How long is a chicken's memory?

[lillypurrs23]

I've been wondering lately how long a chicken's memory is. I know that they don't seem to remember a member of the flock if the hen is gone for about a week or so. But I have a 2 year old SS hen, Nellie, who i've had ever since she was a chick, and since she was about 5 weeks old I would hold her on my lap every night where she would sleep for a little while. She now will come over and jump on my lap in the evening when I call her name and pat my lap. She won't be held by anyone else or jump on anyone else's lap. Our chickens are considered pets, so we wouldn't cull them, and i've heard that chickens can live a while. I still hold her on my lap every evening unless i'm gone, which is rare, but in about 2 years, if I go away to college, and am gone possibly weeks at a time between visits, will she forget me? Or would she still remember me, do you think? (She is my favorite chicken, so that would probably be rather upsetting if she did forget me! xD )

 

[UrbanChickenSF]

Hm. I'm not sure about their instinctual memory but I think their short term memory span might only be about 10 minuets. I do not think they have much of a pre-frontal lobe at all.

 

[lillypurrs23]

Well I mean, obviously they remember us because we are always down there, so I wonder if they would forget someone who went away for a while.

 

[jakiee10]

I have also been wondering since a cat killed my flock and only one survived and I was a little worried for the serving hen.She seemed a little jumpy in the morning and didn't let me hold her. Will she remember what happened to the rest of the flock for a while?

 

[Cutepal]

It's a shame to know that my flock would barely remember, they've had a few jaw-dropping adventures, such as spending a night in another farm, and they'd just forget that it ever happened.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Chickens meemories are great actually.They do remember their own flock memebers.They are very intellgent.

Some chickens are even smart enough to be potty trained.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

They can reemebr up to a 100 people they have saw,so I know they remeber me.I cone down to the farm every weekend.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Well I mean, obviously they remember us because we are always down there, so I wonder if they would forget someone who went away for a while.

I have been away for two or 3 weeks and came back and the hens still remebred who I was.

They neber get their partner.

 

[junebuggena]

It's not that they 'forget'. They are animals, they don't hold on to the past like people do. They get over it and move on with their lives. When you remove a flock member for a few weeks and then reintroduce it, the issues are not caused by the flock forgetting the hen. It's because they have established a new pecking order without her, and chickens take their pecking order very seriously.
Rest assured, most chickens are actually quite smart.

 

[TheTwoRoos]

Chicken Behavior: An Overview of Recent Science - Free From Harm