Do chickens know their breed?

[ChickenLady89]

None of mine really stick with their same breed, my Araucana always roosts with a golden laced and barred rock. Then the rest roost below and they're also a variety, but I do notice outside that my white rock hangs out with the guineas a lot. My mom's flock are always mixed up too so I don't find this necessarily true.

 

[bluegiantsc]

I have all the same breed, Jersey Giants, but they're all different colors. I have white splashes, blues and blacks. The two blues, a hen and roo stay together all the time. But I think that is because they got shunned by the mama hen when they were 3 weeks old and she started pecking them and trying to kill them, so they stayed together all the time. They're all brothers and sisters and 4 months old. They've been together their whole lives.
But I have noticed that when they roost at night, the whites stay together, then the blacks and then the blues. So its like a rainbow on the roosting bar at night. LOL

I've noticed different things with them though. The blues stay together a lot of the time, but the blacks and whites mix together. But I've noticed that if one white lays down the other whites will lay down near the first one. The only blacks I have are a rooster and the big mama hen, but the mama is a meany and pecks all of them.

So I think it would be color more than anything. But do they see actual color or just lighter and darker shades? So maybe they just see a shade of chicken that is a close match themselves and they go hangout with them.

 

[ozu]

Mine all seem to hang out a lot, there doesn't seem to be much segregation, but I imagine once I introduce the silkies when they're older, they won't stick with my original flock much- I've heard that silkies just seem to stick to themselves, which is why the farm I go to suggested I get two instead of one (I ended up with three LOL).

Even my most dominant hen- my Easter Egger, Lotus, hangs out with my newest Barred Rock, Berzillia, who's the absolute bottom of the pecking order.. but Berzi tends to run from her more often than not. They'd prefer to just sleep together ;P

Berzillia seems to have taken a liking to the Golden Comets more so because they're all more calm and sweet and she fits in better with those. My Australorp hangs out with everyone too- she's a bit flighty so she suits Lotus, but she's also really friendly so she suits the others as well.

I watch my chickens a lot and they all seem good together c:

 

[Red-tailed Hawk]

Maybe the reason chickens group together with others of similar coloring is it's a defence mechanism to help make it harder for predators to differentiate one single bird from the flock, like how zebras are stripped and when clustered together it's harder for one to be picked out from the herd? If the birds are all clustered together with similar coloring it is possible that it could create the illusion of 1 larger animal rather than several smaller animals bunched together. Just a thought to chew on.

 

[Red-tailed Hawk]

to answer if chickens see in color, yes. Apparently they may actually see colors better than we do. http://www.livescience.com/8099-chickens-color-humans.html

 

[RHP63]

I have 6 chickens all of a different breed and color, three are much older and out of those the Jersey Giant and RIR are constantly hanging out and leaving my BO a loner (though the first two were raised together and the BO was introduced later so that's probably why). The three younger ones are a BR, a Columbian Wyandotte and a Welsummer, the CW and the Welsummer will stay close and leave my BR a loner (probably because she's mean

) I hope when I mix the two groups together maybe the BR and BO will pair up as the BO seems pretty lonely, she loves to be held and pet by me though.

 

[browning6]

This is how i found my pullets roosted up the other night. i don't think it is a coincidence.

 

[LillianMae]

If they came from the same brooder, i.e., each breed in a different tub, maybe they just stay together because they know each other better

 

[randys]

I have 4 different breeds, 4 RIRs, 2 BRs, 3 LHs and 3 RSs got all 12 at 3 days old and are now 11 weeks old. I've been watching them more closely in the run since I read this post a few days ago. my chicks do not hang together by breed and they roost all mixed, not together by breed.

Randy

 

[LibRat]

I find it has more to do with color than breed. If you look in my pasture, the white birds are hanging with the white birds, the buffs with buffs, the reds with reds--regardless of breed.

I have some silver-penciled Rocks that are the only penciled birds, and they are almost always together. 

I think they like birds that look like them.

I agree with the color. We bought "Easter chicks" and there were 2 green 2 blue 2 pink and 4 orange. They all separated into groups by color.