Chicken behaviour: How do they identify predators?

[CelestialChicks]

Hello all,

I have noticed an interesting phenomena that I cannot stop thinking about. Whenever my chickens encounter a cat on our yard, they go crazy and starts screaming, elongating themselves, seeking higher grounds etc. It's pretty cool, because sometimes I can't even see the cat but they somehow sense it (?). But when I take out my pet rabbit to run beside (which haven't happened a lot at all so it's not like they are used to each other) them they seem a bit suspicious at first but then completely ignores the rabbit.

Do chickens somehow sense that they are being preyed on? How do they distinct another species vs a predator. How do they know when they are in danger or not?

Anyone?

 

[centrarchid]

I think what they look for in a predator is two eyes trained on them if the predator is novel to them. When they have prior experience with a given type of predator then simply detection of its movement can be enough to elicit anti-predator responses. In many instance you can have other flock members or even birds from other flocks instigate anti-predator responses through warning calls or by stopping contact calls and slinking into cover. Contact calls also serve to provide the all clear signal. Also hens can teach chicks what is bad news and get a response going even when chicks cannot detect threat themselves.

 

[azygous]

Chickens have a predator instinct embedded in their DNA. The strongest of these is to run like mad for cover the second they spy something overhead. Even chicks in a brooder display this reaction.

The other facet of this instinct is to be very alert to any thing or animal or even human of which they don't have prior recognition. This can be manifested in a panic reaction to having a foreign object such as a shop vacuum suddenly appear in the coop. Or here in my neighborhood, when the cows show up to graze in summer after being absent all winter, they get pretty jumpy since they also have frightening memories of bears, which are almost the same size and shape. Once they recognize the intruder as something they remember as being safe, they quickly settle down. Same with the vacuum. Once they see it won't pounce and eat one of them, they ignore it, even when I turn it on.

Chickens have long term memories of experiences they've had with varying foreign things, and they combine these with instinct, and they know which to react to and which they can accept while going back to business as usual. This is where having an experienced adult flock helps in preserving the safety of the younger ones. Chickens may have relatively short life spans, but they have long memories.

 

[centrarchid]

Instinct is the brain processing part as well as learned from prior experience. Nature of rapid movements also important. I do not think they can as well as we can once you are talking more than a couple feet away although they are very good at detecting movement from almost all direction excepting below and behind, directly above, and directly behind head. If they cannot make movement as friendly, nonthreat then what azygous says kicks as default response.

 

[Chics rule]

Chickens have a predator instinct embedded in their DNA. The strongest of these is to run like mad for cover the second they spy something overhead. Even chicks in a brooder display this reaction.

The other facet of this instinct is to be very alert to any thing or animal or even human of which they don't have prior recognition. This can be manifested in a panic reaction to having a foreign object such as a shop vacuum suddenly appear in the coop. Or here in my neighborhood, when the cows show up to graze in summer after being absent all winter, they get pretty jumpy since they also have frightening memories of bears, which are almost the same size and shape. Once they recognize the intruder as something they remember as being safe, they quickly settle down. Same with the vacuum. Once they see it won't pounce and eat one of them, they ignore it, even when I turn it on.

Chickens have long term memories of experiences they've had with varying foreign things, and they combine these with instinct, and they know which to react to and which they can accept while going back to business as usual. This is where having an experienced adult flock helps in preserving the safety of the younger ones. Chickens may have relatively short life spans, but they have long memories.

I went out to the coop at 6:30 am and it was hazy and humid, kinda hard to see and usually my birds come running all excited. This day, I came in the run and they all stayed away from were really quiet. It was a little freaky, their silence. I wonder what it could have been?. I'm a new-by chicken mom and they are 7 weeks old. I have hard ware clothe all around and electrical fencing also around the perimeter of the coop on the outside 3 wires high so I'm not too concerned about anything getting in, but would they react this way if they say a raccoon or a fox type predator? Or do they get loud and scary?

 

[azygous]

The typical behavior of any chickens that have just witnessed a predator in their vicinity is to huddle and hide in silence.

I may not spot a predator, but I know when my chickens have seen one. They are quiet and all hiding under the raised coop as far in the darkest corner they can squeeze themselves into.