Chicken Psychology

cuwiar

cuwiar

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Probably a huge topic and just wondered what other peoples experiences are!!?

I have had my girls four weeks now and have spent as much time with them as possible (weekends mainly) and watching their every move and have a few questions about their behaviour!?

Taming Chickens
I'm in two minds about this, one part of me doesn't want the chickens to be just pets and I'd rather let them get on doing their chickeny things and laying me eggs while I do my best to keep them safe and healthy...BUT...a big part of me just wants to cuddle them and have them sit on my knee!

All of our girls will eat from our hand and will follow us up and down the garden and even go to great lengths to keep an eye on where we are and what we are doing but they all act in different ways at being stroked and picked up.

When you reach out a hand to stroke Ebrill (Rhode Rock), who is laying, she sometimes does this rigid stance as though maybe she thinks I'm a cockeral about to mount her (!!??) She braces herself and kind of holds her wings backwards. I can then stroke her back but she soon gets fed up and wanders off. Does she actually think I'm a cockeral?? She is very greedy and if I have food I can easily lure her and she doesn't mind being caught too much, and picked up and louse powdered etc. She's strong though and when she decides she's had enough - she's had enough!

The other two are around 19 weeks.

Mai (Light Sussex) has always been very placid and when I reach out to stroke her back she sort of ducks down, clucks lightly but wanders off. She is very easy to catch (so long as you don't get into the Benny Hill routine) and doesn't mind being held, stroked etc although I'm sure she'd rather not, if given the choice!!

Mehefin (Barred Rock) on the other hand is impossible! If you reach out a hand to stroke her back she will jump a mile and squeak, even without being touched. Catching her is very difficult and she doesn't like being held at all. Should I leave it at that and be glad that she follows us around and eats from our hand or is there any hope to make her less hand shy? She is not really nervous of us (gets spooked by pigeons sometimes!) and will happily stand nearby when you're busy in the garden but I can tell she dreads being caught and gets very suspicious if you make movements in her direction. This doesn't make life easy for either her or me when it comes to mite and louse powdering or trying to put her back in the pen before work. She was the one who had her beak lightly trimmed (which incidentally has rounded off a treat and practically grown back!) could this experience be affecting her attitude to humans. Should I handle her more to get her used to it, or less to minimise stress? I have tried catching her and holding her steady while her feet are still on the floor, and stroking her back and neck with minimum 'holding', she seems less bothered by this than by being held when I'm standing upright.

Chickens being Chickens
I also wondered about their behaviour amongst themselves.

Sometimes the two youngsters will get spooked and kind of do a little run around the garden together as if they are not sure who's following who. When they stop they turn to each other and Mehefin fluffs up her neck feathers. They just look at each other, sometimes check each other out, maybe touch beaks and then carry on as though nothing has happened. What's going on here?

Are they squareing up? In terms of the pecking order they both come under Ebrill but Mehefin is more scared of her. Mai kind of ignores her evil stares but they upset Mehefin. Generally Mai and Mehefin do everything together and are pals. Mai seems to look up to Mehefin more though.

Hope you don't mind the humungus post, I guess it's more of a blog and just wanted to share, gain an insight into how other forum members chickens act and what's going on with my little lot!?

And yes, feel free to tell me I'm over analysing :-)02 :lol:
 
It's interesting...my most nervy, flighty hen is the one who wants human company the most. If I let them into the garden, she's straight up to the patio, and gets in the house...yet runs off if you try to pick her up etc. She will feed from hand though. She's a cream legbar ..
 
Personality wise they vary a lot as you've discovered. I find it's best to take the lead from them and if they want company, let them come to you. If they get stressed out being handled, then I think it's best to handle them only when necessary.
The squatting down is indeed taking up the position for a male to mount and mate her.

The running round the garden & squaring up is playing and threatening at the same time. It's a learning situation.

I find the relationships amongst themselves and with humans, fascinating. You will also pick up some human traits, good and bad. These traits are common in many animals and mostly derive from self preservation.

See: happy, sad, the bully, the shy, the greedy, the nosey, the worker etc. etc. etc.
 
Can't really tame chickens, just get them to accept you. Mai is in this catagory. Unless they are handled frequently from a chick onwards and reared alone and they think they are human.

Mehefin is typical of a hen. Most of ours behave like that. If you pick them up frequently they relax more but after a week absence they will revert to previous condition. Helps to experiment on picking them up. Some prefer backwards, others forwards. All have to be rested on their chest in the correct manner -clamping their wings will almost always result in panic.

Ebrill sees you as the dominant cockerel and is preparing to be trodden. If you pick her up at that point and put her down she will shake all her feathers to put them back into place after being trodden, she thinks.

The two youngsters are playing. The fluffed up kneck is a defensive posture in preparation to fight -she is dominant in the pair.

No you are not over-analysing. Until you study them to this degree you know little about them really. When they walk past and say 'hello' you are on the right wave length. They have 46 different 'words' or 'noises' and it is worth while trying to recognise them. To get the full set you need a cockerel though and they have to be happy and healthy.

Molteaser. Cream Legbars and Leghorns are the breeds I have noticed which seem to speak a completely different language. I can't make much headway in understanding them. Must be their Mediterranean origins.
 
What an interesting post. You're embarking on a lifetime's study here! Chickens are intelligent and social animals and of course we can learn to communicate with them. People who keep small groups have the advantage that they can get to know the birds individually, compared with keepers of large flocks where this isn't possible.

You're right about Ebrill's reflex when she's stroked on her back, she's preparing for the cockerel. The younger ones haven't yet matured enough to be coming into lay, but they too will do this in a few weeks' time and this will be a welcome sign that eggs should be coming soon! Mehefin may get more confident when she's a bit older and more mature - I'd keep on rewarding her, talking quietly, and touching and catching her when you can, and holding her briefly, otherwise the situation won't have the chance to change.

They don't have to be 'just pets' because they're tame enough to be caught and handled easily - in fact, it contributes a lot to their welfare if you can do this without stressing them,,because you can then examine them for infestations and if there's anything wrong with them you can treat them with the minimum of distress. It makes life much easier for you, too, if you don't have to chase round after them when you want to put them back in their run, or catch one for some purpose. i think when keeping any animal, handling and touch is important in getting to know them and feeling if they are OK. Also it's fun, for them as well as for you! You can still bear in mind that they are chickens and not make fools of them by dressing them up etc. (Though my kids used to sit our Silkie bantam on their knees to watch telly after school, and sometimes she was wearing dolls clothes I'm afraid!)

I'm surprised Chris hasn't learned to speak Cream Legbar yet - my little Nutmeg is very expressive and intelligent, streets ahead of Marigold my Buff Sussex, who is the same age and grew up with her (yes, that's Marigold in my avatar.) But Marigold has slowly learned from Nutmeg about lots of things, eg how to find her way out of the run when the door is opened, and what it means when I shake the tin of chicken corn! I wonder if other people have noticed apparent differences in intelligence in their chickens, (ie that some just learn new things more easily and faster?)
 
Chicken intelligence is an interesting subject Marigold. I have notice striking differences and considered cross breeding the more intelligent to see what results. Frankie is a remarkably intelligent cockerel -outshines all the others. No hen is outstanding, but some are clearly brighter than others. Perhaps a task for the future.

Would like to meet Nutmeg. Our best Legbar (Maisy) for expression contracted Lymphoid Lucosis after laying her first egg. Her remaining sister Molly is just mad. And Lucy says 'squawk' and that's it -in varying degrees of loudness.
 
I think ducks are clever too, especially muscovies, must be the only duck with a sense of humour too! :D Whenever a new person comes round (especially male..) the drakes like to take off...directly at them..not much help when I shout QUICK DUCK!!! :roll: :roll:
 
Very quick duck! Mallards fly at up to 42 mph -we reared a nearly drowned 2 day chick once called Lucky.

Test for chicken intelligence. Put them into a run (if you have 4 linking panels ideal) and close the back panel. Put corn on the ground outside the front panel. They will all be at the wire trying to get it. Then open the back panel. The really intelligent ones will go backwards to get forwards -they will work it out, ignoring what the rest are doing. The above average will follow, followed by the average. The really thick ones will still be trying to get throuigh the wire until all the others have eaten the corn. Then they will come out!
 
chrismahon said:
Very quick duck! Mallards fly at up to 42 mph -we reared a nearly drowned 2 day chick once called Lucky.

Test for chicken intelligence. Put them into a run (if you have 4 linking panels ideal) and close the back panel. Put corn on the ground outside the front panel. They will all be at the wire trying to get it. Then open the back panel. The really intelligent ones will go backwards to get forwards -they will work it out, ignoring what the rest are doing. The above average will follow, followed by the average. The really thick ones will still be trying to get throuigh the wire until all the others have eaten the corn. Then they will come out!
Click to expand...

I now have a headache trying to work it Chris! :D Guess my chicken intelligence way down... :shock: :D
 
chrismahon said:
The above average will follow, followed by the average. The really thick ones will still be trying to get throuigh the wire until all the others have eaten the corn.
Click to expand...

The order for mine in that example would be Ebrill, Mehefin, Mai. When I walk over to the run Ebrill goes straight to the door, followed by Mehfin although she won't come out till I'm out of arms length! Mai will follow them but even when the door is opened (Ebrill staright out!) she stands at the panel bobbing her head about watching the others and getting more and more stressy that she can't get out! I have to put my hand in to draw her attention to the opening and then she's out!

Mai also doesn't seem to 'get' foraging, she has a go and will go for easy stuff but she doesn't do much earth moving, it's like she watches the others and goes through the motions because she thinks it's The Done Thing - occasionally she'll find something interesting and run away with it to examine it and not even always eat it!

Thanks for all the responses! It is fascinating and I'm glad no-one thinks it's over analysing!

I'm really looking forward to understanding their 'language' and will try and do the softly, softly handling with Mehefin. The only problem is trying not to stress her out while I try to catch her, she's so quick to leg it passed when she feels trapped. She is also the explorer, often the one who wants to know 'what's on the other side of that hedge?' she discovered her wings first and I'm trying to avoid clipping them - I like giving the chance to escape if they got into a predator situation!

I have seen Mehefin do the fluffed neck at Ebrill a couple of times, she is generally quite scared of Ebrill but I wonder if she thinks she might be in with a chance as contender to the throne when she is older and stronger?
 
There was a TV programme a while ago showing experiments to test chickens' intelligence. They covered eggboxes with tissue paper, putting coloured circles over some of the hollows and leaving the others plain, or using other symbols, I forget which. Under the circles the hollows had chicken treats in, the others were empty. They timed how long it took the chooks to learn to peck only through the paper with the circles, wherever on the box they were placed. Most learned it very fast. I've always meant to try this out with my girls. Obviously you could extend the learning quite a bit, with a mixture of colours and symbols for instance. Does anyone else remember the programme, or try the experiments?
 
My little legbar has found a slat in the fencing slightly wider than all the rest....and has started to swueeze through it. Jumped out of my skin when she started tapping on the patio door.
There was a program on last year about chicken intelligence, a test using shape recognition an meal worms. Really interesting
 
Oh Foxy, I despare. A diagram for you.

Draw a horizontal line 2" long from point A on the left to point B on the right.
Write 'grain' above the centre of the line and 'Chickens' below the centre of the line.
Draw vertical lines 2" long down from point A to point C and down from point B to point D.
Draw a horizontal line from C to D. This is the opening section.

The chickens have to think laterally and lose sight of the grain to go backwards out of the run to be able to go forwards to the grain. Very difficult for a chicken. But they have good spacial awareness and know where the grain is relative to their position at any time -well some of them anyway.
 
My two new ones do the running around and them squaring up to each other. They do this if they lose sight of each other as well and then run towards each other and do the same thing with one of them raising their hackles. Interestingly my new buff sussex speaks the same language as my older buff sussex. They both wonder around 'chortelling' to me. At least that's how I describe it!! Don't know if all buff sussex do this, would be interested to know if anyone else has any, if they make this noise. Interestingly none of my hens cluck! I was expecting clucking hens around the garden, but none of them do it. The ones my neighbour has do, I can hear them clucking around during the day.
 
None of ours cluck either Sue. A lot of 'pook pook' ing though. All the breeds have different languages but they all understand each other. That's one above us then, I'm hopeless at French. I even struggled in the Black Country -Cradley Heath to be exact.
 
As mentioned earlier, a really interesting topic.
I used to watch and admire 'The dog whisperer', before I got the chooks and have used some of his
teachings on them, moving towards them slowly, even sideways with my little 'bonding' chair and
sitting, observing and rewarding the nosiest with a few grains of mixed corn the, others followed,
(the two cocks have sadly gone now) My new young Barred Wyandotte has really turned to me for
protection against the resident bully speckledies and she inturn has taught the new Gold L Orp
that I'm safe, so now when I sit in the greenhouse with them I end up as a warm perch for both and
yes they've left their visiting card down my back but it's good healthy stuff!! :roll:
The Specks, slightly jealously (I think) look through the glass door, I'll be opening the door gradually
over the next few weeks and see if I can get them to be pals
 
Sue said:
Interestingly my new buff sussex speaks the same language as my older buff sussex. They both wonder around 'chortelling' to me. At least that's how I describe it!! Don't know if all buff sussex do this, would be interested to know if anyone else has any, if they make this noise..
Click to expand...

My Buff Sussex is larger than the others, and yes, the sounds she makes are definitely different from the others. I'd need to hear a recording of yours to compare, but Marigold's are much deeper (larger chest amplifying the sound?) different somehow in intonation and expression. She is the noisiest hen (and keeps on repeating herself, maybe also a sign she's not very bright, or just that she's bottom of the pecking order and the others don't listen to her?) At present the poor girl looks more like a Transylvanian Naked Neck, has moulted nearly all her lovely black feathers round her 'scarf.' (Is there a technical term for these feathers?)
 
I just wish I could spend even more time with them to work through this bonding process! Doesn't 'work' get in the way of life! I have got a nice long weekend coming up though so I'm sure I'll be spending hours on my favourite waste of time...they are a complete distraction! Will be working mainly on gaining Mehefin's trust - might even try some intelligence tests!
 
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