Can chickens recognise you if you wear different colour clothes?

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

I walk in my chicken yard with a colourful pattern dress on and my rooster flips out making a bolt for it and sounding the alarm! I bring treats in my hand and he won't come near me!! Does he not recognise me if I wear different colours? I mostly wear dark colours I guess but don't chickens know your face? Also I wear a hat in Summer, will my roo flip out if I wear a hat!? ..my other chickens seem to know me but they all do freak out because roo freaks out I think.

 

[PioneerChicks]

Chickens can recognize your face, but the flapping and colorful dress probably startled your rooster. When my chickens see me, no matter what clothes I am wearing, they come close, but when they see my dad they give him plenty of room.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I put it down to chickens not liking change. They are prey animals, which means lots of different things like to eat them so they are very cautious around anything they don't understand. One example is that when I'm carrying a feed or water bucket which they see a lot they aren't bothered. If I set that bucket down and pull a small camera out of my pocket they get very nervous and move away giving an "I'm nervous" sound. They are not used to seeing that camera. So if you are "different" it can make them nervous.

I haven't experienced this one but several people on here say they have. A rooster attacks them out of the blue. He's been fine forever but all of a sudden he isn't. This is the first time they may have worn bright red boots to take care of the chickens instead of their regular dull green boots. If they switch back to the dull green, no more attacks. Or it is a certain piece of clothing, just something different. They can tell colors.

I don't know what you normally wear. Pants or shorts instead of a flapping dress? Maybe different colors. But yes, what you were wearing probably did have an effect on your chickens. Eventually they can get used to it.

 

[DaisyG2317]

Mine had a conniption when I brought in my new hot pink manure fork

 

[Trisseh]

I haven’t had any of my birds freaked out by a change in attire, (I tend to wear very similar clothes most days, especially when going out to the coops) but one drake finds my boring green crocs irresistible and tries to bestow his attention upon them. No other footwear garners this response.
There also was a bull that thought I was the devil incarnate if I was wearing running gear. Any other time, super docile. Put on spandex pants, a tank top, and put your hair up and absolutely a threat. Apparently. Change is scary, unless it’s close enough to what they’re used to.

 

[SueT]

I don't wear the same thing every day, and the chickens still recognize me and come to me without any issues. But for Halloween, I wanted to get a photo of me wearing a witch hat with my chickens on my broom and they were very wary. Only one would jump up on the broom. Then the hat blew off and they were all gone!

 

[Sally PB]

My cockerel seems upset by dark blue. I was wondering if there was some UV in the mix too. I know some laundry detergents can have "optical brighteners" which could change how animals (which see different wavelengths than we do) see them. I read this in a hunting article; don't know if it still applies. But chickens do see into the UV part of the spectrum. Maybe like bees see stripes on petals that we perceive as white.

The hunting article was interesting. They had a camo shirt that they washed in some common laundry soap (Tide? All? idk). They photographed it with UV filters before and after washing. It GLOWED in the after picture. It would sure freak me out if I saw it in the woods.

 

[aart]

Anything different can flip them out.
My voice usually calms them down.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Anything different can flip them out.
My voice usually calms them down.

Haha yep that worked yesterday when they were going off alarming

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Well looks like my roo is getting use to me wearing a dress thankfully its too hot to wear pants and jumper! He ate from my hand today, treats work a treat! ... My cockerel on the other hand doesn't care what I wear, only that I have that cold juicy watermelon in my hand!