Re: chickens eyesight

Amy Blankenship wrote:
I've often wondered how much of a sense of smell they have. It seems that you can have feed within easy reach of them (such as in a bucket where they could get it if they looked over the edge into it, but can't easily see it without an effort) and they will ignore it. A mammal would be into it immediately because of the smell.

Huh, tell that to my cats. Throw them a snippet of meat trim and if they see it land right in front of them they're into it like a rat up a drainpipe, otherwise it's sniffle snoofle, O dear, I could have sworn there was something....

My late lamented blind chook Ruby, on the other hand, once she had learned to find the bowls of water and grain/mash by following the sound of other chooks (little did she know it was me with a stick "pecking" in the bowls), no worries, she was well able to look after herself. OK so I put the dishes in pretty much the same place on the mezzanine floor, but what struck me as very smart was the quick way she found the greens I threw in for her and the rabbit and guinea-pig with whom she lived. I concluded that she had a good sense of smell since I didn't throw them in exactly the same spot, and sometimes she was on the mezzanine when they landed on the "ground floor".

A L P


-Amy

<dh@.> wrote in message news:9lft239ihbvp85878u93qkfrfeepnf1kbo@xxxxxxxxxx

On Tue, 24 Apr 2007 19:52:05 GMT, "Keith Kent" <nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


I have a hen with a poorly eye,so whilst i was looking into one of the eyes
it got me thinking?What do chickens see?Do they see what we do.
Just curious!
Thanks keith

No, they couldn't. Their eyes are on the side of their head, so they
have a *much!* broader field of view that we can't even imagine. Also,
notice that often when looking up they will tilt their head to the side.
Apparently they see okay looking straight ahead, since that's what
they do to fly up on a pearch or when something gets their attention
quickly. I've often tried to imagine what it would be like to have their
field of view, but of course will never be able to do it.




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