Do Motherhens know their chicks?

[chickengeorgeto]

I would say that sometimes a hen will be friendlier to her offspring after weaning.... In the past I had two hens who brooded chicks at the same time and even more than a year later, the hens still prefer the chicks that were theirs over the chicks that were mothered by the other hen....

I think that some of you are confusing the existing pecking order interactions between a hen and her own chicks.
The pecking order involves issues like how close the subordinate, Beta, or young chicken is allowed to approach the older or Alfa bird. A settled pecking order relationship may be viewed by some as family affection but it just 'aint' so.

Remove the younger birds from the flock and then reintroduce the now adult chickens to their mommie 6 months later and see what happens.

 

[Sunshine Flock]

This is such a great question!

I read somewhere (part of a research paper, I think) that chickens don't recognize other chickens until they're a few feet away. I'd like to find that source and do some more reading.

With my rooster, he's constantly keeping an eye on the flock. He knows them even from a good distance as something he has been commissioned to protect. They're friendlies, so when one has been foraging behind a tree and suddenly emerges, he's not alarmed. He shows no indication that a chicken way over at the compost pile is an intruder chicken.

If I were to introduce a new dog, or a stray were to show up, my four dogs go ballistic. Intruder dog on the scene! I think chicken behavior/energy can be less obvious and even subtle to the point of escaping our attention. Should a foreigner chicken suddenly appear from behind a tree, a chicken they've never seen before, would Henry react differently?

When someone is walking in the road, or a stray dog or some other concerning species, he sounds the alarm, the flock freezes while he assesses the situation, and with hawks they'll run inside the coop for shelter.

Our neighbor really misses the days when Henry would crow every time she drove down her long driveway. An outright alarm is the mad clucking, but a secondary alarm is crowing. Sometimes she would come over and say hello. We would chat for a bit, and then she'd walk home. Over time Henry came to recognize her as a friendly, and the crowing stopped. We all noticed this and find it to be rather remarkable.

I mean, think about that. A rooster has determined that a human he has seen repeatedly is no longer something to worry about. A particular human, not someone walking or biking in the road.

So I'm wondering how this may overlap a bit with a mama hen and her chicks. Penguins can find their offspring in an ocean of lookalike penguins. Now that's truly remarkable! Maybe hens lay so often they need to retain their focus on the current batch of babes, as someone suggested, and clean house in preparation for new arrivals.

I don't know. But I do think it's possible there's more to this than we realize. Chickens are intelligent creatures, and they do have interesting social behaviors, but I'm not sure whether they are aware of who's who or are capable of feeling motherly awareness (for lack of a better word) once they've weaned their chicks.

One interesting thing to note is my experience with Henry. I've spent considerable time with him during his recovery. Several weeks ago, every time I would cough in his presence, he would stand up and start mad clucking. Not when my husband would cough, but when I would.

And whenever Henry mad clucks, two of the dogs howl. Every darn time! But that's a side note to the thing to note.

Very interesting is that, at a distance from him, he doesn't react when I cough. I need to be within maybe ten feet or in the same room as him. So that could support what I read in a research paper. One theory someone suggested is that Henry now sees me as part of his flock, and he has therefore become protective of me. The mad clucking is a warning to the Cough Monster to leave me alone.

So there does seem to be recognition, and it plays out in different ways — and somehow this could relate to a mother hen and her behavior toward her chicks; meaning it's possible there's an awareness there, just no display of what we would identify as recognition or motherly awareness.

Just another late night ramble, folks. I couldn't resist.

 

[Hyper_Chicken05]

I think in breeds like silkies with strong mothering instincts, once the mama tells them to hit the road, another hen or even a roo may look after them. I've read of roosters that sat on eggs while mama silkie took a breather. Try to find a man who will do that

Lol I knew that roosters can look after chicks but I did it know they would sit on eggs!. Just imagine walking out to check on your broody and find the rooster sitting in the nest lol.

 

[Sagey_7878]

Oh ok. But does the hen atleast be more friendly towards the chick?.

Sadly the answer is NO. I had a hen who hatched chicks and they’re grown up now, and she fights with them! They forget all about their chicks and they’re just ordinary chickens to her.