How smart are chickens?

[Esther Knapicius]

In answer to the question way above. Hens will lay more eggs without a rooster .

My dad had chickens, can't say I saw any major IQ stuff going on. He had this rooster that was a mean sucker, you'd kick it away and he'd still come back at you.
They were good to eat older greens and finished corn on the cob, etc. We did hatch chicks, a really neat learning experience for kids. We also had geese, and ducks. Had a creek in the back for them. Dad did sell the extra eggs.

 

[marlingardener]

Esther, I never knew hens laid more eggs without the distraction of a rooster! I love what one can learn here.
I agree, the Mensa Society hasn't solicited my hens' membership, but they can learn certain things and have a memory for food and fear that just doesn't quit. My ladies get all excited when they see my husband with a bucket. He fills the platform feeder for the wild birds with a bucket of sunflower seeds, and they all give him the hen hairy eyeball until he spreads a few seeds in the outside coop for the hens. When I go into the coop with shovel and bucket to clean, they all go outside. I've never used the shovel to move them, or taken a swing at a hen, but they just don't like the looks of that shovel.

 

[Insekto]

Well, I have never liked having chickens, however, my grandpa has a ton of them, my family has a chicken cell where they keep a lot of them to supply the town, these are really good when it comes to the food business, they actually sell the chickens and also the eggs, they have a big production which is really good for the family's maintenance, chickens are also really fun to watch and chase, they're really fast.

 

[marlingardener]

How smart are chickens? Well, how many of us have someone who comes in daily to clean our living space, provide us with food and treats, refresh our water supply, and change our bedding? I don't know about the rest of y'all, but our hens are smart enough to have me trained!

 

[17emilyhalko]

Chickens can be selectively smart. I find that, in order for chickens to learn something, I usually have to show one of them first. For example, I would leave cantaloupe rinds out for them, but they wouldn't pick at it for some reason. I had to show one of the chickens to pick at it. Once the one chicken began doing it, then the others did too! The next morning, the cantaloupe rind was demolished, and my white silkie was wearing an orange bib! They haven't been able to eat a cantaloupe since then, and I think that it's because they've forgotten how. I believe that I need to show them again.

 

[marlingardener]

Oh yes, they are selectively smart (or dumb). When we got our first eight chicks, and they grew up to be teen-age, they would not get on the high roost. We wanted them up there because it was safer. We had a banty hen wander in from heavens knows where, and she spent the first night on the high roost. The next morning when I went out to tend to the hens, they were all snuggled up on the high roost. That banty showed them how it was done, and I'm eternally grateful to her (I didn't have to grab a hen and stick her on the high roost!).
Our ladies have no trouble deciding what is edible or not--they won't touch Iceberg lettuce, but love escarole (the expensive stuff!). If I give them excess squash, it has to be cut in half--just too much trouble to peck through the squash rind!
They love watermelon rind, but won't touch honeydew rinds! After eight years of tending hens, I'm still trying to figure out their thought patterns.

 

[steve bossie]

i have 15 silver laced wynadotes . i have roughly half roosters half hens. the roosters fight constantly for dominance but i have one that is king! when i go feed them , he tries to bully me away from his hens kicking and pecking me! i give him a whack now and then to remind him he isn't the boss! my neighbors haven't complained but at 430am its sounds like a chicken orchestra out there! the roosters all try to outdo each other! i have a wire mesh over them about 3ft. if i throw bread on it they jump like a nba player to dislodge it thru the wire! i also raise tropical dubia roaches for them as a protein source. got them in 2 totes and feed them dogfood. they breed like crazy! twice a week i throw about 100 of them in the chicken pen. they try and hide in the grass but the chickens always scratch them out! hilarious to watch!

 

[rz3300]

I really have no idea here, but sadly I am just going to assume that they are not that smart, at least relative to other animals. I guess maybe they are just in an unfortunate position because when I think of them I think of them as they mostly are, locked in cages or a small area, which is unfortunate. Maybe free range chickens are pretty smart, and I would be interested to see a study out there, if it exists.

 

[MaryMary]

The line between bravery and stupidity is so thin that you don't know you've crossed it until you're dead. - Unknown

A chicken came to work today!

I was waiting on a young couple, and we got to talking. (We were talking gardening. ) They have a small farm.

A man walked in, laughing, looked at me and said, "Did you know you have a chicken running around in your parking lot?"

No, no, I did not.

Everybody in earshot goes outside, (this being the most exciting thing to happen all day,) and sure enough, there IS a chicken running around in my parking lot.

It belongs to the young couple. They, of course, want to catch their chicken. The chicken wants to run in circles around and under their SUV. So now we have two adults actively trying to catch the chicken, three more adults trying to herd the chicken toward the young couple, and two small children running after the chicken. Pandemonium reigned in the parking lot.

We were joined by one feisty old lady, who, every time the chicken even looked her way, pointed her cane at it and yelled, "YAAH!!!" (The atmosphere was very festive. You'd have thought we were having a circus. )

About the fourth time the old lady shouted "YAAH!!!," I actually felt my body vibrating from the oncoming waves of uncontrollable laughter. I knew that I was only one "YAAH!!!" away from falling down and rolling around in the parking lot, tears streaming down my face, senselessly repeating, "Yaah......Yaah....."

I fled the scene.

About fifteen minutes later the young man came in and asked me if I had any kind of box they could take the chicken home in. All they had to do to catch it was to decide the children needed to be out of the way. As soon as they opened the side door to the SUV, the chicken jumped in.

How did the chicken get there, you may ask? (I did.) Turns out, the chicken likes to roost on the front axle of the SUV. They didn't think to look before they left.

Fifteen miles, that chicken rode the axle at speeds up to 55-60 mph!

 

[zigs]

Blimey, you couldn't make it up

 

[marlingardener]

Was that chicken named Evel Kneivel by any chance?

 

[MaryMary]

Was that chicken named Evel Kneivel by any chance?

I'm just amazed it survived the trip.

I know the road they took, it's the way I go to work. There aren't any potholes, but the force of the wind! It had to be getting some heat from the engine. And why didn't it panic and try to fly?

Every time I think about it, I start to giggle.

 

[CrazyConure]

"YAAH!! YAAHH!!" -once said a lady to a chicken...

Yep...nothing weird in this town! Welcome?

 

[DeborahJane]

A chicken came to work today!

I was waiting on a young couple, and we got to talking. (We were talking gardening. ) They have a small farm.

A man walked in, laughing, looked at me and said, "Did you know you have a chicken running around in your parking lot?"

No, no, I did not.

Everybody in earshot goes outside, (this being the most exciting thing to happen all day,) and sure enough, there IS a chicken running around in my parking lot.

It belongs to the young couple. They, of course, want to catch their chicken. The chicken wants to run in circles around and under their SUV. So now we have two adults actively trying to catch the chicken, three more adults trying to herd the chicken toward the young couple, and two small children running after the chicken. Pandemonium reigned in the parking lot.

We were joined by one feisty old lady, who, every time the chicken even looked her way, pointed her cane at it and yelled, "YAAH!!!" (The atmosphere was very festive. You'd have thought we were having a circus. )

About the fourth time the old lady shouted "YAAH!!!," I actually felt my body vibrating from the oncoming waves of uncontrollable laughter. I knew that I was only one "YAAH!!!" away from falling down and rolling around in the parking lot, tears streaming down my face, senselessly repeating, "Yaah......Yaah....."

I fled the scene.

About fifteen minutes later the young man came in and asked me if I had any kind of box they could take the chicken home in. All they had to do to catch it was to decide the children needed to be out of the way. As soon as they opened the side door to the SUV, the chicken jumped in.

How did the chicken get there, you may ask? (I did.) Turns out, the chicken likes to roost on the front axle of the SUV. They didn't think to look before they left.

Fifteen miles, that chicken rode the axle at speeds up to 55-60 mph!

Hysterical MaryMary. Thanks for relaying that story. I'm having a great chuckle at excatly 4.43 in the morning picturing the pandemonium, with the Yaaah and the herding and the commotion. And what an interesting little chuck, loving to go for a scenic tour, the wind blowing rustling her feathers ever so gently