Do chickens have innate knowledge they can be butchered?

[Waffle Wattles]

An interesting thing happened in the run today. We have 13 hens and a Roo in a 1/4 acre run, if that. Every single time I walk up to the gate, they all come running. They know me as the thing that delivers food and treats.


I am often carrying different items, sometimes a pan with soaked food, sometimes a shovel to clean out the coop, sometimes a rake to realign all their scratch and pickings, the run is on a hill so all that comes down to the fence. None of that upsets them, they still come a running.
Well, today, I needed about a foot of perch wood for another project and the perch is outside on a tree and ten feet long and they don't use it much so I thought they won't miss a foot so I went up with my kids handsaw to cut it off.


The Roo took one look at that saw and ran away and called for all the hens to bolt too, and they did except for this one that was too freaked out to figure out what to do.


Well, I cut my foot of perch wood and got out as fast as I could so to not upset them.
Went back 30 minutes later with a pan of food and they all came running.


I dont feel like doing any experiments here, but if I walked up into that run with a hatchet in my hand, would that Roo do the same thing? I'm just wondering if there is some innate knowledge inside those tiny brains.

 

[CrazyChicken Lady]

I doubt it. Chickens are smarter then most give them credit for but that’s a stretch. My guess would be because the object was new and different. Chickens just aren’t intellectually developed enough to realize you could kill them. Sorry but I think that was just a coincidence. Interesting observation though.

 

[Waffle Wattles]

I doubt it. Chickens are smarter then most give them credit for but that’s a stretch. My guess would be because the object was new and different. Chickens just aren’t intellectually developed enough to realize you could kill them. Sorry but I think that was just a coincidence. Interesting observation though.

It was such an instantaneous and immediate reaction and I have gone up there with many different things, pruners, a chainsaw, a rake, I've never seen him respond like this.

 

[rosemarythyme]

It was such an instantaneous and immediate reaction and I have gone up there with many different things, pruners, a chainsaw, a rake, I've never seen him respond like this.

Mine are chill with MOST things, but every so often a new thing will just upset them greatly. Example: try a flapping plastic bag or a windsock - I bet he reacts like it's a space monster coming to eat them.

 

[Callender Girl]

I sincerely hope chickens don't have an innate knowledge that the people they count on to care for them could, at any time, butcher them. I hope chickens live their best, most contented lives as long as they can.

BTW, it doesn't even have to be something new that sets them off. Despite the fact that I use the same off-white scoop twice a day, every single day to bring feed to the coops, Billy Boy, a Cochin Bantam rooster who LOVES his food, attacks said scoop twice a day, every single day. Sometimes, the avian mind befuddles mine.

 

[abpatchy]

I believe it was more of a different item in your hands that scared them. When I carry something that they do not know (and won't kill them by the way) they are scared too.

 

[CrazyChicken Lady]

I mean really anything could kill them so theoretically they should be scared of everything. A chainsaw and a rake could kill them but they weren’t afraid. I agree it was a rather sudden reaction but it could most likely be chalked up to a different and new object

 

[Waffle Wattles]

I mean really anything could kill them so theoretically they should be scared of everything. A chainsaw and a rake could kill them but they weren’t afraid. I agree it was a rather sudden reaction but it could most likely be chalked up to a different and new object

I think your original post is correct. My cockeral will be a Roo next month and I am seeing g other behavior changes. Today I went in with shovel rake and wheelbarrow and he flipped out and ran the hens away. He didn't used to do this. So the saw must have been the first tell for me. I bet if I had taken that saw in 3 months ago, he would have been chill.