Unsecure chicken perches

[koo2cat]

Hi All

 

We have just been away for 10 days and we sent our chickens to a chicken farm for their own holiday! I just wandered if they have any memory as they seem so delighted to be back home. They keep chattering away and keep running up and down the cube steps to check out the bedroom! Are they really pleased to be home or just interested in a new place?

 

By the way, where they have been staying was very nice too. Large run, nice henhouse although the guy who looked after them said they hated perching on the roosting bar and he had to lift them up every night!

[Space Chick]

I don't question that they have memories

 

I think your babies are glad to be home

[mollyripkim]

When I picked mine up from their last holiday I called to them and they all came running over, I was so chuffed and when we came home their first job is always straight to the wild bird feeders to see whats been splilt. So yes I definitely think they have memories.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I used to keep the mealworms in a high cupboard they could see through the kitchen window - they came running every time I opened the cupboard so they must've remembered the mealworms were in there .

[gongladosh]

Oh yes, and they bear grudges too

 

I'm pretty certain they have good memories. I remember reading somewhere that they have a memory for around 100 faces and can recognise another hen from sight alone (even cats tend to rely on smell to a degree). Ours don't like strangers - they only like those they already know, they can easily recognise my parents as friendly and they've only seen them three times!

[surfer_chicken]

I think so I watched a TV programme where they trained hens to eat out of a treat box- some holes were circle shaped and some stars and they learnt to peck through the star shapes to find treats and that the circle ones were empty boxes. They then left it some time before giving the hens the treat boxes again (about a month I think) and they all went straight for the stars and ignored the circle boxes.

[gongladosh]

It was called 'The private life of chickens'

[sadietoo]

I'd say definitely. Mine remember exactly where the mealworms are, and certainly recognise the water pistol.. never fired these days, all we have to do is show it to them and they are out of the kitchen like a shot

[bouldercroft]

I can call my girls from out of sight and they come running - they don't do this for my hubby...

[lolimac]

Ofcourse they do.....Before i let my girls out of the run for a wander i have to cover up my dogs dishes in the kitchen because before i get back to the house Hilda and May run like the wind to get in the kitchen to them.The other girls don't bother with them but have thier own favorite hideouts....Oh and i can't forget when its time to start the tea because May sits by the oven whilst i'm cooking....

[Sammiboo]

mine recognise the sound of my and OH cars. lots of cars can go past the house but as soon as they hear my OH coming around the corner they make a racket and congregate at the back gate to greet him. happens every day and vice versa if i am home after my OH

[johnandkymberley]

Yup, i think they deffo do, mine know the shed is where food and corn is kept. They stand by the back door waiting for treats, and come to me and H2B if we are outside. They do it for other family members too but there is this man that walks past and talks to them, an old man who loves the hens. They hate him! he shouts them and they run away, they arent too keen on him, its like having rude children!!

[doctors girls]

when mine FR and i go into the garden with anything white in my hand they follow me cause they think its treat time even if it is my cup of tea but the best is when it is time to get them back in the run i have a bear bell and when they are at the bottom of the garden i ring the bell and talk about stampede they would give usain bolt a run for his money

[koo2cat]

I have really enjoyed reading all your posts and I think the conclusion is that yes, they do have memories! I have this sort of clicking noise I make if I want to attract their attention and they haven't forgotten that! They all came running the other day when I did it! Bless them!

[gongladosh]

the other thing of course is that many of them recognise their own names, but more impressively, they name you too!

Some of my hens have their own noise for me, which changes when I'm with my wife.

 

Presumably they have their own noises for each other too!

[Chortle Chook]

Like everyone else here I'd say 'YES' but how long this memory is, I'm not certain.

 

I looked after a friend's three Pekins for about three weeks last summer. After she collected them I didn't see them again for at least a month but when I did they all came running up to me, the minute I called 'Chickies'. I then didn't see them for a couple of months after that, by which time, I think, they had forgotten me.

 

Also I have just visited the two silkies that I gave away a couple of weeks ago. Admittedly these two silkies were not all that tame, but when I called to them this pm, there was no response at all. They turned their heads and then went back to what they were doing. Perhaps they were just hot, but I like to think it is because they have settled into their new home.

[Space Chick]

the other thing of course is that many of them recognise their own names, but more impressively, they name you too!

Some of my hens have their own noise for me, which changes when I'm with my wife.

 

Presumably they have their own noises for each other too!

 

I'm sooo glad you said this

 

Peri has a "chat" that she only has for my OH, they have "conversations"

 

And when I say "oh Dorothea" when she shouts, she always looks up at me she KNOWS her name

[lolimac]

Now this is going to sound really bonkers but i don't care.....

I know we shouldn't have favorites but my oldie May is such a cutie...when i call to her she comes running/wobbleing to me and when i say "hello girlie" it really does sound like she says hello back to me....and no i haven't been on the whiskey....not yet anyway !!!!