*S* Fred sounds like a very good companion! Roosters DO like to supervise home projects or gardening, mine have always followed me around and watched closely as if they were writing the definative book on the subject. *L*

He is indeed speaking to you. The best thing you can do to learn is just to interact with him and observe what he does. For example, when you pet him he will most likely sit or stand still and make little contented noises (which indicates trust), or dance a bit for you (means he views you as a potential mate). If he dodges away, it indicates that he doesn't quite trust you or fears you.

Chickens usually have several calls which they use most often. A loud trill and a still, upright stance for danger, fluffed up feathers, head down and staring and a growl means, "Don't MAKE me kick your butt", repetitive cackling from hens when eggs are laid. Roosters that snuggle down into a nest and burble softly are trying to attract a hen to a favored nesting area that they think is extra spiffy. Chickens that pick up tidbits of food and drop it or hold it in their beaks for others to eat while clucking softly are providers--hens do it for chicks and roos do it for their hens. Sometimes roos will fake finding a tidbit and call over the hens just to grab them and mate them.

Stuff like this you will see in your flock just be watching them. Chickens have a fascinating community structure. :) "Chickens In Your Backyard" by Rick & Gail Luttmann is great and written in a very entertaining style, and Gail Damerow has also written several very good chicken books.

Velvet ~:>

Well you've certainly come to the right place. Most of us will agree there are a number of "bird brains" on here who can answer any question you may have.

As for what your roo is telling you.........I haven't the slightest idea :-)

Velvet, fascinating info!!! I'll see if the library has that book you mentioned and any by the other Gail. Thanks!

Herringbone, lol!

Fred is the only chicken we have. We had a hen and two roosters but I think coyotes got the hen. They originally belonged to my cousin and roosted in some trees down the road from our house. This was where Peggy Lee disappeared. After that, Fred and Sebastian started roosting on our front porch. Not a good spot! So another cousin gave us a little chicken house. At first we had to carry them and put them into the house but it didn't take them long to get used to it and go in themselves. Then the two roosters started fighting so we had to find another home for Sebastian. We kept Fred because he was the friendliest of the two.

I say get Fred a couple girlfriends or more if you can have more at your place. You're missing out on such fun and Fred is probably lonely for someone that speaks his language.
Do you know what breed he is? It's fun that he follows you around and supervises.

ccox, that's what DH keeps saying:-) I don't know his breed but he looks just like the pictures of the old English games but he's not noisy and fiesty as they are said to be. Well, he crows every morning and sometimes during the day but not all the time.

When I'm not outside, he hangs out with Lady, our golden ret. She seems to be embarrased by it because if she sees us watching, she looks really embarrased and will get up and move about 10 feet. Fred just moves right along with her:-) If she doensn't know we're watching, she seems fine with it.

I was never sure chickens have a brain....

Poor Lady dog! I can just see the picture you painted. If dogs could only roll their eyes.;)

bulldinkie, well it can't be too big since their heads are so small:-) Fred shows some kind of intelligence though. He likes to sit on the front porch if it's raining and I have to shoo him off. (He can sit under the bedroom window overhang and be dry). One day I peeped out the window and saw him sitting there and instead of going out, I just rattled the door handle to see what he would do. He quietly stood up and slipped down the steps and over to the overhang:-) So it seems he realized that the noise of the door handle meant somebody was going to come out and shoo him off the porch and fuss at him:-)

ccox, I'm sure she would be rolling her eyes if she could:-) She protected Fred from another dog though. a daylily customer came and asked if he could let his puppy out of the vehicle. My son told him it would be OK but didn't think of Fred. Of course the puppy wanted to play (and he was even bigger than Lady!!) so he started walking really fast behind Fred. Fred started to run and of course so did the puppy. Lady was frantic. She came to me whining like "Mom! DO something!! Fred's in trouble!!" The owner of the puppy was yelling at him and chasing him which the puppy probably thought was all part of the game. He was getting closer and closer to Fred as they raced around the yard. Finally Lady had to intervene. She intercepted the puppy which allowed Fred to dive into some bushes. Lady bit the puppy on the backend. She didn't hurt him, just got him to slow down enough that the owner could grab him. Fred wouldn't come out of the bushes. I had to crawl in there and carry him out. He hung really close to Lady the rest of the day and she looked as embarrased as ever:-)

Here's an interesting article on chicken intelligence.

It makes me mad when I see commercials like the new Hardees one about trying to teach a chicken to catch a frisbee. They talk about how stupid it is for going after the bug instead, and thereby not being good for anything except eating. I say, stupid people, for expecting a chicken to be anything other than what it is.

OK, off my soapbox!

Here is a link that might be useful: chicken intelligence

Oh yes, I'd agree--Fred needs an Ethel! :) You'll be amazed at how loving and considerate roos can be towards hens...and later on what great parents they are.

Chickens ARE alot smarter than most people think--birds have the intelligence level of a 2 year old human child, with all the emotions, too. They feel affection, jealousy, anger, etc. They make terrific pets, every bit as rewarding as a cat or dog.

Velvet ~:>

Amiz,Thanks so much for the link to that article. I printed it to share with some folks. I haven't seen the Hardee's commercial but it sounds like one I wouldn't appreciate!

LOL, when I saw that hardees commercial I thought of how many people on this forum alone that was gonna offend S.
ya know before i had my three chickens I would have never given it a thought. S

Chicken ingenue

Velvet, Fred was a very good provider for Peggy Lee. When the three of them roosted in the trees down the road, they would come and spend their days in our yard and fields. 2 year children are pretty smart. That's interesting that chickens have that much intelligence. We've all enjoyed having Fred around. When we weed in the gardens or daylily patch, he's right there to gobble up every wireworm, grub, etc.

Chicken Ingenue, I never expected to have a rooster:-) My Dad had a pet hen as a child. She would "knock" on the door every morning. Grandma would let her in the house and she would go straight to my Dad's bed, lay an egg, and then go to the door to be let outside.

Our unexpected pet,a White Leghorn named Betty Boop,talks to me whenever I go out in the garden. She runs to me, follows me around and talks in a soft, gentle sound. This is very different from the voice she uses for the other hens, which is more of an abrupt cluck. It seems as if she is trying to speak like a human and this is the way human voices sound to her. I am sure she is telling me what is going on in the back yard; she feels it is her territory. The other hens are penned, but they started to pick on Betty and we took her out, planning to build a different coop for her...but she is so well behaved and such a delight, we let her roam. I have put a basket with sawdust on the counter just outside the kitchen sink and she lays her daily egg there, visiting with me while I work at the sink.
Sometimes I sit nearby and listen to the hens talk. We travel to Italy frequently and I do not speak Italian very fluently so often I just relax and don't try to understand what is being said...I just listen to the rhythm and tones of the voices in the villages as they talk. The chickens sound so much like a group of gossiping village women, it is astounding. Try listening to them sometime.
I think chickens that are free to roam and interact with humans may have developed more intelligence as a result.
Lina

Lina, that's neat:-) I'm sure Fred is trying to talk to me too. I just wish I could understand. I often stoop down to his level and talk to him. He always watches my face and listens intently. As I mentioned earlier, we had to find another home for Sebastian because of their fighting. He beat Fred up pretty badly one day. We brought Fred into the kitchen and DH held him while I washed the blood off his head. I can't help wondering if he knew we were trying to help him because he didn't struggle at all, just sat quietly until we were finished. For about a month we would give them turns in the chicken house and outside. They couldn't be together at all. I would think that free-roaming chickens would be more intelligent. We were happy to fina a home for Sebastian where he could roam free and be the only rooster with a small flock of hens. Now we need a buddy for Fred:-)

Lina, what a beautiful story :) Betty Boop sounds very special.

Vegangirl, I talk to my chickens on the inside. I make a little whistle sound trying to mimic chicks talking and I try to talk telepathically to them. They seem very captivated when I do this.....OK I know this sounds crazy.

But then again I am :)

-Sheila

LOL, Sheila I do the same thing and get the same reaction but SSHHHH don't tell anyone, aroudn here they all think I'm nuts enough just because I intend to eat the eggs when they finally lay them. S

chicken ingenue

Sheila and chicken ingenue, I'm just not sure what to say about that:-) I think I'll stick with talking to Fred out loud,
VG

An Update on Betty Boop, the White chicken....
This October when I was on a trip to my husband's family, my children, who were staying here called to say they couldn't find Betty. After 3 days of phone calls, they called to say they had found her in a flower box outside one of the bedrooms. She had died, but had left a huge beautifully shaped egg. We don't know the cause of death...possibly she was egg bound and we just thought she was hiding her eggs.
The kids built a large stone mound over her grave in the flower box and I try to visit it everyday.
She was a wonderful personality and taught all of us so much about the intelligence and possible personalities of chickens.
I am writing this as a sort of eulogy for her. We were very lucky to have shared this earth with her for awhile. Lina.

OK, it's been a couple of years since I wrote this story before but I feel it's time to re-tell it for anyone who thinks chickens aren't very smart. Here's a chicken who should be in the Poultry Hall of Feathered Fame.

Our white hen, Tippy, had laid three eggs and hatched them out. After about three days she led her chicks out of the hen house and walked them around the fenced hen yard, showing them plants and helping each of them find food. It was about dusk and I had gone out to look at the new kids and see if any of the other chickens tried to pick on them. But Tippy chased everyone else away who got too close to her babies.

When we first got our chickens they were all small and we had built a ramp for them to get into the hen house which was on blocks about 15" off the ground. As they grew they stopped using the ramp because they could jump up into the house. So Tippy was leading the chicks into the hen house and she jumped into the doorway. But the babies were too small and they all just ran around in circles cheeping frantically. So she showed them how to do it again, with the same frantic result.

Next, Tippy came out of the house and squated over the chicks and clucked quietly to them for a minute. Then she walked up the ramp slowly and watched each of them follow her up into the house. When they were all inside she led them to a soft pile of hay and spread out her wings as they ran under her.

I was sitting about 5' from this little scene and I never would have believed that a chicken could analyze a situation, administer crowd control, demonstrate a simplified technique, provide quality control and count to three.

You can say what you want to about chickens being stupid, but they are not stupid at all. IMHO they are very good at what they do and they have the ability to adapt to an amazing range of conditions. Cheryl

Cheryl,
I loved your description of Tippy's approach to a problem. As a retired school teacher (of young teens), I would say what she did was pretty close to a job description for a middle school teacher.
I don't know where chickens ever got the reputation for being stupid.
Lina.

I think it's amazing that they put themselves away each evening!

I just love chickens! They are incredibly smart,have great personalities and are hilarious to watch,this is my 1st year having them and I have to say I am so glad I did this...it's absolutely rewarding and entertaining. Just love them :)

The answer to your question is sitting on your front porch. Get Fred a hen or two and observe. I have seen my favorite rooster teaching a dozen young chicks. Proudly wearing their first coat of real feathers, they stood in a half circle around Valentino while he showed them the best way to strip seeds off a grass stem. They looked like a bunch of kids with their hands in their pockets on a nature walk watching a ranger talk.
I have a blind chicken,Patches, who does just fine. She has a seeing eye chicen, Chatty Cathy, whose constant talking keeps her aprised of where the good stuff is. When it's time to roost, Chatty tries to talk Patches into the chicken house. If Patches won't go, Chatty calls me and I rescue both of them.
They stay in our hall at night in a large pen and Chatty sits on my lap (on a towel) while I read. I am currently training her to ride on my shoulder as a pirate chicken.
All my chickens range free in the day and are closed in against predators at night. We occasionally lose one to an eagle but the death is instantaneous. Of course we mourn. Valentino and selected hens are now in a huge net covered area in the day because I want some of his babies.
Unfortunately, Chickens don"t live very long. Love them while you can and let them brighten your life! I call them "Flowers with Legs".

My oldest chicken is 13 years old.I have some that know their name and they all talk to me.The hens follow me while I garden knowing they'll get treats and there is usually a roo or 2 (usually a young one)that wants to be picked up and stroked.The ones that are hen raised are never as friendly as the ones I raise.I think the ones that are closer in genes to the original chickens(Old english game)are smarter than your average broiler that has been inbred to get big quickly.Intelligence is NOT a survival trait in mass production!Get 2 or 3 hens -if you think 1 chicken is cool wait till you get to see the group dynamics of a small flock-better than a soap opera!

It is so strange that when one hen finds something exceptionally good to eat...all the rest come running...I wonder if they have a kind of mental telepathy as to taste...that they are all tuned into.
Lina

I thought chickens had a lifespan of 12-15 years. Am I mistaken?

I just found this thread again. I enjoyed all the comments and stories. Thanks for the ideas!

We still have Fred and have a hen now too, Peggy Lee. We also got 4 guineas but are now down to two, a male and a female. When we first got Peggy Lee, she was the biggest fraidy cat I've ever seen. If you so much as looked her direction, she would run, screaming and hide. But after over a year with us, she is a changed woman:-) She will actually walk within a couple of feet of us. She gets even closer when we are dividing daylilies; she'll get right under our noses and eat the grubs we dig up. She trained Fred to go into the chicken house. He always wanted to roost on the front porch and one of us would have to pick him up and carry him to the chicken house.

He knows he's not supposed to be on the porch. If you catch him up there now, he immediately jumps off, grumbling all the way.

I had a conversation about chicken intelligence with a coworker who had worked in a commercial broiler operation one winter while he was in college. As a consequence, he won't eat chicken and hates the idea of having to deal with them. He made the comment about their stupidity and I replied that chickens are very good at being chickens, not humans. I'm one of those who believe that they aren't stupid because we don't understand them but that we as a species aren't smart enough to understand the "lesser" animals.

I have 4 pullets that I bought from the feed store for an Australorp hen to brood for me. She was a wonderful mother until the day she decided she was finished with mothering and went back to laying eggs. She refused to let the pullets go to the feeders and the fifth chick died before I figured out what the problem was. This hen has been broody for me several times so I may have another chance with her before the season is over.

I used to have two roos, one a purebred Australorp and the other a New Hampshire Red/Australorp cross whose feathers were black with some red and orange on the wings. I named him Sunrise and he was my companion and protector when the purebred Australorp tried to attack me. Unfortunately, Sunrise died prematurely and it was necessary to dispose of the nasty rooster because his aggression wasn't limited to me.

I was spreading some mulch this morning and my New Hampshire pet hen came to help me. Actually, she was looking for bugs, grubs and worms but the former broody wouldn't come anywhere near me. I raised the NH but the Australorp was given to me by a friend last spring. The NH is the best fly control program you could ever hope for and still lays at 6 years old.

How interesting! Fred and Peggy Lee always help me spread mulch. but the irritating thing is that they continue to spread it after I'm done! A neighbor just told me that if I spray the mulch with vinegar, they will leave it alone. Heard anything about that?