Many people think chickens are vegetarians, yet they also consume insects, lizards, toads, and mice.
Everyone with backyard chickens knows their chickens recognise them and their family. They can recognise dogs and cats.
Many assume chickens have poor eyesight and are colorblind, yet their colour vision is greater than humans due to a well-organized eye with five types of light receptors.
Chickens, like humans and other mammals, have a REM (rapid eye movement) sleep phase that represents dreaming.
Chickens can make at least 30 different vocalisations, each of which indicates something different.
The breed of a hen determines the colour of her eggs. Leghorn hens, for example, lay white eggs, while Orpingtons lay brown eggs and Ameraucanas lay blue eggs.
Chickens are the closest living related to T. rex. One lineage of dinosaurs escaped the cataclysmic extinction 65 million years ago: birds.
Chickens outnumber humans four to one and outnumber any other bird species on the planet.
As intelligent creatures, chickens are frequently spotted playing—running, jumping, and jousting with others in the flock.
They can run up to 9 mph in brief bursts, but their true strength is their ability to turn on a dime.