What human sounds do chicks/chickens recognize easily?

[awesomefowl]

I say chickchickchickchickchickchickchick and they all come runnin'.

 

[Chocobo]

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That's fascinating. How do you train them to recognize their own name and not have all of them associate ANY of their names with food?

 

[kcfuerst]

Mine recognize the sound of the door knob being turned 50' away from their run and all come running to their run door because they think someone is coming for them. In the evenings after they get finished being out in the yard grazing, I just say gently in a regular voice, "OK, are you guys ready to go in and get a treat? Com'on everybody it's time - Let's go." and they all drop what their doing and come running from all corners of the yard sollowing me into their run for some BOSS or mealy worms.

 

[bullington]

Hello Ladies!

 

[dldolan]

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I was watching a series of videos on youtube documenting broody hens, their chicks, and a few roosters. It was interesting that the broody hen would make a specific clucking sound to show her new chicks what to eat. She uses the same sound to call them when she has found something for them to eat. One of the roosters also made a similar clucking sound when he found something to eat, so that he can call a hen over. I have yet to see this in real life, since I don't have a broody hen or a rooster old enough to mate, but it's interesting nonetheless.

My broody hens give a very deep, long, C-L-U-C-K compared to their normal one to call chicks. Our young roo made a sort of calling cluck when he finds a good tidbit for his ladies. (nice boy!) And doesn't lie to them to get some...! He does a little dance when he's in the mood...

 

[ChicksterJo]

Lol, the same video series had a rooster call a hen over because he found a bug. So, she came over but he gobbles it all up and she pretends that she went over there to look for her own bugs. I recently read an article questioning the intelligence of chickens, and if roosters could use deception, does it mean they also have cognition? Learning about language and communication in all animals is intriguing.

 

[centrarchid]

Quote:
That's fascinating. How do you train them to recognize their own name and not have all of them associate ANY of their names with food?

First you have to be able to tell birds apart and designate names. Second a food item they prefer above all others must be of size easy to handle and worth birds effort and patience (I use meal worms but any sizable insect works great so long as it does not taste bad). Thirdly you need to have several such morsels for each training session. I like place morsels in a distinctive cup which intially attracts all birds. Say each birds name and offer only that one a morsel. Randomize sequence to speed association of name for each with morsel. Over time stop using cup. I spend a couple hours in sight of birds each day but only offer morsels occasionally. I keep morsels in breast pocket so birds can not see stash. Then I choose a bird, say its name repeatedly and walk to it and give it morsel. It does not take long for birds to run from 50 fifty feet away when I call their name. Some fly. Process takes a few days. Some individuals / breeds learn much faster than others as American games learn much faster than my dominiques. Watch out for trained hens with chicks as such hens will attempt to steal container and seem to figure out stash locaton. Scared me at first to have broody hen fly up to shoulder as she attempted to take them all. More to this so ask as effort gets under way.

 

[Barrdwing]

"Chick chick chick" is a fairly close approximation of the "food call" a broody hen gives when she's found something for her chicks to eat, so it's not surprising that a lot of adult birds respond to that too! The rooster food call is similar, but a lot deeper.

Our birds know the blue "kitchen bucket" very well--it sits in the corner of the kitchen and collects scraps of fruit, veggies, cheese, and bread. If we go out there with that bucket, they all come at the run. I have a much larger red bucket that I use as a mobile toolbox for projects, and they come running for that too, but they seem more curious to see what's in it than expectant of food.

Regarding chicken cognition: they're a lot smarter than rumor gives them credit for being, actually. They have a very strong prey-animal flight reflex, and when startled they act like complete idiots, which does nothing for the reputation of their intelligence. But if you work with them when they're not agitated, they do quite well; they're no parrots, but they ain't dumdums either. Ours do have some word-association ability--although it's heavily dependent on tone of voice. Our rooster in a wheelchair has learned that "Hup-up" means I want him to stand so that I can lift him out of his sling, and most of the birds that get handled a lot know that "Stop" means stop flapping and panicking.

For the most part I think they learn through trial and error to associate meaning with certain human "calls" that they hear a lot, just as chickens have their own calls. And I think they categorize human calls the same way as chicken calls: this one means food, this one is a greeting, this one means they're getting mad, this one is alarm, etc. Certainly chickens have a fairly varied vocabulary of their own, even when very young.

 

[Chocobo]

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OK, there HAS to be a good story behind that sentence.

 

[tinydancer87]

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Oh yes, the roosters lie. Some more than others. My Polish roo, Oreo, will cluck and pick up rocks, acorns, dry leaves, anything to get the hens attention. It works like the first two times, but after that, the hens will ignore him, bc they know he is a liar

So the roosters lie, and the hens learn to ignore the faux food call. Also have seen hens that get fooled "play it off" like they meant to go over there to look for their own food.