The intelligence of hens has been documented many times. They can solve complex problems, understand cause and effect, they have memory and can plan for the future.
Studies show that hens sense and empathize when their young or other hens are in distress or in danger, regardless of distance. (Edgar et al., 2011)
Hens are overprotective of their young. Mother hens begin to train them while the chicks are still inside the eggs, communicating with them through vocalizations and purrs, and chicks respond with titters. Later, mother hen teaches them what is safe to eat and what is not.
Chickens also learn from personal experience. If they are given plain grains and grains of another colour with an anti-inflammatory substance, they perceive the effect of the substance and when they have a wound, they will selectively consume the anti-inflammatory. (Danbury et al., 2000)
When a hen acquires a knowledge or a behaviour, this behaviour is spread and copied by all hens throughout the coop or the unit. In experimental conditions, it was recorded that hens can also learn behaviors from a screen. (PMAF, n.d.)
Two days after they are born, chickens are already able to mentally calculate quantities of up to 5 objects. In addition, they understand the “permanence of objects”, i.e. that objects continue to exist even when they are not in their field of vision, a skill they perfect as they grow older.
Hens are able to distinguish, between two photographs, the one which pictures the hen they know, even if the photograph shows the animal at a younger age or only part of its body. (Domken & Zayan, 1998)
They have a strict social hierarchy (pecking order), with some animals dominating over others. Subordinate chickens mimic the behaviour of the dominant one.
They use a rich array of sophisticated vocalizations to communicate with each other, with over 30 calls and warnings, each with a different meaning. Warning for danger coming from above is different from warning for a land threat. Scientists compare their communication
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