How smart are chickens?

[Mrs. K]

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Leading animal behavior scientists from across the globe now tell us that chickens are inquisitive and interesting animals whose cognitive abilities are more advanced than those of cats, dogs, and even some primates. Chickens understand sophisticated intellectual concepts, learn from watching each other, demonstrate self-control, worry about the future, and even have cultural knowledge that is passed from generation to generation. Dr. Chris Evans, who studies animal behavior and communication at Macquarie University in Australia, says, “As a trick at conferences, I sometimes list these attributes, without mentioning chickens, and people think I’m talking about monkeys.”

Chickens comprehend cause-and-effect relationships and understand that objects still exist even after they are hidden from view. This puts the cognitive abilities of chickens above those of small human children. Scientists are so impressed with what we now know about the intellect of chickens and other birds that a group of international experts recently called for a new naming system to reflect the complex, mammal-like structure of avian brains. Dr. Christine Nicol, who studies chicken intelligence, reflected, “They may be ‘bird brains,’ but we need to redefine what we mean by ‘bird brains.’ Chickens have shown us they can do things people didn’t think they could do. There are hidden depths to chickens, definitely.”

When in their natural surroundings, not on factory farms, chickens form complex social hierarchies, also known as “pecking orders,” and every chicken knows his or her place on the social ladder and remembers the faces and ranks of more than 100 other birds. People who have spent time with chickens know that each bird has a different personality that often relates to his or her place in the pecking order—some are gregarious and fearless, while others are more shy and watchful; some chickens enjoy human company, while others are standoffish, shy, or even a bit aggressive. Just like dogs, cats, and humans, each chicken is an individual with a distinct personality.

this guy seems to have met a lot smarter chickens than I have ever seen.

 

[Heatherlyn]

My chickens have complex social relationships and are very savvy when interacting with each other. They also are trained in some things. It only took twice of feeding our low-pecking-order hen mealworms in a special spot away from where we feed the other hens for her to run to her special spot whenever we get the mealworms out. The hens also peck on the sliding glass door to be let inside during bad weather, using their coop as a last resort which seems pretty smart to me (although sometimes wishful thinking on their part). Our hens are pets of our kids and very socialized and know when to roost in their laps and when to follow them around. They learned that opening the fridge can mean food. They are clever with their backyard foraging. They have an interesting and consistent night time routine. Our low-pecking order hen has great self control in her eating habits and her strategies to eat and avoid being pecked are clever (and entertaining).

 

[lazy gardener]

I agree that chickens are far more intelligent than given credit for. I have an electric net fence, and the "gate" is indistinguishable from the rest of the fence, except that there are 2 white posts side by side, while the rest of the fence has only one white post placed every 12'. It took them a while to figure it out, but now, even though the gate "moves" every now and then, they have no problem finding it. It's amusing to watch them when I let them out to free range. They have a routine where they charge around the corner of the house to get to the bird feeder to see how many BOSS they can scoff up. I would love to do some experiments with a well socialized group of chicks, and compare them to a control group of chicks who are raised with minimal human interaction (other than the feeding and normal chick care). And when you consider that chicks fresh out of the incubator with no other chickens to interact with other than their hatch mates, have innate chicken language, right down to the "danger" trill, and recognize and respond appropriately to that trill even when a human mimics it.