Chicken languages... What do they mean?

[AKsmama]

"Come here" in chicken language for me = "chick chick chick!" LOL, ok, not quite chicken language, but they know it means treats and they all come running!

I've always been good at animal noises, but I knew I was really good at "chicken talk" when we walked over to the neighbors' and I began "bukking" to his OEG rooster and hens . . . that rooster went insane, which of course set off the two hens.

Good thing they were already roosting in a tree for the night, or he might have come after me

 

[ScotianChick]

Quote:
Bahahaha!

Mine have words for "Oh no! She's chasing us out of the neighbours yard again!" It sounds extremely upset and I'm sure if hatchet had a word, it would be something like the noise they make when I chase them.

You know mine don't have an egg song generally... until today. BB, my special RIR hen likes to lay her egg in my woodhouse while the others stick to the coop. Today she had the loudest egg song. I probably jumped 5 feet in the air!! Oh my goodness it scared me!

 

[karimw]

My flock has a tone "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" they use they use when a particular annoying cat comes around.

 

[madgabmomma]

The first time I indroduced my ducklings to my bantams, my head hen walked up to the ducklings and made a squack that I've never heard from her before then she ran up to me and just stood in front of me looking at me and yapping away. She would go back and forth between the ducks and me just a chatting her head off. I felt like she was asking me about the ducks and letting me know that she wasn't too sure about them. It was quite commical!!

 

[True Grit]

I remember when my chicks were still pretty young and I was outside the coop while they were getting organized for bed. After they finished with all the bumping and climbing over each other and got roosted, someone gave a long one note purring call like Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. It was so sweet. I haven't heard it since so I don't know if they still do it or not. Then I was in the run at dusk and the pullets hadn't gone to bed yet and I heard a hen give a loud cluck, and then another. I looked outside and she was looking through the fence at a fox across the driveway. It wasn't a scared sounding BOK!, just a loud single cluck, maybe more of a "what the ?" curious call.

 

[clarmayfarm]

Quote:
LOVE THIS!!!

 

[Pinky]

Here's a video I found of a rooster calling his hens. I thought this was neat.

 

[ryan820]

Chickens and other birds and for that matter nearly all animals, especially woodland creatures have a complex and interdependent language of their own. The best example I use is the Blue Jay (or any Jay for that matter) in the woods or on the edge of a wooded area. When a human enters the bird's area, he or she shouts a very specific call and within seconds, any animal or bird that was out in the open before is no longer to be seen or heard by that human. My brother says this is why some people think it can be creepy entering a woods because it falls deafly silent.

I've only had my peeps since Saturday but I have extensive experience raising birds-- mostly ducks, pheasants, turkeys, quail and chukars. It was when I was a teenager, but in a few years I raised hundreds of pheasants and literally thousands of ducks. I had a bird fascination, what can I say? I lived on a large farm in Pennsylvania with plenty of wetlands and few predators. I was so into my ducks that it amazed my mom and dad that I could call on specific ducks, spot them on sight and be able to do this with a hundred plus ducks who returned every year. For a long time my mom would call me when she would see Owen, an unfortunately named female mallard, return to the bush outside the front porch where she makes her nest every year. She has unusually dark camo in her feathers and the white was exceptionally white. You'd think a hunter would have spotted her a mile away. This duck was raised by my brother and I. She followed us all summer and slept in our room and everything. I'm 31 now... very far from the family farm, but every time I see a mallard I have to stop and wonder if it's one of my own.

Anyway, my point of saying all this is that yes, I bet your chickens are communicating and doing so very well-- probably much more efficiently than most big-brained humans (relatively speaking)! The three buff orpingtons we have now already have a speech all their own. They're quite chatty in the morning so far.

 

[ScotianChick]

I love when roos give their girls presents. My rooster did that. Too bad he almost raped two of the to death, he would have been a dear. But I have a 7 week baby boy and that's his son. He is pretty tame at this point and seems to be a sweetheart. Hope he stays a sweet heart!

 

[kittycooks]

Quote:
I love that purring sound. My silkies will coo while I cuddle them. I like the "Bo bo bo?" check-in sound too.