New research reveals hens blush when scared or excited

By Stephen Beech via SWNS

Hens blush when they are scared or excited, reveals new research.

Domestic chickens use flushed skin and feather fluffing to display different emotions and levels of excitement, say scientists.

French researchers found that hens fluff their head feathers and blush to express different emotions.

Study leader Dr. Cécile Arnould explained that facial expressions are an important part of human communication that allows us to convey our emotions.

Scientists have previously found similar signals of emotion in other mammals including dogs, pigs and mice.

But although birds can produce facial expressions by moving their head feathers and flushing their skin, it was unclear until now whether they expressed emotions in the same way.

To investigate, the research team filmed 18 female domestic chickens from two breeds, as they performed routine behaviors on a French farm.

They also filmed the birds while being captured and held by a human, and while being rewarded with an appealing food.

The team analyzed the position of the birds' facial feathers and the color of the exposed skin on their faces in seven contexts that differed in their emotional valence and level of excitement.

For example, birds preen their feathers when they are relaxed and content, whereas receiving rewarding food generally causes excitement and happiness, and being captured is an exciting but fearful experience.

Dr. Arnould, of the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), said: "The results suggested that the position of the head feathers and the color of the skin varied between contexts.

"Fluffed head feathers were mainly associated with a state of contentment, whereas blushing indicated that the birds were positively excited or fearful.

"Hens tended to have redder skin in contexts associated with excitement, and in those that caused negative emotions.

"In situations that caused both excitement and a positive emotion, the birds displayed an intermediate skin redness, indicating a continuum of blushing that can convey subtle emotional changes."

The study, published in the journal PLOS One , is the first to investigate facial displays of emotion in chickens and suggests that domestic hens use facial expressions to show their emotions, much like humans and other mammals do.

The research team says their findings offer a window into the emotional experiences of domestic birds, which could be used to improve the welfare of farmed poultry.

Dr. Arnould added: “The skin blushing on the face of the domestic fowl is a window into their emotions.

"The intensity of the blushing varies within a few seconds depending on the emotional situations they experience.”

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