Smartest breeds? Dumbest breeds? Opinions?

[centrarchid]

The breeds I have experience with are limited. Barred Plymouth rocks, white Plymouth rocks, Rhode Island reds and American dominiques can learn but seem slow. Their language seems simplified, fewer signals. California grays and leghorns seem to be totally intinct driven and might be unaffected by decapitation other they could not see. American games I have train extremely easily and appear to have a broad range of vocalizations and posteriors to single various things. The red jungle fowl I am raising are flighty but sharp. They also seem to have larger heads in respect to body size, even when compared to bantams.


Most smarts seem associated with getting food and not being eaten. Play behavior, often associated with intelligence, is limited but they do play. Games and red jungle fowl play more.

 

[ThePolishPrincess]

We had a hatchery Marans. Had to get rid of her because she was smart enough to figure out what birds were best to pick on; the easiest targets. That said, she was not the first to take part in these acts. And I daresay she will not be the last. But I can hope.

I used to have a Sultan roo that I trained to crow on command.

It was a neat little trick, as he'd do anything for corn. I'd immitate his crow, he'd crow, then I'd give him a peice of cracked corn. Then the same series again. Eventually, he just got it. I think to an extent, any bird can do anything. Breed traits help, but it is the individual that is most important when we're talking about real 'smarts'.

My Calls are yappy, hyper birds. I don't see them as smart or dumb, just average. That trait actually applies to all of my ducks. The exception being my black Muscovy who decided to go broody one day, and hide underneath the chicken coop. Took us days to figure out she wasn't dead. And is was difficult to get to her. When we found her hiding space and closed it off, she got a little angry, but got over it. Although I think that has alot to do with instinct, not intelligence. I think most of an animal's smarts is based upon instinct. Considering that we're talking about food-drive, quick adaptation, and dominance.

 

[centrarchid]

A lot of instinct may have been bred out of some breeds / lines.

 

[Redcatcher]

Asils, oriental gamefowl and gamefowl in general are the smartest without a doubt. Their survival has depended on their intelligence.

 

[centrarchid]

Smarts can come in many forms and just because one is smart in one area does not mean in all areas. Some birds, especially those selected for free range performance are likely to be very adept at foraging. Breeds that become broody might be considered more intellegent in respect tp parenting relative to breeds that will not set. Some of the intelligence attributed to games is in respect to their ability to inflict harm and avoiding harm (dodging). In past such gamefowl were produced under more free range / feral conditions than what prevail for birds of some flocks in U.S.. Lack of continued testing in free range / feral conditions will likely degrade some survival instincts over time. Intelligence has a genetic component that like any other characteristic is subject to selection, for or against.

 

[cashdl]

My muscovy is very smart. She is training me. She taps on the door to the big chicken enclosure, so I open it then she will tap on the other doors to go in and play with her favorite chickens. I will leave her in there for a couple of hours. She will reverse the process when she is ready to come out. Through out the day I will ask her if she is ready to come out, if she is she will walk over to the door, if shes not she will walk away from me.

She has her very own pen that she sleeps in at night. She slept a night each in two different pens and then chose the one she likes the best. I leave each one open all day with food and water just in case she changes her mind on which one she likes, but so far she sleeps in the same one every night and waits patiently for me to let her out each morning. She will come talk to me sometimes but manages to keep her self entertained through the day untill she wants to play with the chickens.

She is the only duck we have left ( the others were eaten) and she started this behavior the day she laid her first egg. Its like she grew up all the sudden. Before that she was a pain. I had to chase her out of the pond at night to go to bed, then chase her to her pen.

Now we take the walk together if Im outside at bed time, if I don't go out till almost dark, she will be waiting for me to close her door. She has developed a nice personality. Probably cause she is the only duck now.

Her name was Louie cause we thought she was a boy till she laid an egg. Now she is Louise.

Lanae

 

[Illia]

Quote:

I'd also put Araucanas up there, just as Cashdl did. They're very "wild" in type and behavior, and will seriously live off of whatever they can!

Course, I'm noticing this is another thread in which most people are just putting down or praising a breed based on their maybe one, two, or five examples of hatchery stock.

 

[Resolution]

Perhaps the dumbest chicken I've met was a flock of Buff Orpingtons- they had one mind- and only half of one at that. Plymouth Rocks and NEw Hampshires- any of the big dull commercial breeds seem to have every bit of brain bred out of them- and for good reason. Broilers don't count right?
The smartest chicken- a Copper Scotch flock maybe tied with some Black Sumatrans- but I'd also have to put a white leghorn hen and any number of Fayoumi on that list-Ameraucana are also super smart.

 

[Break an Egg]

My Phoenix pair are very smart, along with my OEGB, my Buff Orpingtons seem to be really slow, and my SLW's are just loud and mean. I do however, get almost 4 eggs a day from 2 BO's and 2 SLW's.

 

[chics in the sun]

Yeah, my White Leghorn is probably the quickest and smartest in terms of foraging and just being aware of her suroundings. She is also a great Mama, believe it or not. My Barred Rock is smart - smart enough to be curious about everything. One day someone knocked over my planter outside the back door, and I swear to you she stood on the back stairs and yelled for me until I came out and picked it up. I'm pretty sure she was ratting out whoever did it, too. My Production Red is dumb as a box of rocks. Took WEEKS to teach her how to get back into the coop - she would just run up and down the sides and watch the other two gobble up the evening treats. Now she knows how to get back in through the door, but she is almost always still the last one to notice it is treat/ roosting time. The Marans and EE's seem to fall somewhere in the middle.