Chickens Can Blush When They're Feeling Emotional, And We Should Pay Attention

[Judi Lynn]

30 April 2024
By TESSA KOUMOUNDOUROS

Along with a disgruntled squark, some chickens also blush when you swoop down and scoop them up. A new study suggests that as in humans, this facial skin redness is an indication of an aroused emotional response.

Previous research has demonstrated facial redness can indicate arousal states in birds like macaws and vultures, so University of Tours ethologist Delphine Soulet and colleagues examined this trait to see if it's also an indicator of emotional states in chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus).

With the aid of thousands of stills taken from footage of the chickens, and a specially-designed algorithm the researchers analyzed the level of redness of their comb, cheek, ear lobe, and wattle (the dangly, under-chin skin flaps) during these different scenarios.

"Although our findings are preliminary due to a small sample size," explain Soulet and team, "they hint that less redness in the cheek and ear lobes may indicate calm and contentment states."

In contrast, more facial redness appears to indicate higher emotional arousal, including excitement when encountering a favored food like mealworms, or fear.

More:
https://www.sciencealert.com/chickens-can-blush-when-theyre-feeling-emotional-and-we-should-pay-attention

[Autumn]

1. I've raised chickens. I loved fried chicken. I have a real problem eating chicken.

They are rather smart, they get playful and they can be affectionate. They have people they like and people they don't like.

[mucifer]

2. Do you ever think about the

Cruelty of factory farmed animals? There is so much suffering.

[Autumn]

3. It's a cruel system. I buy from the local farmers but I'm buying more and more

Beyond Beef products. If lab grown meat were made available I would buy it. We went to a restaurant last week and the granddaughter got her grandpa to try tofu. He liked it.

[EYESORE 9001]

4. Even as a youngster, I recognized that chickens are sentient creatures

One of my first gigs (around age 8) was tending a couple dozen chickens. I even operated a crank-driven corn husker to prepare their meal. Even found a market for the corn cobs, which hunters valued as impromptu TP. But I digress.

With chores finished, I took time to observe and interact. I found the one putting up the least resistance to being held and calmed it down, stroking the feathers as I would a cat’s or dog’s fur. Every day afterward, I could scoop up the chicken into my arms without encountering the slightest resistance. I bonded in some small way with that bird, and in my imagination it was sad to see me leave every day.

I’m pretty sure I ate chicken before, during, and after that gig, and, yes, it does bother me if I think about it too much. I say this with a Cajun-spiced chicken breast in the fridge. Thing is, I didn’t know that chicken personally. If that’s a moral shortcoming on my part, I do try to do better.