Chickens, Roos, and LOVE?

[25bengood2me]

Do you believe that chickens have emotional bonds with one another?
My 5month old black Astralorp -mix pullet is now on her 3rd roo.
Roo #1 was a hatch-date mate, same mix breed, Black roo. Killed by a fox whe he was just 4 months old. My lil' girl seemed so lonely & clung near us.
Roo #2 was a red beauty, a 2yo. He was pen-raised, would march into the pen each day @ dusk.The fox found the un-locked door. My hen was frantic in the morning.My hen would roost in a tree above the pen.
After 2 weeks of no other chicken companionship,
Roo #3 arrived yesterday. he's an Auracana, Big gray chest & belly, yellow crown, ruff, & brown saddle. He's gentle with her, shy of us humans. Now my lil' hen is avoiding human contact also, choosing to remain by roo's side. ~ I swear she kissed him after the first 5 minutes of meeting him! He seems to be devoted to her, not rushing her for breeding.
QUESTION: Do you believe chickens are emotional?My friend advised me to lock these two in their pen for at least the first week, is that the right idea?

 

[Keri78]

That's funny! I noticed a similar thing with my two little red cochin bantams(roo & hen). I say they LOVE each other b/c they always want to be together. At one point, I split them up in seperate pens(b/c I was trying to keep my roos( I have four roos) in their own seperate bach. pads but after about two days of watching my poor little roo boys be sooo lonely and just pace back and forth in the chicken tractors I broke down and just made four seperate tractors each roo have his own hens. But...during these two days poor little "Red Girl" my cochin red bantie hen ...she just never did settle in to being seperated from her roo"William Wallace". She just about fretted herself to death and wanted no parts of being with the other hens! FUNNY! Ever since they were reunited they have been inseperatable! So I say WHO KNOWS!!!

Blessings, Keri

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
I don't know about the "emotional" part, I don't think of chickens as little people.
But judging by the numbers you have lost to foxes, I would keep them in the pen always. Foxes will hunt during the daytime too.

 

[jjthink]

Do you believe that chickens have emotional bonds with one another?

Of course, absolutely.

JJ​

 

[Kewlhanded]

I have noticed this with my roo (ee/silkie) and hen (SLW/silkie). She freaks out when he is not by her side. Thinking about it, a large percentage bird species have life long monogamous relationships. For example the average albatross has a much longer marriage than the average human, probably 20 to 40 years longer by average. LOL Is the bond emotional, I would say so, have you ever seen a bird mourn the loss of their conpanion, they do!