Are Chickens Smarter Than Dogs?

Question

Peta says they are,
but can anyone provide me actual scientific statistics and research explaining this.

Answer 1

I dont know but they certainly taste better

Answer 2

Dogs have been trained throughout the centuries, which is why, I think, they are more intelligent. Not saying chickens are not, but most people do not train their chickens they way people have with dogs. The instincts dogs have learned throughout time is what makes up a lot of their personality and demeaner.

When I was a little girl my parents owned a farm and we raised chickens. I would go out to the chicken coop every day after school and "teach" my chickens. I even had a ruler I would give them a little whack if they didn't listen up. I can tell you those little chickens always came into the coop when they saw me coming because they knew they were going to get attention and they loved it. I think they definately were some pretty intelligent chickens! BTW, I was an only child, so unfortuantely I only had the animals to be friends with till some kids moved in down the street. Also, this was way before video games, so no mean jokes about me playing with my chickens!

Regardless, I think the brain power between those animals are hard to compare because of the amount of time that is spent the animals.

Answer 3

Ok lets cut the cr*p, PETA makes these kind of statements to make you give up meat. It will use any means, lie, cheat, make up facts, to stop you using animals. At the end of the day the more animals PETA saves the better it is for them. If making up some stories that chickens are smarter than dogs makes you eat one less chicken then its done its job.

Answer 4

Chickens are really good at being chickens.
Hens are good mothers when they are allowed to be. All chickens are watchful for hawks and prey birds. I raise chickens and I own dogs. I do think dogs are smarter than chickens in that dogs can learn to do more behaviors that people would ask them to do. Chickens have been bred to lay eggs or grow fast for meat. They haven't had the advantages that dogs have had.
Chickens aren't stupid, but egg layers are smarter than sex-link meat chickens. Just like some dog breeds are more able to do certain things than others, working dogs are generally more capable than lap dogs, for instance.

PETA is stupid. Even my vegan children would agree with that!

Answer 5

There have already been some great answers here. One other thing I've read quite a few times is that chickens can actually communicate with their young when they're still inside their unhatched eggs (fertilized ones of course).

I do believe that chickens are very smart but even if they weren't I don't think this should hold any bearing over how we treat them. A lot of people say it's ok to eat certain animals because they aren't as smart as us... well to be honest I think we're the ones that are stupid. We've lost most of our animal instincts, can't do a lot of things animals can and look what we've done to our planet. And there are some humans who haven't got as much intelligence of some animals... the young, mentally handicapped or people in comas for example might have limited brain activity but that doesn't mean we should treat them with any less compassion.

Answer 6

I've no idea about formal research but we have many chickens at our place.

They recognise thier names
They come when called
They know feeding times and where the food it.
They know where thier home is
They hunt in packs
They recognise many individual people and can spot strangers

Can dogs do much more than that ??

"tricks" that are taught by repetition don't count as intelligence. If fact, you could argue that an animal that doesn't give in to learning stupid tricks is smarter than one that learns them for no reason other that to receive food and petting which they woudl have received anyway.

Who knows, maybe chickens are consciously thinking " I ain't doing what you want you human idiot"

If we are going to base which animals we eat on how smart they are then there's a few contributors on this site who'll be in trouble.

Answer 7

If i bothered to care about everything peta says, i wouldnt get anything done.

i dont like peta. they engage in sensationalism and fantaticism, which i believe harms a cause more than it helps it.

As for the intelligence of chickens, i mean, they are smart enough not to cause wide scale pollution of the earth or make atom bombs or torture other beings...

but seriously, they are part of the bird family so i guess they would have a bit of intelligence, as birds are very smart.

i think it would much depend on the breeds and whatever training they had both had.

Answer 8

Well, um, that's an usual question and I'll give you the best answer I have.......NO! Have you ever seen chickens leading blind people around and helping police officers? I DON'T THINK SO! Trust me, dogs are WAY smarter than any chicken is. Think about it.....

Answer 9

My dog is sitting on my bed watching TV right now.

My friend fed her tandoori chicken from the Indian buffet yesterday.

That's evidence enough for me.

Jeez: I never heard this "chickens are smarter than dogs" thing before. I was just trying to say that dogs usually get a better deal than chickens, or at least our culture makes it look that way.

Answer 10

I think they are equally intelligenet. They develope social orders, they try to adapt to their environment, have fears, and they are protective of their young. We used to havea chicken that would come when you called his name. He would even peck at you for attention and put his head under year hand to get pet just like a dog.

Answer 11

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/11/15/nhen15.xml

"Studies by other researchers have shown that the birds have the ability to understand that an object, when taken away and hidden, nevertheless continues to exist, a feat beyond the capacity of small children. They are also good at solving problems."