Do chickens know their breed?

[Etakeh]

I only have two ladies who are the same breed (Ameraucana), but they do tend to hang out together. Not as close as some of the other pairs in my yard, however. My blonde turken and the Sicilian buttercup are besties, the speckled Sussex and the barred rock paired up, and the black turken and the black star are buddies. Most of the pairing seemed pretty natural, since the Sussex and barred rock came to me together, and the black turken and black star I got as chicks at the same time. The rest of them I raised from chicks together, and they just paired up.

I've got 6 new babies now, and none of them are the same breed - in fact most of them are wildly different from each other. They're entering teenager ages right now, I can't wait to see how they sort out.

 

[kilby]

I don't think they know what they look like.

 

[kilby]

I don't think they know what they look like. They can't see themselves like in a mirror. I think it might be more behavior of the likable said chickens. Each breed has traits peculiar to that breed. My older hens and rooster do not hang out with my new four one offs from march. The rooster is a cuckoo moran, and his hens 4 comets, red copper color and he is like a barred rock. the new ones are one cuckoo moran hen, chantecler partridge hen, wellsummer hen, and americauna hen. 3 brown and one barred rock color. They definitely hang together. I know because they are afraid of the adults.

I am hoping my Roo goes for Cookie the Cuckoo. At two and one half months she is already bigger than the adult Comets or (Sex Linked breed.) My Roo should give the little hens a rest this way. It is an experiment I will keep you posted on for this subject. cheers

 

[GardenerGal]

I have a similar story, Debbie. I had two handsome "barnyard" bantams, father (Buck) and son (Chip). When Chip got a bad bout of infectious coryza and was standing weak and dull in the barn, Buck stood by him and never left him until I had to take poor Chip away. Buck died not long after. I was heartbroken, but it was touching the way that roo stood by his son and protected him to the end.

No one can tell me that chickens do not have anything going on "upstairs."

 

[Purely Prairie Polish]

I was just wondering about this recently too. There are multiple generations of birds in my free range coop, and some of the breeds have birds that are different ages, or were added later. I have 28 chickens in my free range coop right now, 4 are roosters. The split is, 6 Ameraucana(1 Roo, 5 Hens), 5 Cuckoo Maran Hens, 5 White Crested Black Polish (1 Roo, 4 Hens), 3 Black Crested White Polish (1 Roo, 2 Hens), 3 Mottled Houdan Hens, 2 mixed breed Hens, 2 EE Hens, 1 Splash Polish Hen, 1 Buff Laced Polish Roo, and this is what I've observed:

- Everyone seems to mix up or be solo when they are doing 'serious' foraging, but when they are wondering in a casual relaxed sorta way, dust bathing, or just taking a siesta, I notice some definite grouping with the Cuckoo Maran Hens(sisters, so understandable), the Trio of Black Crested White Polish, and the mottled houdan hens (1 is a year older than the other 2).

- There seems to be a pattern in my flock when it comes to who breeds who. I always assumed the roosters would mate with anyone that would let them, or they could catch, but my birds seem to be prejudice, or respectful of their fellow Roo. My Alpha Rooster "Will" the Blue Wheaten Ameraucana has chosen as his own, the 5 Ameraucana Hens (1 white, 2 Wheaten, 1 Silver Wheaten, and 1 Silver), the 2 EE hens, and the 2 Mixed Breed hens. I have never seen him mate with any of my polish hens, they don't even seem to catch his eye. I thought maybe it was because of size, but interesting enough, he doesn't seem to have any interest in the 5 Cuckoo Maran hens, which are similar in size to his girls. The Polish Roosters don't even try to mate with anyone other than the Polish Hens, or at least I haven't seen it. And to back this up, I incubated 23 eggs in March (10 from my Ameraucana Hens, 6 from my Cuckoo Maran Hens, and 7 from my Polish), after the first candling I found 7 Ameraucana Embryos, 5 Polish Embryos, and nothing in the Cuckoo Maran Eggs. At Hatch time, I got 11 chicks, 6 Ameraucana, 5 Polish. There is no possible way that any of these Chicks are crosses just from how they looked then, and even more so looking at them now.

- Lastly, I noticed that in the Posts where people weren't noticing pairing, they seemed to be mostly people who's flocks were all singles of each variety, and 1 Rooster if any. (I think the roosters have a lot to do with the groupings if there are any)

 

[rpenland]

I never thought about this until I saw the question. The only pair we have are two Black Cochin roos and one is usually not far from the other. We also have a pair of Silkies, a cockerel and a pullet, and those two are so close to each other, they are almost touching all the time. Heidi says they're co-dependent...lol.

Bob- Penland's Peeps

 

[Our Roost]

I recieved 3 blue laced red wyandottes and 3 blue orps on May14th. The wyandottes are the same color and hang together. 2 of my orps appear to be splashes and the 3rd one a blue mix. I always see the blue one by herself mostly except when it is cold in the morning and all 6 huddle together regardless of color or breed. I have 20 full grown birds and the roosting perch at night is how I take count of the birds. They almost always line up by breed on the perch! Interesting topic to create a forum discussion on! I never knew why and I guess I still don't!

 

[QueenofKings]

My chicks are a contradiction! My silkie crosses tend to get along better with one of RIRs. The first RIR was one of a pair, but then his buddy died. Following the death, he becames buddies with the two crosses. Recently, we bought him two more RIRs for him to get along with but they seem to stay away from the original three. Or they have the first RIR act as a mediator for when they're sleeping.

 

[Dunrovin]

What a great question and post! I've enjoyed reading the replies. I have a mixed flock, those that have matching brothers/sisters seem to stick together, as a general rule of thumb. I do have one Americana and one Black Giant (both are not part of a matching pair) and they are best friends. They go everywhere together and always leave the rest of the flock. They are such rebels!

 

[plm6846]

Funny thought, don't people do the same thing? Just thinking is all. Or EE lost her partner to an owl, and we have one Wydonnett (sp) who just never layed an egg and those two stick together...the RIRs stay close to their own and the Americannas do the same, but Bob the rooster watches all of them regardless of color...of course he never did like the EE and Wydon so he keeps them at bay, but does hang with them when they free roam.