12 interesting chicken facts
1. Chickens have living relatives
Chickens are descendants of red junglefowl, a tropical bird that—still today—lives in India and Southeast Asia.
2. Chickens follow a pecking order
When given the option, chickens choose to live in flocks of 20 birds or less. Each flock establishes a social hierarchy composed of one dominant male, one dominant female, lower-ranking chickens of both sexes, and chicks. Chickens with higher status enjoy first dibs on food, water, nests, and mates. In return, they find food for and protect the flock. (The chickens with higher status tend to be the ones who are the largest and most assertive.)
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Chickens can recognize and remember about 100 faces. Because factory farms house thousands of chickens in one building (often 20,000–50,000!), chickens are unable to keep track of their or other chickens’ place in the pecking order, which causes them stress.
3. Chickens are chatty
Chickens communicate with each other using at least 24 distinct vocalizations and a variety of visual displays. This enables them to share specific information with each other, like if a predator is in the air or on the ground.
4. Chickens lay eggs to raise chicks
Like all other birds, chickens lay eggs not to feed humans but to raise chicks. Red junglefowl lay 10 to 20 eggs per year in one or two clutches. Conversely, because of selective breeding, chickens now lay more than 250 eggs per year, almost one per day.
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Unfortunately, laying so many eggs strains their bodies and causes hens to have painful and sometimes fatal health complications.
5. Chickens have excellent senses
Chickens can see more colors and hear more sounds than humans. They also have magnetic sense, which enables them to feel the magnetic pull of the Earth and use it to orient themselves.
6. Chickens rely on their beak
Chickens’ beaks have many nerve endings and sensory receptors. The tip is especially sensitive. This helps them distinguish between objects; grasp and manipulate objects while eating, nesting, drinking, preening, and exploring; determine temperature; and defend themselves.
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In an effort to reduce the effects of chickens pecking themselves or other chickens—a stress-related behavior—factory farms cut off the front of chickens’ beaks. This causes acute and sometimes chronic pain and is done with no anesthetic.
7. Chickens are omnivores
In a natural environment, chickens spend most of the day foraging. They enjoy eating a varied diet of berries, seeds, insects, and small vertebrates.
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In factory farms, chickens eat a mix of corn, soybeans, and bakery meal. This is not a healthy or well-balanced diet for chickens.
8. Chickens baths in dust
Chickens have an oil gland at the base of the tail that helps waterproof their feathers. To remove old or excess oil from their feathers and deter parasites, chickens scratch up dirt to create dust, then roll around in it. (The effect is similar to using dry shampoo.)
9. Chickens are smart
Chickens can perform basic arithmetic, anticipate future events based on past experiences, learn by watching others, and demonstrate self-control and tactical deception to achieve the outcome that they want. In many ways, their intelligence compares to chimpanzees, bottlenose dolphins, elephants, crows, and human children.
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A 2016 research paper suggests that humans attribute higher moral consideration to animals who they believe to be intelligent unless they’re already accustomed to eating those animals. In which case, humans will use motivated reasoning to justify their inconsistency.
10. Chickens are emotional and empathetic
When experiencing something positive, chickens exhibit comfort, relaxation, and joy. When experiencing something negative, chickens exhibit fear, stress, and anxiety. They also tend to share the emotional state of their flock. For example, a mother chicken becomes depressed if she sees and hears her chicks in distress.
11. Chickens have unique personalities
Like us and our pets, every chicken is an individual with distinct patterns of behavior, thinking, and emotion. They have different temperaments, parenting styles, favorite foods, best friends, and interests.
12. Chickens are the most commonly killed land animal in the United States
Every year we slaughter billions of chickens. While chickens can live 5-10+ years, we typically slaughter “broiler chickens” (chickens raised for meat) at 2 months and “layer hens” (chickens raised for eggs) at one year. We slaughter male chicks who are born in the egg industry within hours of hatching since they can’t produce eggs and are not profitable for meat.
