Do chickens like to hang out with their own breed even if they weren't raised together?

[Rooapalooza]

You know how they say birds of a feather flock together? Is that true? If so, does that mean that chickens know what they look like?

 

[micstrachan]

Interesting you ask that. I’m only in my fourth year of chicken keeping, and am only now just starting to repeat breeds. (I keep a small backyard flock of hens that are pets). I have really enjoyed seeing the similarities between my two Buckeyes... both curious, talkative, quirky... and they are my only two that chase the dog, even though they are two years apart. Well... they’re starting to hang out together. It’s just an anecdote, but kind of interesting!
Also, my alpha hen (Barred Rock) has decided to allow one of the pullets up on the top roost. The pullet is a California White (3/4 Leghorn, 1/4 Barred Rock.) My former alpha was a Leghorn, with similar voice and movements as California White. It’s just interesting to observe. It’s almost as if the pullet reminds her of her old best friend. (Though the old alpha was a Brown Leghorn.)

 

[Perris]

chickens know what they look like?

given the amount of time and attention they give to preening, I think the answer to that must be yes, with the possible exception of what their own head looks like.
As for flocking together, in my experience, no. I have several pairs or trios, initially bought as youngsters, others acquired as hatching eggs and raised within the flock, and once mature, most do not show any obvious preference for their own kind. Indeed, one of my Norfolk greys hates her sibling more than any other bird in the flock.

 

[Rooapalooza]

I don't have the picture anymore (sadly) but I once introduced days old chicks/a duck to weeks old chicks/one other duck. The ducks ditched the chicks and bonded with each other almost immediately, no surprise there.

What was more interesting was that the brooder looked separated by breed. I wasn't there often enough to say whether that was normal, but I had a picture where the youngest buff brahmas were following the oldest, and all the barred rocks were together, etc. It made sense to me because the young chicks seemed to think one of the older ones was their mom. Having a mom of the same pattern would add to their camouflage for predator protection.

Recently I also had a silkie who constantly wanted to brood. I let her sit on two eggs. One hatched, the other had movement but was behind. The hen got up with her active chick, leaving her remaining egg. Another hen went broody the day the first chick hatched (my hens form a queue for motherhood), so I gave her the egg to babysit. The new hen bonded with it and raised the single chick as her own.
I had already purchased a few chicks to give the first hatcher companions, just in case. But the chicks I bought and the first hatcher, all raised by the same silkie, never bonded. The two eggs who should have been raised together hung out behind their moms' backs more... I don't know if it was because they looked the same, or because they remembered each other from their egg days. The TSC chicks, all different breeds, are still BFFs.

Anyway I just wonder how often that happens. I don't keep enough of the same breeds to know.