Read Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens Online
Authors: Gail Damerow
Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens (9 page)
PRECOCIAL PEEPERS |
Chickens, guinea fowl, turkeys, and other barnyard species each has its own distinct vocabulary. So how is it that guinea keets or turkey poults hatched by a chicken hen so readily recognize the hen as mom? |
Any animal that can feed itself almost from the moment of birth is considered |
The chief characteristic of precocial birds is spryness soon after hatching, and as a result they may easily get separated from their mom. They don’t have much time to learn to recognize the sound of her call, which is essential to their survival. |
Another characteristic of precocial birds is that they communicate with their setting-hen mama just before they hatch; the chicks in the shell |
Broody hiss
is a hissing sound, something like the hiss of a snake, made by a setting hen that’s annoyed at having been disturbed on the nest to indicate she’s wary and has her guard up.
Its meaning:
“Stay away.”
A defensive and mistrustful hen puffs out her feathers, growls, and may peck.
Broody growl
is a harsh sound, more serious and intense than a hiss, made by a disrupted hen on the nest. It may also be sounded by a hen with chicks in protest to a cock intent on mating; a low-ranking hen approached by a higher-ranking hen; or any hen on seeing a small, familiar animal such as a cat or rat. The sound is not particularly loud, but it indicates defensiveness and mistrustfulness. It is accompanied by feather ruffling to increase the intimidation and may be accompanied by a peck — for instance to a human hand reaching under the hen to retrieve a fresh egg.
Its meaning:
“Don’t mess with me.”
Singing
is the sound of happy hens. The notes are usually rapidly repeated but are sometimes drawn out. The purpose of singing is likely self-amusement, akin to a human’s humming while doing dishes or singing in the shower. If I linger in the barn after feeding, I am sure to be serenaded by a chorus of cheerfully singing hens.
Its meaning:
“All is well.”
Chickens use a variety of sounds to maintain social contact. The general purpose is likely to ensure flock cohesion and to keep individuals from straying into the jaws or clutches of a predator.
Contentment call
is a low-pitched sound repeated by both cocks and hens when they are safe and comfortable. They make this sound while actively moving around but not intensely foraging. It probably works to keep them in touch with one another so none are left behind as they travel.
Its meaning:
“Let’s stick together.”
Nesting call
is used by a hen looking for a site she feels is suitable for laying eggs. A cock will make a similar, but more intensely excited, sound to show a hen a potential nest site, which might be a gap between bales of straw or a nook behind an opened door. While he gabbles, he nestles into the spot as if he is going to lay an egg himself. A lot of times the cock is ignored, but occasionally a
hen will check out the spot he’s found and create a duet by responding with her own song. The sound is more common to pullets and cockerels but also comes from mature hens that resume laying after a rest period.
Its meaning:
“Here’s a good place to lay an egg.”
Roosting call
is a low-pitched, rapidly repeated sound made at nightfall when chickens are ready to roost. A large flock can make quite a racket, but it doesn’t last long. The function of this call is to ensure that all the chickens roost together for safety’s sake.
Its meaning:
“Let’s sleep here.”
Roosters have a colorful vocabulary covering a wide range of activities. They seem to enjoy being the center of attention, as many of their sounds attract attention to themselves.
Food call
, similar to that of a hen calling her chicks, is used by a cock to call hens to him. He’ll use this excited, rapid
tuck-tuck-tuck
sound to tell the hens he has found something tasty, such as a patch of grain thrown on the ground. He might repeatedly pick up and drop a bug or a piece of fruit, a practice known as
tidbitting
, or hold a piece for a hen to take from his beak. Sometimes a cock will give a less excited food call on encountering feathers and other debris raked together during yard cleanup.
Its meaning:
“Come see what I found.”
Courtship croon
is the low sound a cock makes when he circles a hen while flicking one wing against the ground. Sometimes a cock will attract a hen to himself with the food call, even with no food evident, and when a hen gets near enough, he’ll start the courtship song and dance. Of course, he can’t often be so deceitful or the hens will soon catch on and stop being fooled.
Its meaning:
“Let’s mate.”
Flying object alert
is a sound a cock makes when he sees a high-flying bird or airplane overhead. He makes this sound while turning his head to look upward with one eye. Some of the other chickens may look up to see what he’s looking at.
Its meaning:
“Something’s up there, but it doesn’t look dangerous.”
Startled note
is a short sound a cock makes when startled or surprised. The intensity of the sound varies, or the sound may be repeated, depending on how startled the bird is. The sound might be triggered, for example, by asphalt shingles heaved down by a roofing crew or by any sudden nearby noise that disturbs a rooster at rest.
Its meaning:
“What was that?”
Crowing
is an assertion of maleness. A rooster flapping his wings and stretching his neck in a mighty crow is akin to Tarzan’s beating his chest and shouting out his familiar jungle call. Crowing has so many interesting facets that it has a section all its own later in this chapter.
Its meaning:
“I’m in charge here.”
Cocks and hens use a variety of sounds to warn each other of potential danger. Different sounds are used to distinguish between possible danger and immediate danger and between a predator in the air and one on the ground.
Caution call
consists of a few quick notes briefly repeated, made by a chicken that sees, or thinks it sees, a predator in the distance. A house cat wandering by might trigger this sound. It is not a particularly loud or insistent call and doesn’t last long unless the predator becomes a threat.
Its meaning:
“Keep an eye on that intruder.”
Alarm cackle
is a more insistent caution call announcing the approach of an apparent predator on the ground or perhaps perched in a nearby tree or on a fence post. It consists of a brief series of short, sharp sounds followed by one loud, high-pitched sound.
Kukukukuh-KACK! Kukukuh-KACK!
Other chickens take notice, and some may join the cackling while stretching their necks to get a better look and moving around in an agitated way, as though not quite sure if or where to run. These sounds increase in intensity the longer the assumed predator is in the flock’s sight and may continue after the creature has gone. The same sound may come from a hen that’s been disturbed while on the nest.
Its meaning:
“Danger is near.”
EYEING THE SKY |
The eyes on the sides of a chicken’s head give it a larger range of peripheral vision but a smaller range of binocular vision, compared to birds and other creatures (including humans) with eyes at the front, who focus on objects with both eyes. By contrast, a chicken has a right-eye system and a left-eye system, each with different and complementary capabilities. |
|
The right-eye system works best for activities requiring recognition, such as identifying items of food. The left-eye system works best for activities involving depth perception, which is why a chicken watching an approaching hawk is likely to peer warily at the raptor out of its left eye. |
Air raid
is a loud warning cry made by a cock, or occasionally a hen, that spots the approach of a raptor. While making this sound, the chicken looks up with one eye while flattening its head and tail in a crouch to make itself less conspicuous. Without looking up, the other chickens run for cover. False alarms occasionally occur, but too many false alarms produce the same result as the boy who cried “Wolf!” Although the alarm may be triggered by anything suddenly appearing above — a leaf fluttering down from a tree, a butterfly flitting by, or a windblown feather — chickens don’t sound this alarm every time a tree loses a leaf. Crows, buzzards, and light planes frequently fly over our farm, and our chickens learn to differentiate them from predatory hawks and eagles, although a suddenly appearing falling leaf or passing crow still sometimes triggers an alert.
Its meaning:
“Take cover!”
A chicken that’s been pecked or caught raises a fuss. The noise communicates the bird’s surprise but may also be intended to unnerve the aggressor.
Startled squawk
is a moderately loud cry of pain by a chicken that’s suddenly pecked by another chicken. Depending on the pecked chicken’s temperament, its position in the peck order, and how hard it’s been pecked, the squawk may be shrill or barely audible. I’ve heard a similar brief, loud, single squawk made by a chicken that had been foraging at the edge of a forest and was pounced on by a fox.
Its meaning:
“Ow!”
Distress squawks
are loud, long, repeated sounds made by a chicken that’s been captured and is being carried away, especially if it’s carried upside down by its legs. The squawking may be intended to frighten the aggressor into letting go but also warns other chickens of immediate danger. The other chickens may run and hide, although a courageous cock, or occasionally a hen, may try to rescue the distressed bird by attacking the person or animal carrying it away.
Its meaning:
“Let go!”
Cocks and hens have a larger vocabulary than that outlined in the previous pages. As a general rule, brief, soft, repetitive notes of low frequency are comfort calls. Loud harsh sounds with high frequencies are alarm cries. Harsh sounds emphasizing low frequencies are threats.
An extremely dedicated person with lots of time on his or her hands and skill at imitating sounds (especially speaking other languages) could learn to communicate effectively with chickens on their own terms — I mean apart from
the usual chicken-keeper talk, such as calling
chick, chick, chick
at treat time and having your chickens run over for an anticipated snack.
Once, during a snowstorm, my husband and I discovered a strange cock in our backyard. We had no idea where he came from, but in the snow (which is uncommon here in Tennessee) he had no shelter and could find nothing to eat. We tried to catch him, but he would have nothing to do with us.
At night he huddled in a tree, exposed to the cold wind. Since a cock doesn’t sleep with his head tucked under his wing, like a hen, he must have been pretty miserable. My husband fetched a ladder and tried to get him down from the tree, but the bird flew out of reach, then fluttered to the ground and ran into the dark.