Birds of a Feather: Study shows chicken's intelligence to be quite...

Study shows chicken's intelligence to be quite complex

I'm going into my third year raising chickens, and I can say, without a doubt, that these remarkable animals are more intelligent than we are typically lead to believe. I spend a lot of time with my flock and it amazed me to witness the unique personalities and mannerisms each of my birds possessed. So, it was not a surprise to me to read this study and it's conclusions.

I will not regurgitate all of the interesting information in the study, but I will sum up, in my own words, the concluding findings of the study.

1. The intelligence of chickens is on par with many other birds and mammals in the animal kingdom. In other words, they are not stupid, as many people believe.

2. Chickens do understand numbers and can do simple arithmetic.

3. Chickens exhibit self-control and self-assessment, which are attributes of being self-aware.

4. Chickens communicate in complex ways, and could be at the level of other highly intelligent and social mammals, including prime-apes.

5. Chickens have the capacity to reason and make logical inferences. This level of intelligence is typically developed by humans by the age of seven years.

6. Chickens perceive time intervals and may be able to anticipate future events.

7. Chickens are behaviorally sophisticated, and can learn skills from each other, similar to the way humans learn from one another.

8. Chickens have feelings, both positive and negative, including empathy, which is shared by humans and other complex animals.

9. Chickens have distinct personalities.

There is a lot of interesting information in this study and I encourage you to read it for yourself. But, what does this all mean? Well, to me, it means that we have totally underestimated the intelligence and awareness of chickens. If you feel that it is cruel to keep dolphins and whales in captivity, to keep dogs and cats in confined kennels and raised in puppy or kitten mills, then the cruelty done to chickens that are born and raised in a "battery farm" is unfathomable to these poor, mis-understood animals.

Thankfully the Lord has opened my eyes to the wonderment of His creation, and that there's more to these animals than just what they can bring to the dinner plate.

12 comments so far...

Andy Rodker January 16, 2017, 10:38 PM

I read the report (well, a summary of it in a broadsheet) and found it both surprising and interesting.
Certainly food for thought!
Best wishes, Andy

David B January 17, 2017, 03:04 AM

Thanks, Andy! Raising chickens first hand has certainly opened my eyes, as well.
David.

mramshaw January 21, 2017, 01:41 AM

There's an old farming aphorism about how you don't name any
animals that you are planning on eating. And a weird thing about
English is that there are usually different names for the animal
and for the food they provide [chicken being the main exception].

Strangely enough, plants don't really like being eaten either and
some will produce phyto-estrogens which are a long-term strategy
to kill off their predators by making them less fertile.

Anyhow, nice picture and an interesting read.

David B January 21, 2017, 02:17 AM

Wow, I didn't know that about plants. I thought that for most of them, getting eaten is how they disperse themselves. But, I guess not all plants are the same.

It is kind of funny that cows produce beef, but chicken produce, well, chicken. I guess lamb would be another one of those oddities.

As you can probably guess, we don't eat our chickens.... yet. However, we do see the day when food prices become so high that we can no longer afford to get our food from anywhere else. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, we just enjoy them for the animals that they are, as well as the eggs they provide to us.

David.

mramshaw January 21, 2017, 02:33 AM

Well it used to be called mutton!

lamb meant spring lamb - as in "mutton dressed up like lamb"

[Wow, these reCAPTCHA's just get harder & harder, just had to lasso-select]

Andy Rodker January 21, 2017, 04:34 PM

Its in the history of the English language, the Anglo-Saxon peasants named the animals differently to the food that the servants served to their Norman-French masters which had to have the French name. For example, Sheep; from an Old English word and mutton; French, today mouton: Cow; Anglo-Saxon and beef; French, today boeuf.
Pig was different as it seems pig and pork ultimately derive from Latin but the animal was swine in Old English, so we would have had swine for the animal and pork for the meat served at the table.
I'm not an expert so please feel free to challenge this!

David B January 21, 2017, 08:09 PM

Very interesting, Andy. It's amazing to me how our languages developed over time.

That's why I find it amusing when they make a movie of someone time traveling into the distant past to find that they can understand the "English" being spoken.

David.

Andy Rodker January 23, 2017, 02:33 PM

I think that if they filmed in an invented language, there might be problems with actors learning their lines!!!

Fizgig February 04, 2017, 06:21 PM

We had a chicken as a pet when I lived in Europe.... Well, she wasn't supposed to be a pet, but given to us to have for dinner eventually. We didn't have the heart to kill her, so, she became a pet. I tell you, very similar to a dog --- followed us around, "chatted" with us, learned how to get our attention by pulling on pant legs, was protective, liked to snuggle with people.... And she laid 3 eggs every third day =) A big white hen.... They definitely are much smarter than people give them credit for! But then, human being are the only living things who feel they have superior intellect. I believe every creature was given the intelligence it needs to survive in its environment --- a human wouldn't fare very well, or long, in an ocean that a "dumb" fish calls home.

Anyway... Nice capture =) Pretty plumage on them chickens!

David B February 05, 2017, 02:19 AM

Thank you, Fizgig! Sounds like you had a very special chicken there. :)

To the chagrin of many of our neighbours, we treat our chickens like pets, too. When we started out, they were meant to both give us eggs and meat. But, as I got to know them (I never raised chickens before), I found out how special they really are and can not bring myself to putting them in the freezer. Besides, we get too much enjoyment out of them and their antics around the homestead.

David.

Fizgig February 05, 2017, 05:55 PM

They're good for more than eggs and meat, that's for sure.... If you have a garden with veggies 'n' things, set them loose to control pesky bugs and other varmints (moles, mice, etc.) .... My grandparents still lived off the land in Europe and used their poultry stock for more than just meat & eggs for sure. Would set them, along with all the farm cats, loose in the corn bin on harvest day (the day the bin was emptied & all corn was shucked for the season) and they'd take care of all the mice or anything else living in there. It was a mad dash between the cats & chickens to see who got their morsels first =) Only chicken not allowed in on the fun was the rooster 'cause he was far too aggressive and would attack the cats and people.... LOL. They also set the chickens free in the garden after all harvesting was done to dig around in the soil and eliminate pest insects before they got a chance to dig in for the winter --- same was done in the Spring when the soil was tilled. The chickens were smart enough to know the word for hawk (in Hungarian) and when alerted by humans would rush for the coop. If they spotted a hawk themselves, they'd alert "everyone" and the yard would clear out in seconds -- all chickens, ducks and geese would suddenly vanish from sight =D The chickens would also hunt as a flock --- looking for mice and bugs in a systematic, organized way. And the roosters.... boy-oh-boy were they aggressive and that's the way they were desired to be. They'd attack anything, big or small, that even looked sideways at their flock ;) I mean, the cats didn't even mess with the chickens and they learned not to from the adult farm cats who had run-ins with the roosters. The roosters had to be locked out of the chicken coop when humans would have to go in to collect eggs or clean or whatever.... If not, they'd seriously hurt ya... LOL...

So, yeah.... Keep an eye on 'em.... They'll entertain and amaze. And a good egg laying batch of chickens is just as valuable as a flock raised for meat -- maybe more so in certain times & places. Different color varieties have diff't temperaments, too. The most ornery (and protective) roosters are the red ones. The most docile chickens are the big white ones.... Etc. =)

Andy Rodker February 06, 2017, 12:18 AM

Very very interesting thread. Thank you!!!!