I know this is kind of a hard question to answer, but I was curious and couldn't find anything on the internet. I was hoping maybe someone on here might know something about this. My question has to do with the history of chickens and their evolution, and maybe also a little biology.
My hens were all 32 hours old when I bought them, and they had never seen an adult chicken before they were shipped to the feed store. I raised the chicks myself in a brooder, and they never saw an adult chicken the whole time they were growing up. But, somehow, they know how to do all sorts of chicken things, that they should really only be able to know if they were raised by a chicken. They know how to dust bathe and preen, they know how to scratch to find bugs, they know what plants are good to eat and which ones to avoid, and they know how to kill whatever animal they find. What I find most amazing though, is that they can tell the difference between a vulture and a hawk, falcon, or eagle, and they know to hide if they see the latter. How do they know this if they have never been taught? And, when they see a predator, the leader of the flock lets out a shrill alarm call to warn the other chickens. How does she know how to do that?
Recently, I bought four new little chicks and let a broody hen raise them. This hen was never a mother before, and, like I said, she did not have a mother herself. And yet, she knows exactly how to take care of the chicks. She knows that she has to keep them warm at night, she knows how to sit on them so that she doesn't crush them, and she knows which foods are good for them to eat, and which ones are not. How does she know this? She also knows how to communicate with them, and they understand what she is saying, but the chicks were hatched in an incubator and didn't see an adult hen until they were placed under the broody. How do they know how to communicate?
I know this is kind of long and complicated, but these questions have been nagging at me for a while now, and I've never been able to find an answer. I would really love to understand my chickens better, and figure out how they know all these things. If you could help me, I would really appreciate it.
Thank you in advance for any help you have to offer!
My hens were all 32 hours old when I bought them, and they had never seen an adult chicken before they were shipped to the feed store. I raised the chicks myself in a brooder, and they never saw an adult chicken the whole time they were growing up. But, somehow, they know how to do all sorts of chicken things, that they should really only be able to know if they were raised by a chicken. They know how to dust bathe and preen, they know how to scratch to find bugs, they know what plants are good to eat and which ones to avoid, and they know how to kill whatever animal they find. What I find most amazing though, is that they can tell the difference between a vulture and a hawk, falcon, or eagle, and they know to hide if they see the latter. How do they know this if they have never been taught? And, when they see a predator, the leader of the flock lets out a shrill alarm call to warn the other chickens. How does she know how to do that?
Recently, I bought four new little chicks and let a broody hen raise them. This hen was never a mother before, and, like I said, she did not have a mother herself. And yet, she knows exactly how to take care of the chicks. She knows that she has to keep them warm at night, she knows how to sit on them so that she doesn't crush them, and she knows which foods are good for them to eat, and which ones are not. How does she know this? She also knows how to communicate with them, and they understand what she is saying, but the chicks were hatched in an incubator and didn't see an adult hen until they were placed under the broody. How do they know how to communicate?
I know this is kind of long and complicated, but these questions have been nagging at me for a while now, and I've never been able to find an answer. I would really love to understand my chickens better, and figure out how they know all these things. If you could help me, I would really appreciate it.
Thank you in advance for any help you have to offer!
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It's so interesting!
