A Chicken’s Defense Strategies

As vulnerable prey animals, chickens have developed numerous defense strategies for evading predators. Depending on the proximity of a predator, the chicken’s defense strategies may be categorized as either primary or secondary.

Primary Defense Strategies

Primary defenses are always ready for use, whether or not the chicken has detected a predator. Here are some of a chicken’s primary defense strategies:

Blend In

This strategy involves hiding in plain sight by blending into the environment. It is an especially handy strategy for us chicken keepers who want to ensure that our free-range chickens don’t stand out in their habitat.

In general, breeds that developed in a jungle or forest tend to be darker, making them less visible in their shadowy environments. Likewise, chickens of mixed color — such as barring or mottling — have a less distinctive profile, letting them blend in better with a varied habitat.

On the other hand, solid buff chickens are less visible in a monotone desert or plains environment. Chickens with white plumage are a good choice where snow prevails most of the year. In other types of habitat, predators tend to first pick off those chickens with white plumage.

Fast and Flighty

Flighty breeds tend to be small, fast, and feisty. They can be quick to attack in unfamiliar situations. They tend to range more widely than other breeds, but they can also move fast when they need to. And because they are small they can easily hide.

These breeds usually don’t like close confinement. They include the Old English Game chickens often seen roaming country roads, and the feral chickens that plague Hawaii, California, and Florida.

Eat and Run

Having a crop in which to store large amounts of food lets chickens eat a lot at once. They fill up while actively foraging, then avoid themselves being eaten while resting and digesting their recent meal.

Body Heat

A chicken operates at a high body temperature, which (among other things) increases the transmission of data through the chicken’s nerve cells. This allows the chicken to quickly react to incoming information, like the sudden appearance of a predator.

As described in my book What’s Killing My Chickens?, smaller and more vulnerable breeds have a higher body temperature than the larger breeds. And ever-vigilant roosters have a higher body temperature than the hens they protect.

Avoid Notice

Chickens rarely stray far from their coop, where they can quickly hide if they feel the need to avoid being noticed. Free-range chickens will forage more widely if strategically placed bushes or range shelters provide places to hide.

To conceal their eggs from thieves, hens hide their nests. They might tuck them into high grass or under bushes. They might also cover the eggs in twigs, leaves, and feathers.

Perch High

Chickens generally like to perch high up off the ground to evade ground predators. Unfortunately, perching in a tree or on a fence doesn’t offer much protection when it comes to raptors or predators that climb.

Show No Pain

Chickens avoid showing pain, illness, or injury until the condition becomes so severe that they can no longer hide it. They are, as prey animals, avoiding the appearance of weakness and vulnerability. The chicken may eventually seclude itself to further reduce its risk of becoming victim to a predator.

Defense by Association

You hear lots of stories about dogs, even the chicken owner’s own dog, killing chickens. But you also hear lots of stories about dogs that protect a flock of chickens, and even stories about chickens cuddling up to their protective dogs. Chickens that engage in defense by association consort with the enemy in anticipation of being protected should a predator appear.

Physical Weaponry

Physical weapons are primary defenses because they are always present. A chicken always carries around a sharp beak, clawed feet, and strong wings. Roosters, and some hens, additionally have spurs.

Secondary Defense Strategies

Secondary defenses are those a chicken uses when a predator actually attacks. Here are some of a chicken’s secondary defense strategies:

Physical Weaponry

Physical weapons become secondary defenses when they are used to fend off an attack. Beaks normally used for eating and preening can also peck and pinch. Clawed feet that scratch up worms and other tidibits can also kick, scratch, and dig into flesh. A threatened chicken may use its beak and claws at the same time.

Wings that are normally used for balance and flight can cause incredible bruising and pain when a chicken uses them to flog an enemy. And a roosters spurs, well, they are truly defensive weapons that allow a rooster to defend himself, his hens, and his territory against rivals and predators alike.

Alarm Call

Among the first of a chicken’s secondary defense strategies is to issue a danger alarm when it spots — or thinks it spots — an approaching predator. By the nature of the alarm, the chicken indicates whether the predator is approaching by land or by air.

The chicken thus puts the predator on notice that it’s been seen, destroying any chance of it surprising its intended prey. At the same time, the alarm call gives flockmates advanced notice to scurry to safety.

Group Defense

As a member of the flock, a chicken enjoys the benefit by having lots eyes watching for signs of danger. And, compared to a lone chicken, being a member of the flock means each individual chicken has less chance of being picked off by a predator.

Further, as the flock scatters, a predator may pause while trying to focus its attention on which fleeing chicken to pursue. Meanwhile the chickens have more time to get away.

Freeze in Place

When a chicken feels that danger is too imminent to give it enough time to scurry to safety, stress hormones may cause it to squat or freeze in place. The immobile chicken thus becomes less visible to a predator that’s relying on movement to identify its prey.

If the predator gets too close, the chicken may jump up and run. By doing so, it startles the predator. The surprised predator may then pause just long enough for the chicken to get away.

Defense by Bluffing

A cornered chicken may puff out its feathers to make itself appear bigger and fiercer. The chicken may also hiss like snake. The predator then may decide to forgo reckoning with the bluffing chicken. A setting hen uses this strategy in defending her eggs and a broody hen uses it to defend her chicks.

Release Feathers

Guinea fowl are notorious for the self-induced release of feathers when grabbed. Some chicken breeds exhibit a similar tendency. Ameraucanas, for instance, and other especially fluffy breeds may release a handful of feathers when caught.

Scream Bloody Murder

A caught chicken will usually let out a series of loud screams. The purpose of screaming is two-fold. It may startle the predator into dropping the chicken, which then tries to run and hide.

It also notifies flockmates that the caught chicken is in dire need of assistance. A rooster, particularly, may rush the predator, which then has to decide whether to tolerate the rooster’s attack or drop the caught chicken and defend itself.

Stink Bomb

Chickens don’t have a venomous bite. Nor do they emit any kind of noxious chemical spray. But in the face of a serious threaten a chicken may squirt out a particularly slimy and smelly poop.

The predator then must carry the odor around until it’s either groomed off or wears off. The foul odor may repel a predator, depending on its tolerance for stink,

Strategic Escape

When a predator approaches, a chicken’s preference is to duck and run, or fly, to a hiding place. A chicken will stand and fight only when it feels doing so is necessary — such as a hen attempting to defend her chicks.

When it comes to deciding whether to fight or flee, a strategic escape is a chicken’s first choice among its arsenal of defense strategies. As chickens instinctively know, discretion is the better part of valor.