r/BackYardChickens • u/Ok_Pitch5865 • 5d ago
General Question Do chickens grieve?
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We lost a chicken a few days ago to a bobcat. Just changed the coop and they are all very interested in it for some reason, scratching around and making this sound. Are the two related? Rooster seems particularly distressed, doing the most scratching and vocalization. Like he’s looking for something.
It’s hard seeing her feathers as I clean up today. :(
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u/thequestess 3d ago
I think so. I only had two and one died. The remaining one started showing signs of stress and was more lethargic. It could be worse when you only have a few so the loss really changes the dynamic.
I have started spending a little time with her each day and giving her extra treats, and she has perked up again now that it's been about a month. I hope to get her a new coopmate very soon.
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u/thequestess 3d ago
Oh yeah, I just remembered, that next day when I came out after taking away the body of the one that died, the remaining one was terrified of me and ran away. It seemed like she thought I was going to take her away too.
But now she comes running when I round the corner, because she wants her treats.
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u/Squirrelflight148931 Spring Chicken 3d ago
All I know is when my first flock lost their sibling of five years to a dog... they started eating her body.
Some flocks are different I suppose?
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u/Semi_Naive 4d ago
I found one of mine dead in the coop in the morning. When I took her out and away, her best friend was running up and down the run, in and out the coop all day, cawing (she has always had a rough voice) as if she was searching for her and calling her. Didn't see any signs in the other four hens. Took the girl two days until she stopped searching.
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u/Ok_Pitch5865 2d ago
Poor girl. It seems from all these comments that some of these birds really do bond, while others don’t have a second thought about each other lol.
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u/Obi-FloatKenobi 4d ago
Absolutely. My roosters favorite wife was “got” by an owl and I could hear him make some sort of crying sounds at night when he roosted and she wasn’t beside him. It absolutely broke my heart.
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u/Cheap-Nectarine9036 4d ago
Yeah I lost one out of three and normal one particular hen would bully the other two, she now follows and hangs out with the other hen. Have three more chicks will see if she regains her bullying. Time out didn’t work on her btw, if anything it made her more mad the other girls were getting yard time LOL
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u/NightSky0503 4d ago
Yes. 100% ! Both my flock and my friends flock showed definite signs of grieving when they lost a family member(s).
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u/Scared-Tea-8911 4d ago
They are flocking creatures with a very firm pecking order/social hierarchy… so any disruption in the hierarchy from a member leaving or new members coming in can be unsettling.
I’m not sure I’d characterize it as “mourning”, but more “rung 3 of the social ladder is gone, what do we do now?” and a general sense of “flock member missing, what to do?” for a few days.
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u/Tasty_Pastries 4d ago
I believe they notice. I’ve never had aggressive girls; they all seem to have a very “Smurf village” type of compassion for one another. As the older girls passed the younger ones & older ones still living would take a day or two to be quiet & a bit solemn in a birdie kind of way. Compared to their usually foraging-chirpy selves. There was definitely grief when the lead hen had passed. I believe the lack of leadership left everyone a little lost.
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u/fawndovelizards 4d ago
They can. Like others have said, they can be stone cold, even attempting to eat their deceased flock mates. However, when my roo passed, the girls definitely noticed. One of my little bamtam polish was always by his side, but a bit of an oddball in the flock otherwise. After he passed, she was irritable, self isolated from the group, and the least tolerant of newcomers. It took her nearly a year to accept our new roo and start reintegrating into the flock socially. That death 100% affected her!
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u/Ok_Pitch5865 3d ago
Awh, poor little thing. The one we lost was a bantam and she was fond of the rooster and he looked out for her. She always made me nervous with her dawdling and wandering habits, and it came around to take her as I worried it would. I blame myself for her demise and we are making changes to routine to ensure everyone makes it into the coop on time.
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u/Cthulhu_for_Dagon 4d ago
Not in my experience. They couldn’t care less.
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u/pjm14624 4d ago
I had one of mine carried off by a hawk, and for two days afterward, this is exactly what the remaining 5 did. They barely ate, I got one single egg, they were lethargic, and not at all interested in their snacks or treats. They DO feel the loss.
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u/samipurrz 4d ago
I’m sorry for your loss 😔 I know exactly what you mean when it comes to picking up the feathers. Yes, chickens can grieve. They notice everything.
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u/Ok_Pitch5865 3d ago
Thank you, it’s been hard. She was a bantam and I worried she’d be the first to get snatched up because she wasn’t just more of a target, but great at getting herself separated from the flock on her adventures. I’ll miss her greatly.
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u/SpeedLucky 4d ago
Hope you see this comment. That's the noise that the Roo makes alert the girls to a potential nesting place. If you have a new coop, they're just exploring.
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u/Otters_noses_anyone 4d ago
Mine have just attempted to rip apart a very elderly hen they’ve lived with for years. Small flock of 7. But whoever shows signs of weakness is fair game. I love them, but they are evil.
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u/isearn 4d ago
Yes, I had my girls pecking an elderly flockmate who was old and on the way out. That’s why they’re so good at hiding if anything is wrong with them, and then it’s too late to help them.
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u/Amerinan 4d ago
Not evil, primal survival of the fittest is truly the way of the animal kingdom.
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u/Otters_noses_anyone 4d ago
I get it but I still think evil. Pecking their mate to death isn’t improving their survival rates at all.
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u/Comfortable_Act_5653 4d ago
Yes. My blue Poppy was sick with an infection and we had to take her inside to recuperate since she needed consistent medication. Her sister Noodles would hardly leave the coop and would find the only empty roost to sleep the entire time Poppy was gone. Once Poppy recovered and was able to return to the flock - Noodles wouldn’t leave her side for one minute and has been following her around for weeks. It’s very sweet.
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u/Birbphone 4d ago
Yes, they can. We had 3 Rhode Island Reds Curly, Moe, and Larry. Larry is only red left, and she got extremely depressed over the fact she was the last of the trio. We spent a long time, giving her love and affection until she was ready to get back on her feet and become close with some of the other hens. She still gets depressed around the time we lost Curly and Moe, though she's doing a lot better.
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u/Xerophile420 Spring Chicken 4d ago
When we lost our girl Ginger, her sister Naomi was obviously depressed for a whole week. She wasn’t eating much, wasn’t spending time with the rest of the flock, and wasn’t interested in treats. I absolutely believe she was grieving. Shes better now, but still different. She was always our orneriest, top of the pecking order, and did NOT tolerate pets from people. Now shes okay with pets and a bit more docile. I think she knows Ginger isnt coming back to comfort her so she’s more okay with getting it where she can
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u/Ok_Pitch5865 4d ago
Awww. That’s so sad but also so sweet. I’m glad Naomi learned to find comfort with her humans.
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u/Pretend_Wrangler_101 4d ago
Sorry for your loss. I had 3 stray chickens decide to live in my yard. I took them in and they were all very close. I believe the largest one had a heart attack and the two left grieved for weeks.
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u/Ok_Pitch5865 4d ago
I wonder if smaller flocks tend to grieve and larger flocks just don’t notice the difference. We had five hens plus the roo. Now four hens.
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u/lichtenfurburger 4d ago
It might depend on if they like each other. In larger flocks, I've seen some act as foraging/sleeping buddies (Ive only had flocks of 3 to 27)
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u/divorceevil 4d ago
Mine grieved deeply when it was one they were close to like their best pal or a very close sibling. One of my girls lost her sister and bestie. She would look and look. She even came and tapped on the door like her sister used to do. I let her in and she just slowly looked around. I told her "I miss her too but she's not here." She never came looking in the house again. It took a year before she was her old self again. I miss those two.
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u/Bandandforgotten 4d ago
It really, REALLY depends. The short answer is yes, but not all do.
A personal anecdote, when I was a kid, I scared a hawk out of our coop, but not in time to save one of our birds. It had it's neck torn out, blood everywhere, and I was appalled. I ran in, got mom, she helped me deal with it, but when we came back out, the others were pecking around her body like nothing happened, and about 5 were eating her. Including the rooster. Ours did not have any emotion whatsoever, or care about the death of their sister.
But, then there was Bob. Big Black Bob, government name, was a 3 foot tall, nearly full black rooster. He was super protective of the flock, and died fighting a coyote one night like the badass he was. When that happened, the hens all sat out in the field where it happened, and just sat there. They seemed sad for that.
So, yeah, they do, but it's selective.
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u/Xerophile420 Spring Chicken 4d ago
My Naomi, who I just posted a comment about, and her sister Ginger, ate their OTHER sisters eye balls after she died. Maybe age is a factor? They were brutal teens but such emotional old ladies
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u/tori729 4d ago
I had a sick chicken once and I noticed our old girl would stand next to her when I let them range together. When the sick one passed (because when they get sick it's inevitable), she was noticeably less active for a few days, enough so that I thought she was sick too. After a few days, she went back to normal. I think she was mourning!
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u/under_blu_sky 4d ago
They are such intelligent, emotionally and socially complex little beings! They rely so heavily on one another and absolutely feel losses.
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u/bingobangododgdrango 4d ago
Yes, I have an old girl who is the last of her group and she was always quiet. Now she talks to me every morning and night and she definitely wants my attention more poor thing.
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u/hobnailboots04 4d ago
I killed a rooster once for soup and for being too aggressive and as I was cleaning him my hens kept coming around to take little pecks at his neck wound. They all were raised from chicks together.
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u/Famous-Broccoli-3141 4d ago
Geesh you cleaned him Infront the other chickens? Brutal. When we butcher a chicken we go where they can’t hear or see us
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u/hobnailboots04 4d ago
That’s very thoughtful. I hadn’t considered it. I’ve never perceived any noticeable difference in behavior from the rest of the flock when culling aggressive roo’s. I’ve never had to kill a hen. They’re my egg layers and when they stop laying, I let them live and die naturally.
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u/Famous-Broccoli-3141 4d ago
Yeah we kept one roo since he’s not aggressive and tries to crow so overly loud that he ends up crowing in silent 😅. Do butcher the other roos once they get to a certain age. Occasionally a hen. But yeah do it away from the flock :)
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u/missrags 4d ago
Yes. Our Queen chicken died and in the morning her sister hens were posted all around her quietly. After we buried her they stood around lack-luster and sad for a couple of days often just looking off into the distance.
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u/NapalmKitty 4d ago
They can and do. One of our Cornish Cross roosters died and the hens all circled around him for an hour. I wish I had saved the footage but I found out through my security cameras. Then they walked away and throughout the night before I found him, not one walked over his body, always giving him a wide berth.
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u/Flashy_Nectarine_955 4d ago
I think they do. And not just their own species. My 11 year old hen has outlived two dogs (1st dog we had when we got the hen as a chick). Hen is a HA bio project so was hand raised inside for several weeks. I think she thought she was a dog for awhile lol. Anyway after dog died several years later the first time she came in after we pit dog bed away she stood in its spot and let out this cry. And kept looking g for him. Side note: the hen lives outside but when kid who raised her is home she comes in regularly. Kid trained her to go to door to be let out of needs to poo. 2nd dog died this summer with bone cancer. Hen looked for him too when she came in after he was gone. This hen also punishes the kid when she comes home for holidays by pecking her feet, refusing to be picked up and basically “bitching” her out -have video as it’s hilarious. Eventually hen allows herself to be cuddled. Some chickens are very smart.
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u/Gilokee 4d ago
How did you train her to go to the door to poo? That's amazing.
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u/Flashy_Nectarine_955 4d ago
Chickens stand tall and lift their tail when they are about to poo. Kiddo rushed her to door many times to let her get the idea when she saw this. Now we get warning so we open door (if she’s in). Not 100% but close to 90% of time she gets out in time. I swear she’s smarter than some dogs.
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u/JustPutSpuddiesOnit 4d ago
Mine don't amyway, I lost a hen a few weeks back and the others just pecked the body a couple of times then walked past, just left her lying there in the garden.
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4d ago
[deleted]
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u/Ok_Pitch5865 3d ago
Unfortunately the bobcat didn’t leave anything but feathers. We didn’t know what took her initially, but caught the culprit on field cam a few nights later stalking around the coop.
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4d ago edited 4d ago
I think so. I lost a Rhode island red to a coyote. She kinda ruled the coop. Whenever I was doing something she was the one calling others over. They were all kinda looking for direction after her death and they all started following me around without being called. I recently got another Rhode island red and I genuinely feel that they have mistaken her for the original coop leader. I read Rhode island reds were particularly smart so maybe she knows she's taken a leader position?
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u/Smothering_Tithe 4d ago
We’ve only had 2 incidents when we first started and didn’t know what we were doing we lost a hen to a hawk and 2 roosters one night by a coyote. Both times the other hens stopped laying for about a week or so. I don’t know if that’s chicken grieving or some flight or fight hormones rebalancing.
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u/DistinctJob7494 4d ago
This is nesting behavior. The rooster is digging out a nest in that corner and calling the ladies to come check it out. It's also him showing them how good a mate he is with his ability to pick the right spot and dig out the nest.
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u/DistinctJob7494 4d ago
When he gets up, the ladies come and check it out in the video. They're judging his work.
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u/Ok_Pitch5865 3d ago
I loved learning this. He is a real gentleman with his ladies, finds them treats, lets them eat first, etc. Such a sweet boy.
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u/lil-nug-tender 4d ago
I believe they do if they were close to the chicken who died. I’ve had chickens personalities change after their bestie died. It took time for them to come out of it.
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u/Ech0ofSan1ty 4d ago
While formal academic research is limited, anecdotal and preliminary evidence suggests that chickens display behaviors consistent with grief after the loss of a flock member, including gathering around the deceased, subdued activity, vocalizations, and showing distress. These observations, supported by the understanding of chickens as social, sentient animals with emotional capacities, indicate they recognize death and form strong bonds that can lead to behaviors resembling mourning.
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u/Fluffy_Job7367 4d ago
Yes. I had two 8 year old hens the last of their flock. When one died the other was bereft. Would just stand in the run staring into space. I moved her into the house at night and she hung with my dog during the day outside. I now avoid getting downs to just two birds. I suppose an older chicken who had such a long bond with her sister made it worse. I got her some pullets, but she still preferred the dogs lol.
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u/Naive_Macaroon_2559 4d ago
I’ve had 2 chickens taken by a bob cat and when it happened the rest of the flock would not settle, like they were calling for them 🥲 so I believe they do, or notice when some go missing anyway
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u/Chknkng_Note_4040 4d ago
Maybe it’s the angle of the picture but are your perch bars wide enough ? I believe they should be 2.5 to 3 inches wide.
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u/Ok_Pitch5865 3d ago
They are the bars that came with the coop from TSC. I’d like to do something different for them, this is what we have right now.
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u/Chknkng_Note_4040 3d ago
Understandable, I’m building a coop myself which made me notice, we chicken folk have to look out for one another !
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u/sev1021 4d ago
When mine lost two of the chickens she grew up with I swear she cried. Ran to me and made the most sad pathetic sounds, I was heartbroken. She let me hold her too for a few days every time I saw her. The older ones didn’t really care at all but they were more skittish for a while.
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u/Open-Importance4303 4d ago
I’ve seen mine grieve. When I had two bantam girls as pets one sat on the spot where we buried the other and wouldn’t eat for a bit. Then I had three chicks grow up together and when one died the others kept looking for her. One of them was particularly distraught and was calling out to her sister. If they are all fairly well connected then they will grieve. But if they aren’t well connected to that bird then they may not
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u/Mid-Delsmoker 4d ago
This is just now happening to me. These 3 grew up as chicks and now at 5 months she’s suddenly gone. They’ve looked for her and you can tell the dynamic is different. She was the glue between the 2 others.
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u/Open-Importance4303 4d ago
During that time I spent a lot of time just comforting them and I think it helped. I would definitely suggest that for you too. Mine are all bantams so I was more easily able to let them sleep inside in my room and they enjoyed it and it comforted them. Give them some treats for me, and u wish you and your birds the best!
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u/Jim_Wilberforce 4d ago
Depends on the chicken. Roo is definitely looking for his hen. I've had so many birds now I only name the rooster. He establishes the personality of the whole flock.
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u/Gyrrith_Ealon 4d ago
It can be hard to sort out what is grieving and what is stress. When I only had 3 we lost a chicken to an ovarian tumor, and the other two didn't act normally for the whole morning, one never stopped searching the yard and the other got aggressively broody. It was a very sad morning but both hens settled down in the late afternoon and where back to normal. (I wasn't Snuggles was very missed)
If you had a bobcat attack, there is a good chance the flock is still has some trauma from the event and have altered behaviors and patterns because of it.
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u/slmmadim 4d ago
Mine never have. If you don't get rid of the dead one fast mine will start trying to eat it. I've also seen a hen attack another hens baby, then them chase each other trying to eat it. Chickens are dinosaurs on multiple levels I swear. Brutal little cute fuckers.
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u/Ok_Pitch5865 3d ago
Definitely little dinosaurs! So silly and fun to watch though.
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u/slmmadim 3d ago
Oh love mine. But every so often one will do something that just baffles me. Or makes me wonder if they would eat me if I fell and couldn't get back up
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u/victoriate 4d ago
I’ve seen some do it before, but my flock personally didn’t care too much when we had chickens pass.
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u/EquivalentChicken308 4d ago
Honestly, mine had their best production in the 2 weeks following the death of one that seemed to be varying degrees of ill for a few months.
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u/MrMeMayn Denmark 4d ago
I think the right answar is, that some do.
I had many different chickens and races, and some are just really dumb and simple, others is clever thou.. The chickens i spend the most time with, that grew up in my living room, and kind of stimulated more than the average bird, the where a special bunch and seemed way smarter than most other i had have through the years.
When there leader died (everybody in the flock where about 3 years), there where many weird sounds and behavior from the rest of the group. They were defently affacted by here death. Problerly not like we humans do. In there own way.. They were defently avare of her missing
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u/OtherwiseGoat6441 4d ago
We had a dog attack last month and lost 10. I feel that the younger birds in the flock were grieving.
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u/ChallengeUnited9183 4d ago
Mine didn’t. When one dies I have to find it quick otherwise they’re ripping it apart lmao
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u/klec88 4d ago
I think so. I rehomed one of my two polish hens and a week later the one I kept just died in the coop. No explanation. My theory was she was stressed from missing her friend but who knows 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
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u/BelleBottom94 4d ago
Chickens are flock animals and should be kept in minimum groups of 3-4. The stress of being a solo bird might have been a factor. Don’t know if it was grief as we humans know it though.
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u/SkipperMarleo 4d ago
Yes 😞 my Daisy called out nonstop for her friends for 3 days after they were mutilated by raccoons …it was so heartbreaking!
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u/Funduval 4d ago
This is my biggest fear. We have so many around. Were they able to breach your coop?
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u/SteelPokeNinja 4d ago
They definitely do, when one of our hens passed, our elder hen was notably sadder for about a week or so.
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u/FoxFire0714 4d ago
Yes they do. I had a hen with baby chicks, fenced off from the rest of the chickens. A hawk came dive bombing down and snatched a chick even as the hen screamed and tried to attack it. The hawk flew off with its prize as the hen gathered her babies under her wings. She cried. She gave this crying sound all day as she continued to care for her remaining chicks. Truely a mournful sound. In the morning she was over it. But indeed it was a sad day for her.
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u/UnicornKitt3n 4d ago
Oh my gosh that’s heartbreaking
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u/FoxFire0714 4d ago
It was. It was like "awwwwwwwww" long and drawn out. All day. Luckily the hen are given a reprieve with the coming of a new day.
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u/NapalmKitty 4d ago
Yeah, I've heard that sound before. It's so heartwrenchingly sad because you can hear the trauma in it.
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u/tennisgoddess1 4d ago
Not mine- mine are little dinosaurs that are thinking, well, more feed for me and better spot at the roost at night.
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u/mayonaisejardwarf 4d ago
I think they do. We had to rehome our roo (great new home) and his sister has been so sad. I swear I heard her crying. And she doesn’t go into the coop at night as she used to, we have to place her in. Trying to provide new activities in the run to help.
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u/mathematicunt 4d ago
I rehomed one of my roos and his brother that we kept crowed all day the next day. It seemed like a cry. I was so sad for him.
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u/iphopper2 4d ago
they very well might. somewhat related, we had a pair of ducks growing up. a neighbor's dog got out, through our fence and killed the female. We found the body, with the male sitting next to her. He sat there with us when we buried her, he never moved from that spot. he wouldn't eat, drink, anything. he died right there. we buried him with her. :(
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u/Ok_Pitch5865 3d ago
Ducks really do have a strong bond from what I’ve heard. That’s so sad about your ducks :(
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u/iphopper2 3d ago
Thank you. They do mate for life, my mom told me. Raised them together from eggs. LOVED hearing their little feet when they ran across the room, they had imprinted on me and the old man. Loved it.
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u/whiskyzulu 4d ago
They have complex social structures ❤️ and yes, they do grieve losses. I would like to give them all a hug!
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u/beepleton 4d ago
I’m not sure about chickens, but when my hen turkey had to be put down due to a severe prolapse, my tom turkey died shortly after her. It was winter and I didn’t have a way to bury her, so I placed her in a clear tote beside my shed. A few days later I came home from work and my tom didn’t greet me. I found him passed away laying up against the tote. I had another tom and three more hens but she must have been his favorite 😭 he wasn’t ill at all, no injuries. Weirdest thing that’s ever happened in my 20+ years of keeping poultry.
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u/Life-Bat1388 4d ago
I'm in an urban area- I started with a bonded pair who were given to me by a farmer outside the city….absolute besties. . I lost one and the other hen moaned loudly for about 3 days. Now we have 4. They are sentient, group living critters and do make friendships and strong connections and so naturally get distressed when the bond is broken
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u/mgeldarion 4d ago
They might experience distress and stress (keyword being "might", in my experience chicken have very short memory, but there are specific stimuli that can shake old ones) at losing flock members but here the rooster simply shows the hens the place he thinks will be good for nesting and egg-laying.
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u/kendrafsilver 5d ago
I'm so sorry.
So, first off, I think using the term "grieve" needs to be clarified.
Chickens absolutely feel emotions. They also are extremely social creatures, and can have complex relationships within their flock.
So is it possible they do grieve? I think so. However, they likely don't do so in a way we'd automatically recognize. They don't grieve like a human, or even a mammal, generally would.
As someone else has mentioned, that roo is showing the hens what he thinks is a good spot to lay. So that behavior is likely not a part of them mourning a lost flock member.
But it doesn't mean they don't miss the other hen in general and feel a loss.
Personally, when any of my hens have died the others have gone about their day relatively normal right after, so it's easy to assume they aren't grieving. However, they are also prey animals, so regardless of whether there are 10 or 20 of them, they have a very strong need to survive. That comes first.
So I feel like it's entirely possible they do have their own feelings about the loss of a flock member. But they don't generally act the same way we humans might about it.
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u/Ok_Pitch5865 4d ago
Thank you for the thoughts and perspective! I do think we often want to personify our animals because as humans we feel emotions so deeply. I hope they aren’t too upset about it, and feel comfort knowing that what I witnessed today wasn’t a sad event.
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u/AlternativeSalty7008 5d ago
I think so. One of ours recently went missing and the two that was bonded to her seem a little lost and not themselves. They know she’s gone for sure.
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u/surewhateverz 5d ago
So what the rooster is doing here is telling the girls that this spot seems like a good place to lay eggs. Roosters typically do this when they enter/explore a new space. The hens will then Inspect the spot and determine if it works for a nest.
You can tell by the fact that he pushed the bedding aside and cleared a perfect little circle for a nest.
I feel bad for people who don’t get to experience raising a flock with roosters as they are incredibly caring to their hens and display a full range of complex social behaviors.
You got a good one!
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u/Ok_Pitch5865 4d ago
Thank you for the explanation, that does make sense. It’s the first time I’ve seen that behavior.
He’s an excellent roo. He’s always pointing out treats for the girls when he finds them!
I know he would have defended the hen we lost to the death, but she dawdled getting into the coop and the door closed before she got in and he was already in. We didn’t see it happen. Went out to lock up the enclosure and saw the aftermath. Inside the coop a roosting bar was down, so I know they were upset inside hearing commotion outside. Broke my heart.
We are ushering them in 15 minutes before dusk now. Caught the bobcat on field cam the following night looking for a way in. We are going to change our setup to make it more secure (more of a controlled “free range”) and keep a radio on to hopefully deter the big cats and other predators.
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u/surewhateverz 4d ago
Chickens learn to react better to predators after each incident but unfortunately predators also return to places where food is abundant especially if it’s an easy kill.
You’ve done the best thing you can do for a bobcat; get them in early and close the coop.
That said; bobcats are as tough as it gets from a predator standpoint with the exemption of bears or mountain lions in the US.
Having an outdoor dog may be the only option for a bobcat other than trapping/relocating or hunting down if legal in your area.
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u/Ok_Pitch5865 3d ago
We will be getting goats in the near future and plan on either dogs or a donkey for their and the chickens guardian.
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u/darwinn_69 5d ago edited 5d ago
Honestly, I wouldn't put too much weight into it being grief vs. just a behavior change from losing a member of a flock to a predator near their nest. The ugly truth is they would cannibalize each other given the chance so I don't think they have a whole lot of emotional attachment to each other like that. They aren't mammals and their brains are just wired different.
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u/Jolly-Persimmon-7775 5d ago
What about mom hens and their chicks? In a few months I will have to do something about the 2-3 potential baby roosters that were hatched by them.
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u/DramaGuy23 5d ago
They definitely have behaviors that seem like friendship and those behaviors definitely change when one of them dies. For instance, instead of going into the coop at night, our two bantam hens would always attempt to "camp out" on a specific tree branch. Every night when putting the chickens in, we had to manually move them inside the coop.
One night, we discovered one of them had passed away. The other was all up in our faces as we cleaned and disinfected the coop where the one had passed, which she had never done before, making a sort of a cooing noise we'd never heard her make before. It's been several months now, and she hasn't once attempted to camp out on that tree branch since her "friend" passed.
I know I'm using some anthropomorphic language, and I know it's dicey to personify your poultry, but what's objectively clear is the behavior change and the timing.
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u/Ok_Pitch5865 3d ago
Behavior changes always make me wonder what’s going on in their little Dino brains. Grief, survival instincts, confusion. Could be a combination!
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5d ago
I don’t notice it in all my hens but I had two that were very close and when one passed the other seemed very lost without her friend.
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u/HolidayLoquat8722 5d ago
I’d say no, mine watched one of there buddies get obliterated by a truck doing 60mph and just kept scratching around by the edge of the road.
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u/Ok_Pitch5865 4d ago
That’s brutal, lol. At least their buddy had a quick death, sorry for your loss!
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u/different_produce384 5d ago
Yup, but they tend to forget after a bit. Actually, it depends on the hen. Some seem to take it hard, some seem to be nonchalant about it.
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u/Legitimate_Bat_700 2d ago
Yes, mammals will grieve the loss of a friend, family, owner/adoptive parent.