Can Chickens Taste their food?

[mjolly]

I know my girls have prefrences like hard boiled eggs, etc. They also go for things like worms when offered two or more choices.

This brings to mind are their choices/prefrences based on color of the food alone or a combination of color and taste?

A curious mind,

Marva

 

[MissPrissy]

Have you never seen them eat something they don't like? You'll know it. They wipe their beak off on the ground, or you or anything close and walk away from it.

 

[chickenannie]

I've wondered the same thing, because sometimes they eat things that would seem to taste very yucky, like big fat bugs or larvae in cow poop.

 

[DLS]

or red hot pepper & it don't bother them . They must gave no taset buds

 

[jjthink]

They have definite taste preferences, each unique.

Example:
In the salad department, Annie prefers romaine, BJ carrots. Both adore tomatoes.

In the fruit department, BJ adores raspberries - Annie could take them or leave them. Annie likes bananas, BJ doesn't see any merit to them whatsoever. Both love blueberries, cantelope, cherries, blackberries and apple. Both could take or leave watermelon, grapes. Betty (RIP) used to love watermelon.

Annie loves eggs, BJ usually turns up his beak at them.

Both go crazy for sunflower seeds. Annie will sometimes partake in oatmeal, BJ thinks its evil. They both like warm mashed squash in the winter and both like a bit of good grain bread. BJ will not come within 1 foot of yogurt - turns his back to it - but Annie will eat a bit of it.

And so on!
JJ

 

[silkiechicken]

I think so. Taste, texture and food size probably plays a big role in what they like and what they don't.

If you ever butcher a bird and pull out the tongue, there is a row of taste buds along the back edge.

 

[JennsPeeps]

Quote:
I read on this board once that chickens aren't affected by the chemical, capsaicin, that makes hot foods "hot".

I'm convinced that they do have taste buds.

 

[d.k]

* Chickens have taste buds, but apparently, the number of them isn't extremely high, where we have a very high number per surface area. oh, and yes, they can see color in food as well.

 

[fivebigreds]

Yes they can taste , their taste in food is just different from ours on allot of things. Those fat grubs are protien balls to them.

 

[Mahonri]

just watching them eat, I'm convinced they can taste.