Fascinating Chicken Facts for Kids

Chickens are well known for many things; for their eggs, their delicious meat, or in farming. But what we do not know is, they have much more fascinating facts that we haven’t even thought of. They are the most common birds and are mostly known for their domestication and for their famous morning routine bangs, “Cock-a-doodle-doo”. However, many more interesting facts about them are above their eggs and their meats.

Fun Facts and Information About Chicken for Children

Chickens are the most complex creatures that behave like humans on some front. Although they seem like little cute creatures, they have many qualities and nature that cannot be predicted easily. Look into these 25 little and surprising chicken facts for preschoolers that might interest you and push you to learn more.

• Chickens dream, like humans: Like humans dream, chickens are also the species who dream. Have you ever seen a chicken’s eyes while it’s sleeping? It consistently moves. 
• They can live up to 25 years: It might sound surprising that chickens can live up to 25 years of age. Although their average age is 10-15 years, the life span is short for those staying on farms as they are taken away for their meat within 1-2 years. However, in the wild, they can survive up to the age of 25 years.
• They have vision power: The eyes of the chickens are very powerful. They can move their one eye and have a field vision of 300 degrees to keep a look out for their predators and foods.
• Chickens have the most colorful vision: Yes, it’s right. Unlike most animals, chickens are not color blind. They have excellent eyesight, even better than humans. They can even distinguish the different shades of colors more effectively than humans.
• Chickens are emotional like humans: Chickens can feel the pain and emotions just like human beings. They feel all sorts of human emotions like frustration, boredom, and happiness. 
• They eat almost everything: Chickens are omnivores. They eat almost everything that they can overpower, like small insects, mice, grains, etc. If they are not satisfied with the food, they can eat their own eggs too.
• They are different from one another: Although all the hens and chickens look the same in appearance, they are actually different from each other. There are more chickens compared to any other bird species in the world.
• They have excellent memories: Apart from being intelligent, they have excellent memories, just like elephants. You will be shocked that they can remember more than 100 faces of their own species.
• Egg-laying: A mother hen approximately lays more than 300 eggs in a year and approximately seven eggs a day. It is a fascinating fact that a hen rolls its egg 50 times a day. 
• There are more chickens, fewer humans: There are approximately more chickens on this planet if you compare it to the number of humans.
• The color of their eggs: Do you know the color of the eggs laid by a hen depends upon the color of their earlobes. If the color of the earlobe is red, the color of an egg laid is brown, and for the ones with white earlobes, the color of the eggs is white.
• They bathe with dust: They use dust to clean themselves. For removing dirt and oils from their body, they dig up a small pit in the Earth and take dust baths. 
• They are excellent mothers: The mother hens, like humans, talk to their chicks in their eggshells. They even teach the chicks their language before they hatch. The chicks respond to the mother by chirping back from the shells.
• They can run miles: Chickens are excellent runners. They run very fast and can even run up to nine miles per hour.
• They love music: It is found in studies that the chickens who listen to classical music lay bigger and heavier eggs. This proves that humans are not only the only creatures who love music.
• Their unique languages: Chickens are believed to have their own language that they use to communicate. It is also believed that they use approximately 30 different varieties of sounds to communicate within themselves.
• They are not flightless: Breaking the fact that chickens are flightless birds, they are actually not flightless. They can fly. However, their flights are small and can cover up to the boundary or fence areas.
• They have more water: As compared to human beings, chickens are believed to have 15% more water content in their body than human beings.
• They live even after death: As shocking as it sounds, a chicken’s body is active even after its head is cut off and can run-up to the length of a football field before dropping dead.
• They are used for cockfighting: Nowadays, chickens are domesticated and farmed for eggs or eating purposes, but in earlier days, the chickens were mainly domesticated for cockfighting.
• They can be hypnotized: Wow! This is a very interesting fact that hens and chickens can be hypnotized. By drawing a straight line in the front of their beaks, they can be induced into the hypnotic state.
• They know who’s the boss: Chickens have an appalling and yet complex form of social structure. This social structure is known as “pecking orders.” The intriguing fact is every hen knows their social status on the ladder.
• They are feared: They are fearful when we enter their coop. However, if you will enter their coop backwards, they tend to be less fearful and nervous.
• Older ones lay big eggs: It is a fact and has been researched that the older hens lay a fewer number of eggs as compared to the younger ones, but the eggs they lay are bigger than the younger one’s eggs.
• What they taste: As the taste of the hens is considered, they can be considered to have every taste, but it is researched that they can taste the saltiness but no sweetness.

Apart from humans, there are many species that have different facts about their nature and behavior that are not known to all. These hen facts for kids are small examples that every species in the world, however small or big, has its own different nature. So we mustn’t consider them useless as everything has its importance.

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