Is a chicken capable of thinking this way????.........

[cluckychick]

The chicken is being conditioned..it knows that if it acts sick then you will move it to were things are better. Is the feed better in the brooder? Is she top hen? Does she get picked on in the coop? There could be lots of reasons she likes it better in the brooder. I would say she's clever and smart.

I went to a place in CO, like a hands on science facility for kids. They had chickens there that the kids played board games with and everytime the chicken won they got a treat. Well....the kids never won and the chickens looked to be fat and healthy, lol

 

[Barnyard]

I know it is possibly for them to want to be somewhere else other than there pen. I have a EE hen that as soon as I let her out she runs straight up to my RIR roo that is in animal hospital.

I personally think it is cute that she wants to be with her"mama" than outside. I say live in the brooder with the other's as long as the get along and see what happens.

Goodluck!!

 

[dlhunicorn]

Birds that mate for life often come close to dying when they lose their partner... look at the complex social attachments of a parrot that has imprinted on a human... chicken are social animals and in the brooder they have in someway to some degree imprinted on you. So yes...I think it is quite possible what you propose...and also quite possible that at the moment she is out of her "comfort/safe" zone (your brooder) that she is at that moment truly physically unwell.

 

[hooligan]

Oh man here I go again, posting this...


The Hidden Lives of Chickens
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.” 1

Chickens comprehend cause-and-effect relationships and understand that objects still exist even after they are hidden from view.2 This puts the cognitive abilities of chickens above those of small human children.3 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.4 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.” 5

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.6 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.


Brainy Birds
Several research teams have recently published findings on chicken intelligence that have challenged old notions about avian cognitive abilities. For instance, scientists have found that chickens clearly understand cause-and-effect relationships, an advanced comprehension skill that puts their intellect beyond that of dogs. In the book The Development of Brain and Behaviour in the Chicken, Dr. Lesley Rogers, a professor of neuroscience and animal behavior, concludes, “t is now clear that birds have cognitive capacities equivalent to those of mammals, even primates.”7
In one experiment that explored chickens’ understanding of causal relationships, researchers found that when injured chickens were offered the choice between regular food and food that contained a painkiller, the birds soon understood that the medicated food made them feel better, and they learned to seek it out it over the other choices. “The chickens will take the analgesic every time,” says Dr. Joy Mench, a professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of California at Davis. They understood cause and effect and learned how to make the best decision.8

Chickens can also grasp other complex mental concepts. For instance, according to Evans, chickens are able to understand that objects still exist even after they are hidden or removed from view. This level of cognition is actually beyond the capacity of small human children.9 Researchers also recently reported that chickens “can anticipate the future and demonstrate self-control, something previously attributed only to humans and other primates.”10 Scientists made this discovery after they observed that when given the option between pecking a button and receiving a small food reward instantly or holding out for 22 seconds in order to receive a larger food reward, chickens in the study demonstrated self-control by holding out for the larger reward over 90 percent of the time.11

Chickens are social animals who form complex social hierarchies and interact in complex ways that are indicative of what anthropologists call “culture.” For example, researchers have shown that chickens learn from observing the success and failure of others in their community. One experiment that demonstrated this finding involved teaching one group of chickens to peck red and green buttons a certain number of times to obtain a food reward. Researchers were surprised to find that when a new group of chickens watched those who had learned how to push the buttons for food, the new chickens quickly caught on by watching the others. At a scientific conference, Dr. Christine Nicol, who worked on the on the study, told her colleagues, “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.”12

Researchers have also found that chickens have a cultural knowledge that they pass down from generation to generation. John Webster, a professor at Bristol University in the U.K., set up a study in which he gave chickens a mixture of yellow and blue kernels of corn. The blue kernels were tainted with chemicals that made the birds feel sick, and they quickly learned to avoid the blue corn entirely (this is also another example of their understanding of cause and effect).

When the chickens in Webster’s study had their young, he spread yellow and blue corn around the farm, and even though he made it so that both types were harmless, the mother hens remembered that the blue corn had previously made them sick, and they steered their young away from it. In an article in the London Times, Webster explains, “What this tells us is that the mother hen has learnt what food is good and what is bad for her, that she cares so much for her chicks she will not let them eat the bad food, and she is passing on to her young what she has learnt. To me, that is pretty close to culture—and an advanced one at that. Chickens are sentient creatures and have feelings of their own.”13

Scientists have been so impressed with the cognitive capabilities of birds that a group of international experts recently called for a new naming system to reflect the advanced nature of birds’ brains. According to an article that appeared in The Washington Post, “The new system, which draws upon many of the words used to describe the human brain and has broad support among scientists, acknowledges the now overwhelming evidence that avian and mammalian brains are remarkably similar—a fact that explains why many kinds of bird are not just twitchily resourceful but able to design and manufacture tools, solve mathematical problems and, in many cases, use language in ways that even chimpanzees and other primates cannot.”14


Social Smarts
In This Feature
Social Smarts
People who have spent time with chickens know that they have complex social structures, adept communication skills, and distinct personalities, just as we do. Colorado State University Distinguished Professor Dr. Bernard Rollins notes,
“[C]ontrary to what one may hear from the industry, chickens are … complex behaviorally, do quite well in learning, show a rich social organization, and have a diverse repertoire of calls. Anyone who has kept barnyard chickens recognizes their significant differences in personality.” 15

Like people, chickens each have a place or rank within their group—some birds are dominant, and others are expected to be more submissive because they are on a lower social rung. Chickens know their places within the hierarchy, and they act accordingly—for instance, when learning how to perform a new task, they often follow the lead of the dominant members in their group.16 Mench explains, “Chickens show sophisticated social behavior. … That’s what a pecking order is all about.”17 Chickens also remember the faces of those in their social group; Mench continues, “They can recognize more than a hundred other chickens and remember them.”18 Scientists agree that chickens’ complex social structures and good memories are undeniable signs of advanced intelligence comparable to that of mammals.

Talkin’ Chicken
Chickens communicate with each other through their “clucks”—Mench explains, “They have more than thirty types of vocalizations.”19 They have different calls to distinguish between threats that are approaching by land and those that are approaching over water, and a mother hen begins to teach these calls to her chicks before they even hatch—she clucks softly to them while sitting on the eggs, and they chirp back to her and to each other from inside their shells.20,21


Small Birds, Big Personalities

Like all animals, chickens love their families and value their own lives. The social nature of chickens means that they are always looking out for their families and for other chickens in their group. In the wild, chickens spend most of their time in groups—they enjoy foraging for food, taking dustbaths, and roosting in trees together at night. After he toured United Poultry Concerns in 1998, Ira Glass, the host of National Public Radio’s This American Life, was so impressed with the personalities of the chickens he met that he hasn’t eaten chicken or any other animal flesh since.

Mother hens care deeply for their babies—Jesus even refers to the loving protectiveness of a hen toward her chicks in the Gospels, which were written almost 2,000 years ago.22 Indeed, a mother hen will turn her eggs as many as five times an hour and cluck soothingly to her unborn chicks.23 Hens prefer to have private nests for their eggs in protected areas far away from predators. According to The Humane Society of the United States, “The desire [for a private nest] is so strong, in fact, that a hen will often go without food and water, if necessary, to use a nest.”24 This demonstrates the fact that hens will sacrifice their own comfort if it means protecting their chicks.

Besides bonding to their young, chickens also form strong friendships and enjoy spending time with their companions, just like we do. Kim Sturla, the manager of Animal Place, a sanctuary for farmed animals near Sacramento, recounts a touching story of two chickens. “We rescued an elderly hen, Mary, from a city dump and later an elderly rooster, Notorious Boy. They bonded, and they would roost on the picnic table. One stormy night with the rain really pelting down, I went to put them in the barn and I saw the rooster had his wing extended over the hen, protecting her.”25

 

[ibpboo]

Thanks hooligan for posting that again!

 

[chickbea]

I can't say that I know the answer for sure, but anyone who has ever been in the woods and seen a momma bird fake a broken wing to lead you away from her nest knows that they can be pretty convincing! Instinct - conditioning, I don't know...

 

[ibpboo]

awe cute bunny chickbea, is it netherland dwarf?

 

[kinnip]

Wow hooligan, thanks. That just pushes me a little closer to vegetarianism. Since the chickens arrived, I've had a hard time swallowing chicken meat.

 

[Guitartists]

Thanks for that info! I agree that we can project emotions and thought processes onto our animals that may or may not exist.... but, I also believe that some animals have the potential to be more advanced or emotional than the rest. Just as some people excel where most cannot. Or how some people are more sensitive or emotional than most.

And I know from personal experience that animals can be very surprising in the way that they interact with humans, beyond that of the ordinary.

I am wondering though if she had bonded with my Blue d'Uccle. I noticed last night and again today that they are spending much time hanging out together. Maybe I just never noticed this before and when I took her away, she missed him. They were hatched and brooded together.... but he was the only bantam, so I kept him here with the other purchased bantam chicks.

She is quite smaller than her siblings... I wonder if she will stay small enough to live with the d'Uccle and the other bantams.

Gayle.... if you see this.... did you have any EEs that would qualify as bantam sized???

 

[hooligan]

Quote:
Well that wasn't the point of posting it but if it gives you the push, then so be it!

(I'm a veggie

)