Are your chickens smarter than you?

[Love Donkeys]

My free-range chickens kept coming up on the back porch and pecking at the door looking for treats. Their pecking sounded like someone knocking on the door. They would leave smelly piles while they impatiently waited. I decided to put an end to their shenanigans and take back my porch.

I covered the existing railings with orange plastic mesh and put new railings on the stairs. They crawled under the railings. I fabricated a fancy chicken barrier below the new railings. I put up a gate at the beginning of the steps. They crawled under it. I lowered the gate. They crawled between the openings of the steps. I cut cattle panel and secured it to the back of the open steps. The whole time I was working on the chicken proof project there was always a few chickens watching. My husband said they were taking notes. After two weeks of building and modify my chickens are finial behaving themselves and staying off the porch.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

The short answer is - absolutely.
They are smart with a good memory and knowledge which comes from a million years of ingrained instinct.

 

[GlicksChicks]

I don't know if I would say smarter- they are just closer to the gaps that they sneak through, so they know their limits better than we do.

I would say they know more about what they can/can't do than we know of what they can/can't do.

I would say that judging by all the not smart things they do, they are not smarter than us. They eat pieces of metal, get their heads caught in things and accidentally hang themselves, they get horrified when I move a piece of wood near them.

Being self aware does not mean smarter.

 

[wrathsfarm]

I personally think your chickens are in the coop tonight with flashlights, a white board and a layout schematic of your porch (remember the note taking?)

Tomorrow, if you hear the 'Mission Impossible' theme song followed by pecking on your door?
Handover the treats and back away 'slowly'....

 

[GlicksChicks]

I personally think your chickens are in the coop tonight with flashlights, a white board and a layout schematic of your porch (remember the note taking?)

Tomorrow, if you hear the 'Mission Impossible' theme song followed by pecking on your door?
Handover the treats and back away 'slowly'....

 

[wrathsfarm]

 

[GlicksChicks]

View attachment 3857208

The chickens have revealed their true identities!

 

[Love Donkeys]

This morning two of my older birds hopped up on the porch stair railing. They looked around, fluffed their feathers and then they left. It looked like they were saying "we will return"!

 

[GlicksChicks]

This morning two of my older birds hopped up on the porch stair railing. They looked around, fluffed their feathers and then they left. It looked like they were saying "we will return"!

 

[z3lda3]

My free-range chickens kept coming up on the back porch and pecking at the door looking for treats. Their pecking sounded like someone knocking on the door. They would leave smelly piles while they impatiently waited. I decided to put an end to their shenanigans and take back my porch.

I covered the existing railings with orange plastic mesh and put new railings on the stairs. They crawled under the railings. I fabricated a fancy chicken barrier below the new railings. I put up a gate at the beginning of the steps. They crawled under it. I lowered the gate. They crawled between the openings of the steps. I cut cattle panel and secured it to the back of the open steps. The whole time I was working on the chicken proof project there was always a few chickens watching. My husband said they were taking notes. After two weeks of building and modify my chickens are finial behaving themselves and staying off the porch.View attachment 3856877View attachment 3856879View attachment 3856880

Have your chickens found a way back onto your porch? Or did they finally take the hint?