If you've been around chickens any length of time there's no doubt you've heard someone go on and on about how smart their chickens are. Some people have trained their chickens to come when called, do tricks and even run obstacle courses. You've probably also heard someone complaining about how stupid their chickens are. So, which is it?

Personally, I have chickens that come when called and know their own names. Most flocks that free range are coop trained to come back at night. If nothing else, almost all chickens learn what the treat bag looks like or know what door you come out when you have treats and come running when they see you.

Everyone with backyard chickens and a garden will tell you how chickens are smart enough to see what's in the garden and plot how to get to it by going over, under or even through the fencing. That takes a bit of reasoning, or maybe a whole lot of trial and error...either way, it's not stupid!

How smart are chickens?

Studies have been done on just how much chickens can comprehend, reason and communicate with each other and the shocking result is...chickens are about as smart as a 4 year old child.

What?

It's true. According to Psychology Today, chickens:

• Have basic arithmetic capacities
• Can demonstrate self-control and self-assessment 
• Perceive time intervals and may be able to anticipate future events
• Have complex negative and positive emotions

This is sad news for those of us that have taken a chick or two away from a mama hen and said "chickens can't count" because apparently, they can! This study conducted in Italy shows that chicks can count and keep track of numbers of objects. They repeatedly choose the larger number of objects even after researchers shuffled the objects and hid them behind screens.

Thinking skills of chickens

According to the Humane Society of The United States, chickens also have good memories and can remember people, places and things even after months apart. The can also plan ahead and take into account prior experience when confronted with any situation.

Now the argument can be made that chickens are simply motivated by food. Many of the studies done have used treats as a reward so that wouldn't be entirely wrong. However, that is the same way we train dogs, cats and other animals so it's not an uncommon practice. The fact that they recognize the reward for their effort and anticipate it does say a bit about their intelligence level. 

This picture above is of my olive egger Sally investigating the freshly plowed garden. She is 8 years old and the oldest chicken we have. For the last 6 years of her life we have used the tractor to plow the garden. We do this twice a year. So approximately a dozen times in her life this has happened and she remembers that as soon as the tractor goes into the garden, the best bugs will be right behind it. 

She does this every year! (here's a picture from this year on Instagram) Obviously chickens can remember events and anticipate consequences if she can recall this and act on it each time.

Now you could say that she and the other chickens just learned that the tractor equals good bugs and that would make sense. Except, they never follow the tractor into the woods or anywhere else around the property. They don't care when it's digging post holes, plowing snow or grinding stumps. They only run to it when it's in the garden.

What about stupid chickens?

Of course we've all met a chicken or two that aren't particularly intelligent so this might not sound entirely correct. Enough people think that chickens are stupid that they must have gotten that idea somewhere, right? I surmise that the variety of intelligence levels are the same across all species. You get some bright bulbs and some on the complete other end of the spectrum. 

All poultry are not the same! Guinea fowl are pretty well known for their lack of intelligence while Emu's are known to be smart and inquisitive. Oh, and cartoon chickens like Hei Hei certainly don't help the dumb chicken stereotype! 

I'm curious as to what your experience has been. Are you're chickens a shining example of poultry intelligence, or are they the dimmest bulb in the chandelier? Do they anticipate your movements, or know what the treat bucket looks like? How do you feel about chickens being as smart as a 4 year old?

~L 
   
Now that you know how smart chickens are....you'll also want to know How Long Do Chickens Live? 

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