CHICKENS BRAIN DEAD! LIES!

[OneCrazyCowgirl]

“‘They may be bird brains, but we need to redefine what we mean by bird brain. Chickens have shown us they can do things people didn’t think they could do. There are hidden depths to chickens, definitely.’”

 

[ChicKat]

I have four hens, and live in an apartment where I've converted an outside storage closet into a coop. My chickens roam freely around the neighborhood, sort of like an outside cat, but come home to their coop to roost and lay eggs. Better than an outside cat, my chickens will actually come running from anywhere in the neighborhood if I come outside and 'whistle' for them. Check out, and show your mom, my pictures and a little video here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/extra-free-ranging-apartment-chicken-pets

Loved your post and the chickens running toward your camera!

 

[serama hen]

Exactly everyone is so right.

 

[Dowie]

Chickens are individuals and have distinct personalities. Some sure do have more "going on upstairs" than others, but even then it is futile to compare their intelligence to ours; they are evolutionarily much different than we are, and as such have become suited to be adept at certain tasks and not at others. There is a lot to be said about what it is to be 'intelligent', but creativity in adaptation to survive and create optimal conditions for oneself is not the foundation of a stupid animal! To that end, most of my chickens are very adaptive, have shown the ability to learn and retain memories of situations that benefit (or stress) them, etc. One of my Barred Rocks, Chickadee, figured out how to work (undo) a simple latch to let herself out of the run!

Anyone that takes the time to observe chickens and their behaviors for what they are should see that they are not stupid at all. This involves having enough imagination to understand the world from a chicken's perspective. Hint: from a chicken's perspective, nearly everything would like to eat them, so they often err on the side of caution when dealing with new situations or objects!

This is a really good point, one which people should respect. Chickens are profoundly different from us in their survival needs, thus they are intelligent within their own context. My rooster once thought he saw a hawk, and hustled all the hens to safety under a bush. That's highly intelligent. He also recognises his name, and understands that I am his Alpha rooster. Any interaction I do with him is based on his understanding of flock function. Sure I can't reason with him (there are a lot of people I can't reason with!) but when I engage with my chickens with an understanding of their social and biological needs, they seem pretty lively and intelligent to me.

 

[serama hen]

so true!!!

 

[ChicKat]

Look how old this thread is... LOL

Here is a quote that came in the Omlet (UK) newsletter from the London Daily Telegraph newspaper article:


Are Chickens more Clever than Toddlers?
A recent article in the Telegraph reported that chickens are more intelligent than toddlers. According to a study by Christine Nicol, professor of animal welfare at Bristol University, domestic hens are capable of numeracy, self-control, empathy and even basic physics. In Chrisine's words: “The domesticated chicken is something of a phenomenon.”
Christine claims that chickens can distinguish numbers up to five and they understand transitive interference (the idea that if A is greater than B, and B is greater than C, A is greater than C). They can also exhibit self-control - one eggsperiment showed that 93% of hens understood that waiting longer to start eating their food would allow them to access it for longer. And, the physics? Unlike human babies, young chicks know that an object that moves out of sight still exists.
All in all, chickens are far more clever than they're cracked up to be!

 

[FuzzyButtz]

Just today I was out hangin' out with my Orps and all 3 suddenly cocked their head to the side, stopped dead in their tracks then spun and ran for shelter. I was looking over my shoulder, ears perked expecting a cat to jump out of the grass or something.. nothing.. thought okay, maybe a Hawk flew overhead, so I looked up... way up in the Sky there was an Airplane. It just came into earshot seconds after looking up. They noticed it before I did! Now if that means they're 'dumb', then they're one of the stupidest animals out there!!

 

[Cleoandclover]

Q9, chickens are actually smarter than dogs and young children. Chickens can determine that an object out of sight has not vanished from existence, which is beyond children younger than four. The reason a chicken would run from bread if they don't know what it is is that chickens are nearly at the bottom of the food chain. If you could be eaten by pretty much anything in your environment, wouldn't you be cautious about things that you can't identify? A hen that isn't afraid has considerable thinking power. My hen May has learned that if a dog is chasing you, it isn't a great idea to run, but instead turn around and peck said dog. She also knows that if I'm putting food she likes in a cabinet, that instead of going after it while I'm around, when I can stop her, that it's a better idea to wait until I leave. You don't think clearly when you're scared or mad, why should a chicken.

May sitting pretty on her favorite rug

May's mate Squeaker demonstrating his cute power

Hazel's translation: "The treats don't come from thin air, right?"

 

[3chickchicks]

In this video, they teach chickens to distinguish between shapes (in three sessions mind you), study their social structure which they determine to be rather complex, and a few other things.

 

[ChicKat]

3chickchicks - WOW - thanks for the video - it was fascinating!