Chickens are social animals with unique personalities: Chickens are very social creatures, having the ability to distinguish between more than 100 faces of their species. They also have a distinct “pecking order” that is maintained and hardly challenged, which usually correlates with their personality. And despite their small size, they have the mental capacity to complete various different mental tasks such as learning from each other and passing down cultural knowledge.
In one study, Bristol University researchers found that hens would often teach their offspring prior learned knowledge. The study involved feeding the hens a mixture of yellow and blue kernels. The yellow kernels were normal and unchanged, while the blue were coated with a chemical that made the chickens feel sick. Hens very quickly learned to stay away from the blue kernels. After hatching their own chicks, the mother hens would steer the chicks away from the blue kernels, always pushing them towards the yellow.
I have enjoyed watching my bantam teach her chick how to drink, what to eat and even learning a warning call to hide. Hen is now calling the chick to use her new wings to fly up to the perching bars. Amazing. When you get a batch of chicks, you don’t get to see this wonder! (ps. this was an unexpected hatching so the two reside currently in the garage during our freezing months. what fun!)
My chickens used to eat mice quite voraciously. Then I got a couple of kittens, and while learning to hunt they caught some shrews. They didn’t eat them, which was good since shrews are toxic to cats, so I threw the carcasses to the chickens. However, it seems that they are not good for chickens either, and the chickens not only stopped eating the shrews, but also started avoiding mice and other rodents. That was more than 15 years ago now, and none of the chickens who had the bad experience with the shrews is still with me, and I have added chickens from other sources, but still none of my chickens will eat a mouse.
How interesting!