Maybe you are familiar with this situation: a group of crows is searching for food in a meadow. Suddenly one of them gives an alarm call and all birds fly off.
When animals live in groups often one of the group members will warn the others when it detects danger. Additionally, wild animals often react to alarm calls of other species, especially if they have common predators.
Domesticated animals also warn members of their group about danger. Free-range chickens behave appropriately when another chicken gives an alarm call. But do they react to alarm calls of wild birds? This is a valid question since, first of all, chickens were bred for hundreds of years for their meat or egg laying rather than survival skills. Secondly, most of the time humans provided at least some protection against predators. And lastly, unfortunately, in recent decades most of the chickens lived (and still live) indoors, completely isolated from nature and any predation besides humans.
Recently scientists decided to check if chickens respond to alarm call of wild birds, and specifically great tits. These bird species are both preyed upon by for example buzzards and goshawks. Researchers installed speakers on a free-range farm of Naked Neck chickens in France and played recordings of either great tits’ alarm calls or of their songs.
For the majority of the time hearing great tit alarm calls, the chickens were vigilant – they kept an erect posture and scanned their surroundings. When great tit songs were played the chickens spent less than half of the time vigilant.
At this moment it is unclear whether the response to alarm calls is instinctive or learned. However, if you plan to open a free-range chicken farm, it may be profitable to do it somewhere where many song birds live, even if they sometimes steal some chicken food.
Photos: Great tit – Petr Ganaj from Pexels.com; Naked Neck chickens – Simone Ramella from Rome, Italy – Corte Cecina, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3830746
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