Chickens are known to be quite scared of everything that they come across in their lives, including humans and even other birds. This has even led to the word “chicken” being used as a taunt for people who are afraid of something. But why are chickens so afraid of everything?
Chickens are considered to be prey animals and are hunted by many carnivores and omnivores, like coyotes and even birds of prey. This has led to chickens being very fearful of animals that are larger than them, including humans and other pets that resemble their natural predators, like dogs.
What do chickens do when they are scared? Are there things you can do to help make your chickens feel safe and comfortable? How do you stop your chickens from running away from you and help them start trusting you? We will go through and answer all these questions in this article.
Why Are Chickens So Afraid?
Chickens are known to be quite skittish creatures that tend to run away from humans, other animals, and loud noises. This does, however, largely depend on the breed of chicken that you own as well as the environment that the chicken was raised in. Chickens have good eye sight to watch for predators.
For example, some chicken breeds have been more domesticated than others as they have been used as livestock and as pets for much longer when compared to some other chicken breeds.
And chickens that have been hand-raised in an extremely safe environment do not show the same levels of fear towards certain animals or humans as chickens that were raised out in a pasture or in the open, exposed to various dangerous situations.
But to understand why most chickens tend to be scared by almost everything, we need to understand the chicken’s history from before they were domesticated and they lived in the wild.
Chickens were considered to be prey animals hunted by various other creatures when they were living as wild animals. They were hunted by many animals such as coyotes and even birds of prey like eagles. This made the chicken become a very cautious and easily frightened animal in order for them to survive.
Some breeds of chickens still have this flight response heavily ingrained in their genes to this day, meaning that they will be afraid of most things in the environment where they are kept.
These chickens will be afraid of creatures that are larger than them, such as humans; they will also be afraid of creatures that resemble their natural predators, like dogs or cats. These chickens can even be afraid of loud noises, as to chickens, these loud noises indicate that danger is close by.
What Chickens Do When They Are Scared?
Even though chickens are prey animals, they actually have multiple responses when they are scared. When chickens are scared, they will try to run away as fast as they can, which is actually pretty fast as chickens are speedy animals.
When one chicken starts to run, the whole flock will start sunning; this is to ensure that the majority of the chickens in the flock survive from whatever the threat is. Another response that the chickens may have when they are frightened is that they may start to fly to get away from the danger.
Even though chickens are considered to be flightless birds by a lot of people, they can actually fly, albeit not extremely high or far, but they can do it in times of need. They will generally use this to get themselves off of the ground and onto low tree branches or walls to escape from predators.
If there is a rooster present in your flock of chickens, then the rooster may even begin to fight the animal that is posing a threat to their flock. They will do this to protect the hens and the baby chicks and to give them all a chance to escape safely.
Once they have escaped, the rooster may stop fighting and run as well, although this is not always the case, as the rooster may fight to the death.
This rooster attack can be very dangerous for humans as roosters have extremely sharp spurs that can do a large amount of damage, so if you have a rooster in your flock and your flock is scared of you, then you need to be careful.
How Do You Ensure Chickens Are Not Scared?
Chickens that are living scared and stressed can be dangerous for you, the chicken, and any other animals that may live with you. Chickens that are living in constant fear are stressed, which could lead to the chicken’s health declining as they may not eat, sleep or drink properly.
As mentioned earlier, they can be dangerous to you too, and, in the same way, they can be dangerous for your other pets that the chicken may find threatening. For these reasons, it is important to try and keep your chickens comfortable and feeling safe in all situations.
To help ensure that your chickens are not afraid, it is recommended that you give them a safe spot that they can run to when they are unsure of a situation. This could be a nice, dark chicken coup or chicken run.
You also need to try and avoid making any sudden movements around your chickens while they are still getting used to you and building trust with you. If you scare them during this time, it may take them longer to adjust to you and trust you.
You should also not chase your chickens or allow other people to chase them, as this could frighten them and lower their trust in humans.
Another precaution that you can use is to train your other pets to not harm or scare the chickens, which could help the chickens to trust them, too, as well as making the environment safer for the chickens. If you cannot do this, then ensure that your chickens are separated from your other pets and that your pets cannot get into the chicken’s area.
Build trust with your chickens to help them realize that you are not scary and that you will not harm them. A good method to do this is to spend lots of time with them and offer them some treats that they cannot refuse, like raisins or crickets. The more time the chickens spend with you, the more they will trust you.
When you have gained your chicken’s trust, they will be less likely to be scared by you and run away. This is helpful as it makes it easier to keep an eye on and manage any health conditions that your chickens may have that need treatment.
Conclusion
Chickens can get scared by many things in life, but this is only natural as chickens are considered prey animals, which means that they need to be cautious about everything to ensure their safety. It is possible to build trust with your chickens, so they are no longer scared of you, but this takes time and patience to do.
It is important to make your chicken’s environment safe and comfortable for them to ensure that they do not live life in a constant state of stress that could damage their health. Good luck bonding with your chickens!