How to Speak Chicken

This book is dedicated to my husband, Peter, who is continually encouraging me to spread my wings.

Contents

Preface

1. Chicken Translator at Your Service Understanding What Your Chickens Are Saying

2. How to Behave in the Henhouse Rules, Etiquette, and Social Graces

3. What Makes a Chicken Tick? Looking Past the Feathers

4. Hey, I am no Birdbrain! Understanding Chicken Smarts

5. How Do You Feel? The Emotional Life of Chickens

For Further Reading

Acknowledgments

Image Credits

Become a Bird Brainiac with More Books from Storey

Copyright

Share Your Experience!

Preface

The things you are passionate about are not random, they are your calling.

Fabienne Frederickson, author of Embrace Your Magnificence

What started out as a journey to teach my children about sustainability and responsibility, while providing our family with fresh eggs from our own backyard, has turned into something magical. If you are a backyard chicken keeper like me, you absolutely love your flock. We spend countless hours outside with our girls and can't wait to get home from work and school to be with them. Over the years, I have tried to see my flock through both the heart of a mother and the magnifying glass of a scientist. In that time, I have developed such close bonds with my chickens that I believe I have been accepted into their fascinating world.

Long before I dreamed of owning chickens, I trained as a nurse practitioner, studying sociology, anthropology, psychology, and biology. Learning about interpersonal relationships, culture, language, and societal roles in the melting pot of Los Angeles opened my eyes to the world. At the age of 20, I had no idea that my skills in understanding cultures and my respect for those who are different from me would come in handy in a chicken coop on Cape Cod.

Scientists use many tools and methods to research flock dynamics, including vocalization playbacks, video recordings, 3D animation, wireless backpack microphones worn by chickens as they interact, and even robotic chickens! I don't have any of these sophisticated research tools, but with an open mind and an open heart, I have come to many of the same conclusions as the scientists simply by spending time with my flock and paying close attention to them. And I might have an advantage over the scientists in knowing my hens so well — I believe they have made me an honorary flock member.

This book is a culmination of my experiences in keeping chickens, which have allowed me to gain insight into their communication, body language, intelligence, social interactions, emotions, and problem-solving abilities. I am here to tell you that they are clearly not "birdbrains," and I invite you on a journey to explore how their minds, bodies, and emotions work. Their world is pretty amazing!

I encourage you to take the time to watch and listen to your chickens chattering as things are happening. Repeat what you hear back to them and watch their response. At first some will stop in their tracks, and like dogs, cock their heads from side to side as they stare at you with their intense chicken eyes. They're surprised that you can speak chicken! Keep on copying them. Repeat the sounds they make as you open the coop, listen to what they say when you throw out scratch, follow them around the yard as they explore, and even follow them into the coop to say good night. Repeat the coos and clucks and buk-gaws, and before you know it, you too will be fluent in chicken speak. Who knows, you might even find out that you have a chicken name!

1

Chicken Translator at Your Service

Understanding What Your Chickens Are Saying

Humans often communicate without words: we use our eyes, ­gestures, facial expressions, and body language. Chickens use most of these, but they have also more than two dozen different vocalizations. These calls include ones relating to territory, mating, distress, danger, fear, happiness, discovery of food, and nesting.

Contrary to what one may hear from the industry, chickens are not mindless, simple automata but are complex behaviorally, do quite well in learning, show a rich social organization, and have a diverse repertoire of calls. Anyone who has kept barnyard chickens also recognizes their significant differences in personality.

Dr. Bernard Rollin, author of Farm Animal Welfare

It is said that if you want to really learn a language, you should move to a place where that language is spoken. To learn to communicate better with my chickens, I simply took a small stool out to the flock and perched with them, day after day, quietly paying attention and noting their interactions. Over the course of their lives, I take the time to get to know each one as an individual. Some seem to enjoy hanging out with people, while others keep to themselves unless treats are being offered, but they all "talk." I learned by emulating their coos, clucks, and squawks, paying careful attention to the intonations. It must be a bit like learning Mandarin Chinese, where different inflections give the same word or sound different meanings!

Animals speak volumes if you take the time to listen.

In the Beginning: Baby Talk

Mother hens communicate with their chicks via clucks and squawks, even when they are still nestled in their eggs. It starts with the chicks. Twenty-four hours prior to hatching, a peeping sound, also known as "clicking," is heard from within the egg. This sound serves as communication to the mother hen from the babies, as well as among the chicks. As the hen answers back, the peeps inform her how long to stay on the nest and how many babies to expect.

Once the chicks have hatched, the mother watches over her babies, teaching them where to find food and what things are good to eat. She alerts them to danger and guides them to safety. She gathers her brood into the warmth of her downy feathers with a special call.

Hens are very caring and nurturing to their young. In one study, researchers used puffs of air to "irritate" newly hatched chicks. You can imagine the mother hen's response. She was not happy! Even though she herself did not mind being puffed with the air, when her chicks were upset, she became upset as well.

While the chicks are still nestled in their eggs, the broody mother talks to them. I can only imagine she is bonding with them via her quiet coos, clucks, and mutterings. She is their first cheerleader in life.

Brooder Vocabulary Primer

Until about 14 weeks of age, chicks have a specific language consisting of peeps, cheeps, and pleasure trills of varying tones and volume. These sounds are used only by chicks. I believe that hens understand their chicks, but they do not use or mimic sounds made by the chicks. This early language can represent feelings of happiness, danger, or comfort. Whether the chicks are hatched by their mother or in an incubator, this chick language is universal.

1. Pleasure TrillsChicks primarily make this contented purring noise as they fall asleep. (Think of a happy cat.)
2. Sweet PeepsThese are the soft sounds of casual conversation as the chicks busily explore their surroundings and learn about the world.
3. Discovery PeepsExcited, repetitive chirps mean "Look what I found!" At the same time, the chick is probably trying to keep her siblings from stealing her find, which is usually a tasty morsel.
4. Distress PeepsLoud, strong, continuous peeps can indicate pain, stress, or an alert to the others that something is wrong. You'll hear them when chicks are scooped up from the brooder, separated from their flockmates, can't find their mother, or are feeling cold.

All about the Crowing

When your chicks are about eight weeks old, you might be surprised by a very pathetic sound coming from the brooder early one morning — like someone clearing his throat while trying to shout. This is the sound of a young rooster (cockerel) trying to crow for the first time. If you are lucky enough to see him, he puts every ounce into this effort, digging deep to make the sound while standing tall, puffing out his chest, and channeling the crow from the tips of his tail feathers to his vocal chords.

If there is more than one cockerel in the flock, it is common for those below the head cockerel not to crow or openly mate with the young hens (pullets). When a group of roosters are raised together, the dominant male is determined early. They coexist peacefully, with the subordinate roos "flying under the radar" (sometimes even from the keeper!). The other roosters will usually only assert themselves and show their male characteristics once the dominant rooster leaves the flock.

As I always tell fellow chicken keepers, you cannot fully determine if a chicken is a rooster or hen until he crows or she lays an egg. Some breeds are trickier than others.

Growing Up: Looking at Body Language

In addition to having a vocabulary, chickens have nonverbal methods of communication.

1. PeckingThe beak is the best tool that chickens have. Chickens use their beaks for the same reason we use our hands: for communication, protection, exploring, eating, grooming, and so many other day-to-day activities.