Really Random Question

[fowl farm]

Say you have 5 eggs in the incubator and there are 5 people there when they hatch. If each chick saw a different person, would they see that person as their mom?

 

[sumi]

I don't think so

 

[fowl farm]

Sigh

How does the "the first thing they see is their mom" work? If you can actually explain it.

 

[sunflowerparrot]

Ask Horton...

 

[cochins1088]

I don't think chickens really follow that rule. When a mother hen hatches out chicks, they will treat her as mom but if you hatch eggs in an incubator, chicks rarely view people in that way. I have hatched numerous batches and I am constantly hanging out with my chicks to try to get them more friendly. I am almost always the first thing they see (sometimes its another chick) but they still don't view me as mom. By the way, the term for it is imprinting. If you thinks you're it's mother, then it has imprinted on you. I just don't think that chickens naturally imprint as much as geese and ducks do.

I have had 1 chick imprint on me out of hundreds. It was a bum hatch so he was the only one. After a day, he took to me. He didn't have any siblings to play with, I was the only one there so he imprinted on me and I was his mother. The little guy would chirp at the tops of his lungs (we could hear the tiny silkie chick from 3 floors up) whenever I was right there with him so I became accostomed to carring him around with me almost everywhere I went. If I set him down, he would follow me around and jump into my hand to fall asleep. He was the sweetest little thing, but it was a ngihtmere trying to get to sleep. I would have his cage right next to my bed, but that wasn't good enough. He needed to be sleeping in my hand. So he would chirp and chirp and chirp almost all night long, or until he finally got too tired and fell asleep. He is still my friendliest chicken too this day, but get this. I had one other egg that I didn't catch in time and started developing so I threw it in the incubator and 2 weeks later it hatched. Now the little guy had a friend and he stopped seeing me as his mother. He was still very friendly, just not in the same way. I have heard of other single chicks imprinting as well, but it seems if you have more than one, odds are very slim. In fact naturally, they will often be afraid of you. Hope this helps answer your question!