Did you know: The chicken is the closest living relative to the Tyrannosaurus Rex?
My chickens are free-range, of course. I assume everyone who is lucky enough to be able to keep chickens as pets lets them range. By free-range I mean, I have 20 birds total, and they have an acre to roam. This is true free-range, and they spend most of their day sunning, taking dustbaths, playing, and foraging for food. The chicken, in general, cannot stand close quarters for long. Mine stay in the coops at night, but at the first sign of day, they become quite anxious to be let out… they know there's digging and scratching to do, bugs to eat, and the daylight's burning!
Chickens are very much creatures of habit, routine is crucial to them. If their routine is upset in any way, they become most distressed. They are very expressive animals, having many different sounds and calls for different situations; for example, the roosters will call out to hens in a series of small fussy clucks if there is some tasty morsel available; they will growl or whistle if a hawk flies overhead; they will even give a few short, pleasant clucks when they see me arrive. ...Not sure if they're saying hi to me, or if they're letting the others know, hey, the lady who brings the treats just showed up...either way, they are most expressive and sensitive birds. There are individual and distinctive variations in self-expression from bird to bird, too, in other words, each chicken has his or her own style.
King of our flock, 2 year old rooster
Hannah
Check out this informative study on the little-known language of chickens here.
It's hard to really understand or appreciate how diverse and intelligent these birds are, until you live with them. I had no idea how expressive and sensitive they are, or how highly developed their social structure is, until I began keeping my own backyard flock. They have good memories and are capable of learning.
