Do Chickens Talk to Each Other? Let’s Understand How Chickens Communicate
An Egg Production Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM Karen Davis, PhD, Guest Post, VeganIndia.net
March 2021

Chickens and most animals for that matter, have strong social connections with each other. They communicate their love, fears, and feelings, similar to you and me.

Introduction to the chicken talk article is by Manish M, 14-year old vegan activist from Trichy, Tamil Nadu and contributor at Vegan India! website:

Whether and how chicken talk to each other is a fascinating subject of inquiry, especially in this world where chickens are seen as a food “product.” Most people have little or no notion that chickens are individuals with distinct personalities. Most are even oblivious to the fact that chickens are sentient beings. But only when the curious toddler asks you how animals speak to each other, do you even give it a thought. If you then follow this thought and idea, you come to realize that chickens and most animals for that matter, have strong social connections with each other. They communicate their love, fears, and feelings, similar to you and me.

Just as humans use words to communicate, chickens use sounds. And there is not much difference between these modes of communication if you think about it, for words too are “just” sounds, but these sounds convey meaning, information, and ranges of emotion and expression.

The following article by Dr. Karen Davis enumerates the “words” that chickens use to communicate to their friends and family members and what these “words” mean to chickens. Let’s get ready for some serious chicken talk!

Chicken Talk
By Karen Davis, PhD, President of United Poultry Concerns

© This article originally appeared in the Young Friends section of the July 1994 issue of Best Friends Magazine.

Our rooster, Glippie, sings on the roof of his house, adding to the music of the yard a steady, quiet trill. Living with chickens has made me realize how tuneful and talkative these fascinating birds are. The language of chickens is an essential part of their personalities and of their highly developed social life. Chickens start talking even before they are born.

Communication from inside the egg and after hatching

Peep! About twenty-four hours before a chick is ready to hatch, it starts peeping to notify its mother and siblings that it is ready to emerge from its shell. This activity, which biologists call “clicking,” helps to synchronize the hatching of the baby chicks. A communication network is established among the chicks, and between the chicks and their mother, who must stay calm and unruffled for as long as two days while all the peeping, sawing, and breaking of eggs goes on underneath her. Since some of the chicks may have aborted in the shell during incubation, the peeps inform her how long she needs to continue sitting on the nest....

 

Please read the ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE (PDF)

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