Do Chickens Mourn ?

Yeah, we have moved them to a more secure location for these winter months for certain. The good news; Both my remaining hens entered into a no laying phase right after. The one, it lasted for about a week. The other, started up laying just yesterday. It has been a strange experience. But I am so glad to be back to normal. Our free range time is now closely supervised. Even the dog and cat seem protective over the hens now. It really has been a change for the better, even though we had to go through such a horrible experience. =( I miss my Rosy girl.
 
I haven't finished reading this thread yet (I want to get back outside before the sunshine disappears!) but I can tell you that my first roo, Bricktop, saw us butcher a hen once by accident. (I had failed to keep him away like I was supposed to and he walked around the corner just as the machete came down on one of his girls' neck.) He was VERY upset for days afterward!

Then when chicks I had bought grew up, he saw his days being numbered as the young boys started to outsize him. He didn't even bother to challenge them, only played "daddy" to keep them on good behaviour. Then, the day I told my husband he could finally get rid of him, it seemed like he knew... He was so well-behaved that day, no crowing, no roosterish behaviour, nothing. He did put up a chase when we went to catch him, but somehow he knew.

I didn't notice if his remaining three girls acted differently afterward; two I don't really pay attention to and the third is an independent girl, always off doing her own thing.
 
I just had to post b/c i had a male & a female & the female just passed 2 days ago & the two were INSEPARABLE they were always together out & about whether they were looking for worms/bugs or dustbathing they did indeed do everything together, However when my beloved henrietta was on her death bed henry the roo refused to eat, drink, fly up to the tree where both of them roosted at night he stayed by her side crowing all hours of the day & night. I mean okay i can accept henriettas death b/c of old age & a long time illness she had if she would've allow me to catch her i could've taken a more proper approach by at least taking her to the vet..But that was just not the case here b/c everytime they see me they would run away. However it breaks my heart to see henry (my roo) mourn like that.. Can someone tell me if my roo (henry) will continue to stay here with me or if hears other chickens he will leave.. It would break my heart even more if he chooses to leave.. Do i need to replace henrietta with another hen for henry to stay? Thanks so much everyone any info will be greatly appreciated..

Luv,
Me & Henry & Henrietta (RIP)
 
Hope your chickens and roo are doing better. I lost my first chicken in the weekend - not sure what happened I just found her under the bush not moving. With the help of BYC I put her in a dark, quiet and warm place but she died. She too was the boss of the coop and it has been quiet ever since. With the remaining 3 I only got one egg a day, but today 6 days after Gertie died all the others have layed. Fingers crossed your brood will get back to 'normal'
 
I don't know if chickens mourn but they do know when something is different. They don't like change. They like things to stay the same.
 
Thank u so much for every one who posted my roo (henry) still continues to look for henrietta crowing this morning & i try to call his name to let him know that i'm still there for him & i continue to feed him in hopes he'll still stick around. i wish i could do more for him for the loss of henrietta. Its been only 3 days now & i think he knows something is different b/c his normal routine in the morning was with henrietta starting their day looking for worms/bugs.. I feel for him.. Thanks again folks & if there is additional info as to what else i can do for my henry i would greatly appreciate that..

Luv,
Me & Henry (roo) & Henrietta (RIP)
 
Thank u Janet -
What do u mean they don't like change u mean like if one dies the other leaves & looks for another or do they stay with their owners. Sorry Janet i'm confused. Thanks again for the response i'm kinda new to raising chickens so i don't really know a whole lot.

Have a GREAT DAY!
Luv,
Me & Henry & Henrietta (RIP)
 
Chickens are creatures of habit. They can become extremely stressed if anything in their life changes, such as the rearrangement of their roost. What I mean is that your chicken became accustomed to having the other chicken in his life and is upset because that has changed. With time, he'll get used to her being gone, but I think he'll be upset for awhile. Besides, roosters are social animals. He's probably lonely. Try buying or raising some new hens for him.
 
I am in the camp that chickens don't mourn and are totaly incapable of such emotions. What we see is the human emotion being thrust upon those animals which really don't care to carry such a burden. Sure if one bird in the flock is lost there is some confussion in the order of things, that's a survival instinct, who moves up and who stay's behind and yippee more food for me, or I didn't like her anyway cause she allways hogged my favorite nest box. Some folks want to believe chickens they have these emotions but what those folks are saying is I want them (chickens) to have the same emotions as I do, and that is just way to out there to be rational, in the animal husbandry reality.

Now with dog's that's different, I seriously believe they do have the ability to feel a loss, and they become dispondant, but not with cat's and farm animals, we want to think they do but the truth is fortunately they do not.




al6517, I know this a very old post, but I really hope you will still be able to read it. I do not want to argue with you, but if you reason that chickens do not have emotions, why would they then be able (according to you) to think things like "yippe more food for me" or "I didn't like her anyway "? You are contradicting yourself.
 
al6517, I know this a very old post, but I really hope you will still be able to read it. I do not want to argue with you, but if you reason that chickens do not have emotions, why would they then be able (according to you) to think things like "yippe more food for me" or "I didn't like her anyway "? You are contradicting yourself.

Al doesn't post here any longer but I can answer that for you....Al has a good sense of humor and was trying to make a joke.
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There's a big difference in folks who say things like "the chickens were giving me the stink eye because I hadn't fed them yet" and folks who think chickens truly are feeling and expressing anger over not being fed promptly.

I agree with Al...chickens may have emotions according to their species(fear is one) but I've not seen much behavior in my flocks that would indicate they have emotions as highly developed and akin to human emotions...such as sadness and mourning over the illness or death of a flock member. I think they sense changes in the flock and this can cause certain behaviors that may appear to be mourning~isolating, disruption in eating, drinking or laying patterns~but I think those changes are more instinctive than cognitive or emotion driven. They do the same thing when they are moved to another place/coop/location, have been chased and/or wounded by a predator, or even have their roosts or coop changed too much or too often.
 
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