Gack gack go gooook!
Language of hens
Chickens are animals with a complex social life and a pecking order. Behind the different clucking is a language of its own with around 30 different vocalizations, which begins with the communication between the mother hen and the unhatched chick in the egg. After a few days of acclimatization, chicks can recognize their mother by her voice from several metres away.
A mother hen calling her young from a distance, showing them food or asking them to come under her wing makes a completely different sound to a hen that has just laid an egg. There are different warning calls for fly alarms in different degrees of danger and a kind of growling of the hen to defend her young. If a hen’s favorite nest is occupied, she has a special mottling cluck. If you grab a hen too quickly, it can squawk loudly if it doesn’t like the situation. There are also vocalizations that tell the lower-ranking hen to get lost or a general grumbling – because everything sucks
If the cock from a group dies, it is possible that a higher-ranking hen will take over his role and sometimes even make crow-like attempts.
Language of roosters
Roosters also have their own language. With his crowing, the rooster expresses that he has the biggest eggs here and is the boss on the dung heap. He does this to call his hens and to let other roosters know that everything belongs to him.
To keep the harem together, the rooster often gives small gifts to his ladies. Then he makes a noise and the whole flock wiggles in to devour the delicious food that the boss has spotted.
But beware. Sometimes the rooster’s call is just a fake. Then he calls his hens to him to mate with one of them instead of feeding them.
The frequency of crowing can vary depending on the breed . Smaller roosters tend to have a higher pitch than large breeds and are therefore heard further.