Facts About Chickens To Ruffle Your Feathers

Let’s discuss some pretty interesting facts about chickens. Chickens are complex creatures filled with emotion and are quite protective of their young chicks plus they are basically the modern interpretation of a dinosaur. Pretty awesome, Let’s learn more!

A mother hen turns her eggs about 50 times per day.
Hens teach sounds to their chicks while they are still in the egg.
There are more chickens on earth than people – 25 billion. There are also more chickens than any other bird species.
Chickens can remember over 100 different faces of people or animals.
Chickens love to play, run, skip and flap their wings. They also enjoy sunbathing.
Chickens were domesticated in Southern China around 8,000 years ago in 6000 B.C.
The colour of the egg depends on the chicken’s earlobes. Red ear lobed chickens lay brown eggs, while white ear lobed chickens lay white eggs.
Chickens can taste saltiness, but not sweetness.
The earliest known printing of the joke “Why did the chicken cross the road?” was in 1847 in a New York Magazine.
There’s a rare breed of chicken from Indonesia that is completely black including the feathers, beak, and organs, due to hyperpigmentation.
There’s a wild mushroom called a Laetiporus that tastes nearly the same as chicken. It is sometimes called the “fried chicken mushroom.”
The cognitive skills of chickens are similarly high to those of a dog or cat.
Chickens have prehistoric roots and are the closest living relative of the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
The fear of chickens is called Alektorophobia.
Chickens are able to distinguish colours. They also see ultraviolet light and iridescent hues. Their world looks more colourful than ours.
Chickens can see and dream in full colour.
Chickens understand that when an object is taken away and hidden, it still exists.
Chickens have their own unique language with over 30 different sounds used to communicate.
In order to clean themselves, chickens take dust baths. They dig a small pit in the ground and use the dirt to help with the oil in their feathers.
A chicken’s heart beats from 220 to 360 times per minute.
In order to attract hens, roosters will do a dance called “tidbitting” involving moving their head up and down, waddling, and making certain sounds.
Chickens have three eyelids.
Chickens can show empathy.
Chickens can be hypnotised.