Can chickens taste/smell?

[WoodlandWoman]

I always figured chickens pecking styrofoam was like people popping bubble wrap...

Some things in life are just irresistible!!!

 

[DaveD]

Intileo, maybe if you mix ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar) in with the water, she will be enticed to drink more. It will certainly make it easier for her to smell the location of the water.

-David

 

[elmo]

According to the Cornell Handbook of Bird Biology, a chicken has 24 (count 'em) taste buds. By comparison, various species of parrots have 300-400 taste buds, while we humans have around 10,000. But when you think about it, chickens gobble their food, swallowing it whole, so there really isn't much time for tasting.

From what I've observed, chickens seem to rely on their sense of sight to decide whether something is for eating or not. They give it a good look, and if one is brave enough to venture a peck at something new, they all pile in. Then they remember for later when they come across that item again.

 

[Organics North]

Peppers and birds have a symbiotic relationship. The capsaicin in peppers is what makes them hot to mammals, birds do not sense this heat. The pepper plant does this so only birds eat the fruit and poop out the seeds undamaged in far away locations, so the pepper can spread and prosper. The mammals digestive system destroys the pepper seed. SO the pepper plant does not want mammals to eat them.

As far as chickens and smell, I wonder. It seems when the mash pail has bits of leftover fish in it the chickens seem to be more excited. Can they smell it?

ON

 

[RyanAndMeri]

Quote:
That's really neat that you experimented with her food and water dish that way. Very clever, I didn't know they could smell!

We had a blind chicken (result of a dog attack and infection) that lived for about a year after the attack and did just fine out in the yard with the other chickens. She would tap her beak on the ground to find her way, much like a blind person using a walking stick... she'd tap tap tap then move a step, then tap again to find her next foot. In the winter she'd use her hearing to find us. She'd tap along until she bumped into our legs, then she'd jump up on on shoe and promptly sit down. I have video somewhere of my wife trying to walk with a blind chicken nesting on her foot. We would put her back in the coop where she could stay warm and find her food and water but she would mosey on out again to be with the other chickens. She was a lot of fun. The only thing that sucked about her being blind was that she couldn't see the warning signs of the other chickens and they'd sometimes nail her on the head for "failure to yield to the superior cluck-cluck."

 

[flowergirl60]

Quote:

 

[flowergirl60]

 

[GiddyMoon]

Quote:

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:

 

[Judy]

Then there's the claim that if you spray a new chicken with vinegar water and put it on the roost, the others won't reject it. Supposedly the vinegar masks the chicken's smell to the others. I've read this a number of times -- but I've also read it is nonsense.

Who knows.