Interesting facts about stuffed chicken. A collection of the most interesting facts about the inhabitants of the chicken coop. The intellectual abilities of chickens are greatly underestimated: it turns out that they have a full-fledged language, can count and feel; they are also extremely picky about

In our material today we will show interesting facts about chickens. The moment comes, and the thought is born in my head: “Shouldn’t I get chickens...?” This is understandable; a rural farmstead and chickens are difficult to separate concepts.

But contrary to the generally accepted opinion that in raising chickens everything is extremely simple and built on the principle of “throwing a handful of grain and taking away the eggs,” there are many facets, each of which has its own reflection of the positive and negative aspects chicken farming

We will try to avoid such popular aspects in chicken breeding as feeding, keeping or breeding, and let’s pay a little attention to chickens as representatives of the avian class, with their own character and characteristics.

Chickens are not nearly as stupid as is commonly believed

Of course, no one would call them smart, but the famous expression “chicken brains” is not entirely fair. Science has established that a chicken can count from the first hours of birth, and its level of development exceeds that of a one-year-old child.

Demonstrates a complex of skills and reflexes that are only available to a child in three years old. Despite the fact that its brain is somewhat simpler than that of any mammal, it is capable of:

• remember more than 100 faces;
• distinguish the owner from other people from more than 10 meters away;
• good sense of time;
• easy to learn.

She remembers her home very well, and the time when she will be fed. If you remove a chicken from , it will be remembered for several days and will be accepted back when returned.

A rooster is needed for more than just raising chickens.

Chickens are capable of laying eggs without, of course, in this case there is no point in waiting for chicks. But very rarely they talk about the role of the rooster in social structure chicken society. But he is at the head of a complex hierarchical system that has been established in the chicken coop and performs many leadership and organizational functions:

• controls whether all the chickens woke up in the morning (however, under his control, not only chickens wake up);
• calls for food;
• prevents conflicts;
• invites chickens to;
• protects against attacks from small ones.

Due to its genetically predetermined cockiness, a rooster can enter into an unequal fight with a larger rival, for example, a neighbor's dog or its own owner.

Chickens are different from each other

Yes, imagine, they are different, not only in color, but also in character. Of course, it is impossible to compare a phlegmatic brahma and an active representative of the breed, but even within the breed group, any chicken is distinguished by a certain set of habits, temperament or habits.

Just like any domestic animal, they can be curious, cunning, aggressive, can be tame and happily sit on their owner’s shoulder, if, of course, they manage to fly there.

Chickens are very noisy birds

It is generally accepted that the noisiest birds are geese. Indeed, chickens are much “silent” and cluck exclusively for some reason. But the fact is that these reasons are very diverse and appear with enviable frequency, and if you consider that the chicken, as a rule, is not alone, then the owner will be informed about everything that happened in the chicken coop and in the visible space of the yard.

Chickens have many reasons to make noise:

• I really want to lay an egg, but the nest is occupied...;
• Hurray, she laid an egg!;
• the owner passed by;
• a neighbor's dog ran in;
• let's go here - there are so many tasty things here... (as a rule, this sound is made by a rooster), etc.

The sounds can be very loud and often, picked up by the entire team, are heard for a long time. Even the quiet sound made by each hen in the flock turns into a monotonous hubbub.

However, the clucking of chickens can speak not only about events in their lives, but also signal the owner about the health of the pets, since silence in the chicken coop is a clear sign of the ill health of its inhabitants.

You can get attached to chickens

This especially threatens those who raise chickens from day-old chicks, and even more so those who “hatch” them with their own hands. During the growing process, you have to observe their behavior, perhaps treat or resolve conflicts, and you involuntarily remember each chicken “by sight.”

Ultimately, the chicken begins to be equated with a domestic animal, which, of course, does not purr, but does lay eggs. If we also take into account the facts about chickens that they recognize their owner and even meet him, it is difficult to see them solely as a source of food.

This situation does not threaten owners of more than 100 heads, since in such a quantity it becomes difficult to identify any specific individual.

Chickens are addictive

It may sound strange, but more than one person has fallen into this “addiction”. It all starts with five hens and a rooster, and ends with an incubator for eighty eggs and a large sectional chicken coop for 200 birds.

At the same time, the breeder’s appetites usually grow exponentially, and breeding is no longer limited to the existing breed. The choice today is huge, and appetite, as they say, comes with eating.

Therefore, by the time the breeder decides which breed satisfies its indicators (weight gain or early maturity), a countless number of chickens will be bred and a substantial flock will be raised.

Chickens love to dig

Such facts about chickens should never be forgotten, because the slightest loss of vigilance of the owner can lead to irreparable losses of the crop. Chickens are capable of destroying vegetation over fairly large areas and in a fairly short time.

The reason for this is genes, obeying the call of which, chickens begin to look for “delicious things”, digging up potato or strawberry beds. In addition, the tops of the potatoes themselves may also seem “delicious”.

And there may also be an irresistible desire to dig a hole in an already destroyed bed and “swim” in it for a long time with pleasure, scattering earth around.

Chickens lay eggs of different sizes

Don't expect factory-size eggs from your chickens. Moreover, the eggs at the factory are also not the same. Eggs that have passed the calibration end up on the counter, and unqualified ones are processed, for example, into egg powder or chicken feed. To receive most eggs of the same weight and correct shape, it is necessary to follow many rules when keeping chickens:

• balanced feeding;
• light mode;
• temperature regime;
• uniformity of livestock in terms of weight and age.

As a rule, it is quite difficult to adhere to such a framework at home, and it is not really necessary. After all, the size of an egg does not affect its taste in any way.

Chickens don't lay eggs every day

The egg production cycle of each chicken is individual and depends both on the conditions of detention and on the qualities determined by the breed.

The maturation time of an egg in the body of a laying hen takes about 25 hours, and the development of each subsequent egg occurs a certain time after the laying of the previous one, as a result, the time of laying shifts by more every day late date and the day comes when the egg does not mature.

In meat breed chickens, this cycle is longer than in crosses, which were selected to minimize the egg maturation time, even at the cost of losing its qualities.

Chickens are very entertaining creatures; they create a unique atmosphere in a rural farmstead, enlivening and decorating it. And like any Living being, require careful attention to yourself. Creation necessary conditions for their maintenance will more than pay for itself with delicious eggs and big amount positive emotions.

Usually we perceive chickens and roosters as domestic animals, which do not stand out with any individual characteristics. It seems that there is simply nothing interesting in them, is this really so?

As it turns out, hens and roosters can rightfully be called highly intelligent. There are a lot of jokes about the stupidity of chickens, but in reality this is all a real myth. Hens and cockerels cannot be called stupid creatures. Why did this become known? Scientists have found that chickens have emotional intellect together with well-developed empathy. Moreover, not all people have this quality. This quality is inherent only to those who have good thinking abilities. Thanks to this, chickens easily analyze and remember all the external characteristics of surrounding creatures. They easily remember about 100 people and later recognize them by their gait, voice and even appearance. They can also retain the experience of communication in memory. It turns out that they can consciously be afraid of those who have already hurt them. On the contrary, they recognize those who were kind to them and welcome them cordially.

Rats cannot be called harmless little animals; they are real pests that can carry terrible diseases,

The ancient farmer quickly appreciated the excellent commercial and taste qualities of chickens, which, moreover, could not periodically fly to warmer climes, and began to actively “master” them. This process has gone so far that, according to impartial statistics, today chickens confidently hold the palm among all domestic animals in terms of the number of individuals raised for human food.

It can be assumed that humanity, in order not to feel unnecessary remorse at the sight of thousands and thousands of chicken carcasses in the slaughterhouse and not to spoil its appetite from thoughts of cruel treatment of corydalis, convinced itself that chickens, so to speak, do not have a special mind, very grumpy and uninterested in many things. Well, to alleviate the feeling of mental discomfort.

However, many scientists argue that not everything is so simple with the intelligence of chickens and their natural abilities. Anyway, don't underestimate mental capacity these domestic birds, as evidenced by most of the interesting facts about chickens given here.

Excellent memory

Chickens, it turns out, are able to distinguish more than a hundred members of their species and remember for a long time “by sight” of relatives in their flock. Experts guarantee that if one of the laying hens is temporarily (say, a few days) removed from its native chicken coop, then upon its return the chicken collective will welcome it with open wings. Didn’t you know that in terms of this ability, an ordinary pockmarked chicken can easily compete with elephants?

Chickens appear to be able to distinguish between more than a hundred members of their species.

Relationship with dinosaurs

Chickens have full-color vision - just like humans! Some experts explain this feature...the relationship between chickens and dinosaurs. Since those distant times when most mammals lived night image life, lizards evolved into birds, and at the same time they were never nocturnal animals. That is why, scientists say, modern chickens, which only vaguely and very schematically resemble formidable reptiles, are endowed with good color vision.

Chickens have full-color vision

Sociable birds

Chickens are able to “tell” each other about what they see in front of them. For humans, such “conversation” is perceived as an incoherent series of clucking and simple beak clicks. However, experts call this entire set of sounds “the language of communication.” Our birds have already recorded more than 24 different voices, which are very important for their life, safety and comfort. Chickens are able to clearly and timely notify their relatives about the appearance of dangerous predators, about delicious food or a comfortable place to relax...

Chickens are able to “tell” each other about what they see in front of them

They feel the pain

Chickens have well-developed pain receptors. This circumstance makes them very sensitive to pain and various physical sufferings. One can only imagine how painful it is for them when, on modern poultry farms, chickens are beaked using an infrared laser, without painkillers.

Chickens have well-developed pain receptors

Wonderful parents

Adult chickens extremely aggressively and very selflessly protect their chicks from ruthless predators. And in general, they love their cubs very much - they miss the chicks when the babies are isolated from the family for some reason, they worry when they see that the chicks are unwell, and they fall into severe depression if the offspring die. So when someone calls you "chicken" as an insult, you know how to respond to your offender.

Adult chickens extremely aggressively and very selflessly protect their chicks

Noisy creatures

Chickens, and especially young chickens, are very noisy poultry. They love to run, jump, chatter, and sunbathe when given the opportunity. There are a huge number of reasons why a real commotion can arise in a chicken coop “from scratch” - starting with the appearance of a stranger in the poultry house, undivided feed and ending with the solemn announcement “I’m finally laid!” Meanwhile, millions and millions of birds on modern poultry farms spend their entire lives in cramped poultry houses, the area of ​​which is barely larger than a sheet of A4 paper.

Chickens, and especially young chickens, are very noisy poultry.

And dreamers!

Domestic chickens are capable of... dreaming. Yes, yes, just like people. How was this installed? Very simply - based on such a factor as “rapid eye movement”. It turns out that the REM phase, or the so-called. “REM sleep”, characteristic of both humans and chickens, indicates an increased degree of brain activity. Thus, we can assume with a high degree of confidence that when a young chicken sleeps, in his dreams he is carried away somewhere far, far away from the four walls of the disgusted poultry house-prison.

Domestic chickens are capable of... dreaming

Swallow grass

Do you know how chickens eat grass? They simply swallow it completely artlessly, like a person does with spaghetti. Yes, you read that absolutely right!

Do you know how chickens eat grass?

Wild and domestic individuals lay eggs differently

Wild chickens and domestic chickens lay eggs differently. The former, for example, during their breeding season lay only 10 to 15 eggs per year. A completely different matter is domesticated laying hens, which have to lay eggs in industrial scale. Such birds, thanks to certain selection, lay eggs almost every day. Moreover, such intensity in egg production (which, by the way, depends on many factors, including the breed of the pockmarked fish) generally has a rather negative effect on the health of the birds, since their natural reproductive properties are disrupted, and the ability to regularly lay eggs is depleted after just a few years.

Wild chickens and domestic chickens lay eggs differently

They are smarter than human children

Research by scientists has shown that chickens are most likely smarter than human children. In any case, research confidently demonstrates the ability of popular domestic birds to have mathematical talents, their self-control and even a predisposition to primary construction skills.

Scientists have shown that chickens are likely smarter than human children.

Social hierarchy

Chickens usually know who among them is the real boss. Just like people, they form in their herd certain social groups and structures, strictly subordinate to the established generally accepted hierarchy. And at the same time, all chickens know their place on this social “ladder”. However, all of them social hierarchy completely collapses when thousands and tens of thousands of unfortunate birds find themselves imprisoned in cages in intensive poultry farms industrial production. As a result, birds, under the influence of constant stress, begin to fiercely fight each other, peck and peck their own kind to death, as a result of which cases of real cannibalism are not uncommon among chickens.

Chickens usually know who among them is the real boss

Vulnerable

Chickens, according to some researchers, feel extremely vulnerable when they find themselves on open artificial pastures. It turns out that the whole point is that initially in wildlife they lived in dense tropical forests, where it was easy to hide from predators. All this ended either 7 thousand or 3 thousand years ago, either in African Ethiopia, or in South-East Asia(scientists are still arguing about all this) when man finally domesticated these cute wild creatures. By the way, according to one version, not because of the tasty, easily digestible meat, but for conducting brutal cockfights.

Chickens, according to some researchers, feel extremely vulnerable when they find themselves on open artificial pastures

Not so easy to deal with predators

Scientists' studies show that chickens survive attacks from predators 90% of the time if they live in natural environment. By the way, there are a number of cases where chickens that survived an attack by predators lived for several days and even months... without a head! Unbelievable but true.

Scientists' studies show that chickens survive attacks from predators in 90% of cases.

Close relatives...tyrannosaurs

Chickens are the closest thing now existing species animals are relatives of the terrible tyrannosaurus dinosaurs, which became extinct millions of years ago. Some scientists see this relationship not only in the similarity in habits, but also in the minimal number of genetic changes that chickens, in comparison with other birds, have undergone on the path of evolution from ferocious lizards. Fortunately, the feathered heroes of our story are clearly not as scary as their toothy ancestors.

Chickens are the closest existing animal species to the terrible tyrannosaurus dinosaurs.

Roosters are extremely loving

The loving nature of roosters, which play a dominant role in the hierarchical system of the chicken community, is well known. It is also known that the process of persistent courtship of ardent males is necessarily accompanied by a specific dance, which English poultry farmers call “tidbitting,” which can be roughly translated as “offering a tidbit.” At the same time, the rooster, in a fit of love passion, shakes his head, moves his body up and down, thus attracting the attention of the hen and encouraging her to reciprocate. And if the rooster has a large enough comb, then he is guaranteed preference among other roosters.

The loving nature of roosters, which play a dominant role in the hierarchical system of the chicken community, is well known

Development of abstract thinking

Chickens - both adults and yellowthroat chicks - demonstrate excellent memory, observation and, as a result, fully developed abstract thinking. If, of course, you can say that about “stupid” chickens. In any case, they are quite capable of understanding that the object that they have already seen and which was then hidden from them must still exist somewhere. By the way, even small children do not have this ability.

Chickens - both adults and yellowthroat chicks - demonstrate excellent memory

Communicate with embryos

Mother hens, according to zoological scientists, while incubating future chicks, slowly communicate with the embryos in the eggs, and unborn chicks clearly respond to their mothers several days before hatching. But this happens either in natural nature, or in a quiet village courtyard. Chickens born in a factory incubator are deprived of the opportunity not only to communicate with the hen before their birth, but also to ever meet their parents - after all, the egg is taken away immediately as soon as the hen lays it.

Mother hens, according to zoological scientists, quietly communicate with the embryos while hatching future chicks

Sun worshipers

Chickens are true sun worshipers. They are constantly moving around sun rays, navigating by the sun in search of food and water. A level sunlight lets the birds know about the time - is it time to go to bed? However, most chickens raised as a source delicious meat and nutritious eggs, almost never see the sun, sitting in their dark, windowless poultry houses.

Chickens are real sun worshipers

Dust bath fans

All chickens, without exception, love dust baths.

Day 42...

Wild chickens in their natural habitat are known to live between 5 and 11 years. Chickens raised in poultry farms for meat are most often slaughtered on the 42nd day of life. For birds kept on farms or in yards using the “free range” method, this period increases to 56 days. The worst situation is for male chicks born on egg farms - they are usually killed as soon as they are born.

Wild chickens in their natural habitat are known to live from 5 to 11 years

And one more interesting fact about chickens - they are simply delicious! But, unfortunately, these beautiful, intelligent and emotional birds very often have to live in appalling conditions before they get to the human table.

Well, have you lost your appetite yet?

Chickens are the largest population of living organisms. And no wonder, because every day the world absorbs millions of tones of tender chicken meat. It’s unlikely, of course, that any of us think about poultry when we eat a chicken chop. However, we hope that for many, chicken is of more than just gastronomic interest. For such inquisitive people, a selection of interesting facts about chickens has been created.

About the number

But their approximate number is neither more nor less - 19 billion individuals. And this is three times the number of people, so we can say that there are three chickens for every person! In second place, with a significant lag behind chickens, is large cattle, which amounts to 1.4 billion heads.

Why were chickens domesticated?

According to many scientists and archaeologists, the domestication of chickens was not initially of a gastronomic nature. Note that the first to be domesticated were the Bank jungle fowls, living in Southeast Asia. This happened about 7 thousand years ago. And people became interested in these birds from a gambling point of view - they used them for the notorious cockfights.

That is why it is said that everything modern varieties chickens evolved from fighting breeds that still exist today, as does cockfighting. They are, of course, officially banned in most countries. But it has not yet been possible to completely eradicate the cruel fun, which almost always ends in the death of one of the participants.

About breeds

Chickens have spread well around the world and people have actively started breeding them. Perhaps it was chickens that were crossed with each other and experimented with new breeds more than with all other animals.

As a result, the approximate number of chicken breeds that is now known to science is more than 700. Of these, alas, 32 breeds have already become extinct, and 286 are on the verge of extinction.

Among all this variety of birds there are very interesting specimens. For example, I would like to focus on this unusual breed originally from Indonesia, like Ayam Tsemani. These unusual birds An interesting genetic mutation associated with hyperpigmentation. As a result, chickens of this breed are completely dressed in mourning black.

They have black plumage, skin, crest, legs, eyes. Moreover, they have completely black meat, internal organs and bones. Even their blood is much darker than that of their other relatives.

There is also such an original breed as the Chinese silken chicken. These birds also have non-standard pigmentation; their skin looks bluish or gray, however, this is not their only feature. Silk chickens fully live up to their name. Their plumage lacks the grooves that the feathers of ordinary chickens adhere to. Therefore, it turns out that each feather seems to live its own life.

This makes the plumage of Silk Hens more reminiscent of soft fluff or cat fur, and the bird itself looks like a fluffy ball. But that’s not all: the look of the original chicken is completed by the crest that adorns the head of the interesting bird.

Chicken or egg?

Dilemma: “Who came first: the chicken or the egg?” has more than once become a topic of discussion among both pundits and ordinary people. And neither one nor the other has yet come to a common opinion. The chicken and egg problem is considered the greatest paradox, a question where it is almost impossible to establish a cause-and-effect relationship. Aristotle struggled with the solution to the problem.

He believed that the egg could not be the first, because it had to be laid by birds. At the same time, how can a bird be the first if it itself is born from an egg? Aristotle reached a dead end and settled on the fact that both the egg and the chicken appeared at the same time.

Currently, according to one version, the egg appeared first. A certain oviparous living creature laid an egg, from which the distant ancestor of the modern chicken emerged. And even if this creature did not look much like a chicken, it could have formed germ cells with a significantly different genome, which became the beginning of a new organism.

If we talk specifically about a chicken egg, and not about the egg as a whole as a method of reproduction, then some living creature first turned into the likeness of a chicken, and only then laid its eggs. egg. Be that as it may, the phrase “egg or chicken” has become synonymous with something insoluble and contradictory.

About chickens and dinosaurs

The relationship between domestic chickens and extinct reptiles has been talked about for quite some time. Previously, guesses were only theoretical, based on the similarity in the skeletal structure of these animals. But recently this guess has been confirmed by concrete facts. The fact is that scientists managed to decipher the proteins of the bone tissue of the Royal Tyrannosaurus, which lived on Earth 68 million years ago.

This is surprising, but the bones of the tyrannosaurus preserved remains of soft tissue, from which scientists were able to isolate a small amount of protein.

Analysis of Tyrannosaurus rex proteins proved their similarity to modern chicken proteins. This similarity in the proteins of animals that are separated by many millions of years suggests that Tyrannosaurus meat tasted very similar to the chicken meat we are used to.

It must be said that scientists do not stop there and are looking for new evidence and facts about the relationship between chicken and dinosaur. And now we suggest taking a break from serious topics and look at the beautiful decorative chickens living on the farm of an experienced breeder!

Why can a chicken run around with its head cut off?

Observing a bird that, even having seemingly lost its main organ, continues to show signs of life, is, of course, not very pleasant. However, a chicken can actually live without a head for a few minutes or several months. And this is perhaps the most incredible fact about chickens that you can imagine! The fact is that the death of a bird that has been beheaded occurs due to loss of blood, which quickly leaves the body, flowing from the carotid artery.

If the carotid artery survives, the bird can continue to exist with what is left of its head. The fact is that most of the signals in the chicken body come from the spinal centers. In addition, scientists have proven that it is spinal cord older than the head and previously it was he who was the “commander-in-chief” of the entire organism. Therefore, when the brain is separated from the rest of the body, the spinal cord is quite capable of “replacing” it for some time!

A rooster named Mike became famous throughout the world; after a strange decapitation, he lived for another 18 months. It turns out that the owner, unsuccessfully for himself, but extremely successfully for the rooster, cut off part of his head in such a way that the walls of the carotid artery stuck together, preventing the blood from flowing out and thereby saving the life of the bird! The existence of the rooster, which still had part of the brain stem and one ear, was subsequently maintained artificially by the owner. He introduced food directly into the bird's throat.

Video “Funny hens and chicks”

Our feathered friends can be quite funny and humorous and the video further proves this!

Symbol of 2017 - Red Fire Rooster. This is a poultry that is distinguished by its courage, cheerfulness and good disposition. The rooster has bright feathers, a good voice, special habits and a unique character. However, not only the mythical animal has unique skills, an ordinary rooster is also not as simple as it seems at first glance.

1) How and why roosters crow

A rooster makes many different sounds. For example, when he calls hens to feed, the crowing will be repeated, but the morning crowing is performed once, but longer and for more high frequencies. The higher the pitch, volume and duration of the sound, the stronger the effect that the rooster has on hens and other roosters. The same rooster always crows in the same way. By the way, a rooster cannot crow if he cannot stretch his neck.

A man hears the crow of a rooster two kilometers away.

2) There are black as night roosters and hens

Ayam Chemani is a breed of all-black chickens and roosters from Indonesia. They have a dominant gene that causes hyperpigmentation. Their bones and internal organs are also completely black, even the blood of these birds is much darker.

3) They can live without a head

A rooster named Mike (aka Miracle Mike) lost his head in 1945. But then he lived another 18 months because he still had the base of his brain and one ear. When the farmer noticed that the bird was not dead, he cared for it by feeding it milk and grain through a pipette. Mike gained fame when his owner began showing him all over America and his authenticity was documented. The rooster died only because the owner forgot food and a syringe for cleaning the esophagus at the site of one of the shows.

Many tried to repeat this experience, but no other chicken lived for more than two days.

Roosters and hens can talk. Photo: flickr.com/photos/funzi

4) Roosters and hens can talk

What sounds like clicking or clucking to the human ear is actually real language. Scientists have identified at least 30 different meanings the sounds they make. Chickens can either report that they will “lay an egg” or “there are a lot of worms here - come on!” before calls during the mating season.

5) Roosters and hens have feelings

British ornithologist Joe Edgar discovered the ability of domestic chickens to experience empathy (that is, to empathize with others). It is also known that chickens become sad if they are far from the group.

6) How do roosters attract hens?

Large and hardy roosters have the highest chances of procreation: females understand that they can provide them with a large amount of food. The size, shape and color of the scallop also matters.

7) Chickens and roosters have good level intelligence

They are able to remember the traits of more than 100 chickens or people, so they remember those who treat them badly or well. They have acute (telescopic) vision, characteristic of birds of prey, and in the decision-making process they take into account their experience and their knowledge of the environment. These birds are also capable of arithmetic calculation and distinguish some geometric shapes.

9) Roosters and hens are modern dinosaurs

They are descendants of the Tyrannosaurus rex - one of the most large predators on the ground.

10) The number of domestic chickens exceeds the number of people on the planet

At the same time, in a ratio of 3 to 1.