Can chickens tell us apart!?

[piphens7]

Anyone ever wandered if they can recognise different people!? I am sure they don't like my husband lol! Maybe they know he doesn't really like them , also how on earth such a small animal can produce so much poop I just can't believe they can poop through the night & all day long!! Bit random but its out there...

 

[redsoxs]

I am certain they can. Mine don't like strangers and are wary. Don't know if it's visual or voice but mine stay back from people they don't recognize.

 

[centrarchid]

Yes. They can distinguish dogs as well. Even my fish can do these things so it is not all the great a feat.

 

[WeeNicole]

Yip, because im the one who always feeds them, i think my lot just see a big bag of food when im about lol. A certain one keeps flying at me and landing on my shoulders when feeding time comes also :-/
But yeah they are more comfortable around me than other people they know. But as said above none are keen on people they do not "reconize".

To be honest i think they are better at working people out than dogs lol.

 

[Chicks Galore3]

Doesn't matter how they do it, they can do it! I think they can regonize cars too - they all flock around my car, but stay back from the others. I get you with the pooping thing, WOWZAH peeps, slow down! LOL

 

[Kazfam]

Ours get uncomfortable around 'strangers'. Make that low caaawwwww sound.

And I am convinced they know our son the best - he is their primary caregiver. There is one Orpington that hangs out next to him...eats the mosquitoes off his arm. Very cute.

Pooping...extraordinary capabilities! The sand in the coop is awesome though...just like cleaning the cat litter and it goes right into the compost sitting close by. Kismet.

 

[chooks4life]

Yes, they most assuredly can distinguish people from one another. I originally thought it was due to the food container but they recognize me without it. They can distinguish strangers, friendly and unfriendly people, family members who don't like them and family members who do, dogs which are safe to go near and dogs which aren't, cats which they can steal food from and cats they'd better not, etc. My sheep also recognizes which cat she can bully and which cat she'd better not, which dogs are safe and which aren't, etc... I believe this is normal cognition for any animal, since no creature which cannot tell friend from foe, harmless from harmful, would survive to pass on its genes. It's normal for any animal to adapt to its surrounds and learn which other animals are harmless, etc.

About the pooping, birds in general have faster metabolisms than us. If they're quick to process the food but it's still shown in healthy poops, that could be considered a sign of health. Even with humans, the longer it takes the more likely the body is reabsorbing wastes and toxifying itself. Some doctors used to tell people it was normal to take up to two weeks to poop! Various things can slow down digestion and various things can speed it up again, and it's good to know what they are. Often a sick bird will recover with a slowed down metabolism which needs correcting.

 

[undine]

Lol this is an interesting post! If you guys dont mind, I also wanna add something in here that im curious about. DO chickens know what gender we are? lol I wanted to give my barred rock pullet a little massage under the wing because i wanted to find a good spot where they liked to be rubbed IF they even like to be rubbed at all. Little did i know she seemed to enjoy it way more than i thought she would. She started to to fluff up --> crouched --->raised up her tail--->and exposed her little booty hole. ever since then shes been more attached to me more than ever *cough cough*. I didnt know what i was doing at first nor knowing why she did that lol i thought i had found her favorite place to be rubbed. Then my dad saw me doing it, and he called me a pervert and i asked why..and he told me that i was "exciting" the chicken. I felt pretty grossed out, but it still didnt stop be from still doing it because it was too cute and funny lol but i should stop. So yeah, can chickens tell our genders apart?...if they even knew.

 

[3ChickensNADuck]

yea, chickens can differentiate people. They also can see in color and be trained to do simple task. and about poop. My gosh!! If i could only poop half as much as them i would be in the guness book. Sometimes i let a hen in w/ a diaper. when she's about to poop w/ a diaper on she crouches down like shes going to hike a football and tesnses up. and it's not just the quantity, but when my hens started laying eggs there poops doubled if not trippled in size. sometimes it's the size of there head

 

[undine]

yea, chickens can differentiate people. They also can see in color and be trained to do simple task. and about poop. My gosh!! If i could only poop half as much as them i would be in the guness book. Sometimes i let a hen in w/ a diaper. when she's about to poop w/ a diaper on she crouches down like shes going to hike a football and tesnses up. and it's not just the quantity, but when my hens started laying eggs there poops doubled if not trippled in size. sometimes it's the size of there head

hahahaha