Chicken Behavior: Better Understanding Your Flock

Chicken flocks are surprisingly similar to wolf packs in the idea that they exist in a strict hierarchy. The hierarchy that exists within your flock is called the pecking order. This word stems from the fact that chickens who are higher up in the pecking order will peck those who are under them in the pecking order.

Every day chickens will do the same thing. They will wake with the sun, and lay their eggs in the early morning. Then they will eat until the sun sets, which is when they go to bed. They will never eat during the night. This is why your chickens don’t lay as many eggs during the winter even if you give them enough food to both stay warm and lay eggs. Its because they go to bed sooner and therefore don’t eat as much.

A chickens taste and smell are both not very good. This is sometimes a problem as they are not sure what they are eating and sometimes they digest poisonous food. Though for the most part they wont eat things that could be detrimental to there health.

Their main sense is their hearing and there sense of touch. In their legs and skin they have certain sensors that can sense vibrations.

These senses are invaluable for chickens in dealing with predators. You probably know just how good this sense is if you have ever tried walking past a chicken coop in the middle of the night and heard the rooster give out a warning followed by panicked clucks from the chickens.

Chickens enjoy sleeping or “roosting” on higher ground. This is so that predators cannot get them in the wild. A chicken that is higher up the pecking order will get a higher or more comfortable roost. Often the smaller or weaker chickens will go to bed first to reserve a spot in the roost but more often then not there driven away from there stronger brethren. Domesticated chickens don’t like being further away from their coop more then 50 meters. This is because they can only see bigger objects 50 meters away.

Chickens can deal better with colder weather then with hot weather because they can’t sweat. Instead they cool down by dunking there beaks in cold water or flapping there wings to air out there feathers.

A chickens sounds are very important. Roosters crow to both warn the flock of possible danger and also to assert itself dominate over the other chickens. Roosters actually have several types of warning crows to describe where an attacker could becoming from such as from the ground or air. A hen gives off special sounds to lead chicks to food and also give of there clucking when their happy. They also make happy sounds after they laid an egg. So if your ever wondering if your flock is happy just listen and they will tell you. Chicks also chirp until there 3 or 4 months old. They chirp if their lost or comfortable or just chatting with other chicks.

Want to find out more about Chicken Behavior, then visit David Daffae’s site on how to choose the best Chicken Hutch Plans for your needs.