Do chickens feel jealousy?

[K0k0shka]

I don’t want to anthropomorphize them too much, but at the same time, I do realize that they are social critters with social emotions. So here’s a behavior I need help interpreting. Some of my chickens really don’t like it when I’m cuddling others.

Context: I have 6 young chickens (18 weeks) that were all hand-reared and are bonded to me and my family. Very calm, social and friendly. They will either hop in my lap on their own, or let me put them in my lap myself, where they stay and enjoy some petting and cuddles.

A few weeks ago I noticed that one of the cuddliest pullets gets very upset and agitated when I have another chicken in my lap. She will circle us and try to peck the other chicken in the face, all the while making scolding sounds. When I put my hands in the way to protect the victim’s face, she starts to peck at the feet or straight out pull feathers out from the victim’s body! If I stand up with the other chicken in my arms, and walk away, she’ll follow me, looking up at the other chicken, making grumpy noises. When I put the other chicken down, she chases her away. At first, it was just one pullet doing that. But today, a second one started doing the same thing! She’s also one of the cuddliest, and she took it further - when I shielded the victim so she couldn’t get at her, the attacking pullet started attacking ME! She’d jump at me and pull my shirt with her beak, while kicking me with her feet. None of my chickens have ever done that to me, so I’m quite stunned. This one is one of my favorites and I thought we had a special friendship... Now I don’t know how to read this. After she attacked me, I picked her up and walked around with her for a while, until she calmed down. What should I make of this? All the pullets involved are Orpingtons.

Here’s the traitor:

 

[Lovem all]

Oh chickens get jealous alright. MyCombs (10 yr old barred rock) gets jealous of any interaction I give to the chickens before her, My Girls Ms. Green and EE get jealous if they see someone else get their but soaked first, my Zeppelin get jealous if i give his brother Dusty more attention. They are very jealous birds lol

 

[Lovem all]

I would just maybe give her attention first and slowly ease the victim in while they get attention or maybe take the victim out of the yard then come back in and before the bully attacks pick that one up.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

In terms of jealousy, I would theorize that could be an expression of the pecking order. Does the jealous pullet seem higher on the pecking order?

 

[HomesteaderWife]

I know people think it differently, as I always heard growing up “animals don’t have feelings” and such along those lines. However, there is jealousy in our group for sure, and I believe personally they’re smarter than we give them credit for in their own way. My old lady rescue hen, even though lowest on the pecking order, gets jealous if I do clicker work with anyone else or talk to my little hen who is the boss of the group. She will come up and peck my leg and boots and make sad little clucks at me. She’s not one to be held or pet, but she loves attention and if you aren’t talking to her she will do everything she can to get your attention. Most of these instances it’s not even a food-based thing, and no snacks are present.

 

[Lovem all]

I tottally get that @HomesteaderWife

 

[K0k0shka]

Alright, thanks everybody. I guess I'm dealing with jealousy then. It's hard to do separations and juggle because I have multiple pullets doing this now, and it's not a pecking order thing, because the one that attacked me ranks lower than the others. Or so I thought. I've noticed that their order isn't the stereotypical linear top down structure that most anecdotes will have you believe. Rather, they have individual relationships between each other, which are independent from the relationships of any other two of the birds. And they have fallings-out, too... Birds that used to get along well don't anymore, or vice versa. So it's hard to predict. They don't do this to any chicken I hold, just select ones they don't seem to get along with. The original bully used to have a best friend - a cockerel of her same breed and color, whom I had to cull, sadly, because I can't keep roosters where I live - and she never did that to him, even though he was the biggest cuddle bug ever and spent a lot of time in my lap. He was a massive beast and larger than any of the other chickens, but for some reason the pullets bossed him around and chased him away from food and such, so I'm guessing she left him alone not because of pecking order or a dominance thing, as he never acted dominant at all. Probably because she liked him. Chicken drama... So complicated!

I'll do my cuddles standing up for a while, so at least they can't get at each other.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Dunno if it's jealousy but my friendliest bird also gets upset if she sees us pick up or handle any bird other than her, especially the chicks. So I make sure to stand up while holding the chicks, and then put them down out of the way so she can't immediately attack them.

 

[K0k0shka]

Update: those two pullets got upset again today when I picked up someone else. It's a lose-lose game because I can't avoid this by picking the bully up first, because there are two of them - if I pick one up first, the other one gets upset... The most agitated one seems lowest in the pecking order, I don't know if that matters (I thought it would be the other way around - a higher-ranking bird would get upset if I picked up a lower one first). No dramatic attacks like yesterday's, but she did bite me a few times while I was holding the other one, and it wasn't the kind of quick peck they give each other, but rather, she'd grab skin and then twist it left and right as if she was trying to rip a piece off Left me with some deep bruises. WTF is that supposed to mean?

 

[Sammy1122]

I’ve witnessed this.
I have also , just like with roosters witnessed overly friendly hens get aggressive with me.I think she accidentally grabbed your shirt.