How long do chickens remember?

No doubt you know that your chicks remember you! I’m sure you can see them respond to you and certain other people quite instinctively. I’m also sure you’ve noticed they are keenly aware of feeding time, and where the food is normally served up.

Clearly, they remember your face and food. But, what else do they remember and for how long? While science cannot give us an answer (yet) on how long their memory lasts, it has been proven that chickens do remember some things very well.

Food source and placement, faces and voices, painful or traumatic events-they are all on chicken recall. Over time, you may notice your chickens react a certain way repeatedly to specific situations. Maybe a brown dog scared them once and now, brown dogs seem to stimulate the same response every time. And, you’ve probably experienced them react to your voice long before you get to the coop. Our social, intelligent, emotional little friends do indeed have great memories.

We’ve all seen videos of chickens playing games or even mathing! Definitely proof of longer term memory. By the way, if you have an interest in teaching pet tricks to your feathered friends, food rewards go a long way to reinforcing game memory with chicks. Like me, they don’t forget the yummy snacks!

Rachel Hutchins
Rachel Hutchins
The Chicken Bawks Copyeditor. Believer. Seeker. Mom. Wife. New Grandma! Crazy Kansas City Chiefs Fan. And of course, Chicken Tender.

March 22, 2023

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