Do chickens and other animals such as cats and dogs have emotions and feelings in the same way as humans do? This is a question people have been asking for centuries and a recent study by The Royal Society gives some insight into this age old question.
I doubt if anyone keeping chickens has given this much thought but anyone that has a cat or dog has probably wondered at some stage about what their pet is thinking when they look adoringly into their owners eyes and sigh loudly as they are having their bellies scratched. Or if they sit by the door and pine for hours waiting for their owners to return after a days work.
Of course, who wouldnt agree that dogs in particular are intelligent animals at some level and regularly demonstrate this in the clever tricks they do and the sometimes remarkable feats dogs have been known to perform on occassion.
But when we are asked to believe a chicken has emotion or a capacity for empathy we could be forgiven for thinking its a step too far, or could we?
A study just published by the Royal Society B: Biological sciences appears to prove that chickens, of all creatures, feel distress and emotional pain just like we do when their young chicks or even their coop-mates are hurt or distressed.
Scientists discovered that when a group of young chicks were caused various levels of 'distress' by directing puffs of air at them for brief periods the mother hen showed signs of distress in response to this in the form of higher levels of alertness, decreased preening activity, increased heart rate and increased vocalisation among other various indicators.
The results of the study, they say, prove positively that adult chickens posses some form of empathy, however primitive it may be.
So if your a chicken keeper or plan on keeping chickens at home at some stage you might want to bear this in mind when taking care of your flock!
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