DID YOU KNOW?
A HEN will spend on average 15 minutes a day dust-bathing. If she's dust-bathing more often and/or for longer periods, check her for mites. Common signs include spots or wounds on the comb and skin lesions.
POULTRY USE their right eye to look at small details, such as food, and the left eye for novel stimuli such as predators or when looking at something unfamiliar. They have good short and long-distance vision. It's believed their unique eyesight allows them to spot predators quickly and accurately. Poultry can also see UV light.
CHICKS CAN hear by Day 12 of incubation and communicate with each other, egg to egg. It's believed this may help them synchronise hatching times.
Poultry can hear sound frequencies from as low as 20Hz up to 4000 Hz, well below the lower limits of human hearing. Lower frequency sounds play an important role in hen-chick communication. High noise levels (above 80db) reduce egg laying.
RESEARCHERS now believe poultry may possess magnetoreception like homing pigeons, as their beaks contain similar structures (iron-containing sensory dendrites). These are affected by beak trimming – beak trimmed chicks can't find hidden food using a magnetic stimulus as fast as those with whole beaks. Fowl also appear to use a magnetic compass to orientate within their home-range, allowing fast and efficient movement between important places such as feeding areas and their coop.