Do Chickens Mourn ?

[nanawendy]

Last night I had a very ill chicken, Lucy. She was severely prolapsed. With help from BYCer's and my DH we culled her.
Now I have an issue with her sisters AND ROO... Earl. When I took her out of the coop last night , the others paced and squawked incessantly.
Today they are all standing by the fence line...pacing and Earl keeps crowing. The crow sound is slightly different, but you wouldn't know it if you didn't know Earl. I think I'll give them their treats early today. Any suggestions or input???

 

[NottinghamChicks]

Al6517 I don't understand why youfelt the need to ridicule this person.

You entered, read it, then criticize? One does not enter if the intent is other than to help. There are rules her you know so be kind.

 

[Gigiintheforest]

I always laugh at the "us" and "them" argument. Of course animals have emotion - we are animals and we have emotion. There are not degrees of differentness. Every species talks its own language, thinks its own kinds of thoughts, feels its own kind of feelings and behaves in ways that are unique yet familiar. None are better, none are worse. We strive to understand but often fall into much easier thinking of separateness and categorization. Happens with chickens, happens with people. Just my thoughts and offers of sympathy on the losses of things we love.

 

[gritsar]

Yes, IMO they absolutely do mourn. All they know is that something is not right in their little world.

A little story, that I swear is true - My Lil'Bit, recently killed by a hawk, was my baby. She couldn't see well, so she learned early on to wait for my help to get on the roosts at night. As it was getting dark, she would stand just inside the door of the coop and peek around the corner to watch for me. As soon as she spotted me she would jump out of the coop and come running into my arms. As I placed her on the roost, she'd always make a sweet, content-sounding noise.
Since she's been gone, I have missed our little routine alot. Another one of my hens, Lilith (the outcast) often befriended Lil'Bit. About two weeks ago, Lilith developed the same habit Lil'Bit had. She waits by the coop door for me to pick her up and put her on a roost, though she can see just fine. She makes the same sort of content "thank you" when I set her down. I know it's not true, but it's almost as if Lilith knows I need that comfort.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

 

[Beekissed]

Mine must be pretty tough nuts...they drink the blood of the fallen. Maybe to toast the dead?

 

[gritsar]

Quote:

 

[Beekissed]

Removed by Staff
AL!!!!

 

[gritsar]

Do they mourn in the human sense of the word? Probably not. As I said, they have enough brain matter to know that something is not right in their world. Consider for a moment - You are a creature that is lives in constant fear of predators. You don't know what predators are really, you just have an instinct that tells you to fear them. You've sat on the roost by the same other creature of your kind each night since you were a chick. Suddenly that other creature is gone. Your world has changed and even animals with only a few brain cells to rub together have to sense that.

Call it anthropomorphism if you want. I consider it human arrogance to say that animals can't have emotions.

I have a meatie pullet in one coop that's a few fries short of a happy meal, even for a meatie. She's partially blind and just seems to be in her own world most of the time. She doesn't interact with the other chickens. Yet let me take all the other birds out of the coop and leave her in there alone. She goes ballistic. She hollers for them. She searches for them. A big part of her "family" or not, she wants to be with them.

Bald Egg, I am sorry for your loss as well.

 

[bburn]

Um....just stopping by to add my two cents worth.

I have a LF Cochin, Harry. He has been at the bottom of the pecking order since birth. He is so gentle and sweet. Took me forever to figure out if he was a boy or a girl. He did not have rooster behaviors....at all. Until one day...when he finally grew up much later than the others and decided he wanted a girl friend. The head rooster did not take it well and they got in a fight. I really can't stand the fighting and had room to build him a corner in the run where he would not get beat up.

I can tell you he was sad. He looked sad. Acted sad. For weeks. Then I started the search for him some girls. I wanted them to be cochins but could not find any.....posted, searched and called everyone I knew that has chickens. Finally I found some up by my mothers and made the trip and had a visit with her and stopped on the way home to pick up my new girls. THEN got home and the next morning realized that the chickens that I did not load into the crate were two hens and two roosters. Well......Harry has his two girls and is a new boy. He even started crowing.

Could I see a difference in his behaviors. Yes. He was lonely for the flock he was raised with. He was very sad about it. Still there is one of the hens that comes around the corner to visit with him several times a day. There is one place where it is hardware cloth instead of tin and they cluck and visit with each other.

I am like the others that say it is not the same as we feel....but they do feel. They get scared, excited, lonely and sad. Not on the same level with us I am sure but on a chicken level, yes.

 

[wbruder17]

I also think the level of emotion is based on the upbringing. My hens are very pampered and loved on.... sso they are used to a certain level of affection. I think it is something that is cultivated. Chickens that are never handled or loved on, are probably less effected by loss. Those that are raised with love, as pets, have more of an understanding, IMO. I have several hens that are much more affectionate and sensitive than i see in others.