Haha you guys who are saying chickens smell if you don't clean up after them...

Catherine

 

[chookmama]

Humm. Given that I have the heat turned up high, am wearing layers (of clothes, not chickens) and am rescuing dying keets by stuffing them inside my shirt to warm them up....

I'm wondering how these birds will bond with me, LOL!

 

[chycknFun]

Someone told me that chickens have no sense of smell. Does anyone know if this is true or not? I cannot think why they wouldn't be able to smell--others birds can. How do they know what to eat if they cannot smell it?

Just wondering.

Catherine

I've seen a few articles on this... Aparently yes... My apartment chicken seems to know when I have cooked corn and when I've cut into the loves of my home made bread from the other room so I'd say...yep!