The Private Life Of ... Chickens Ep 2/3

BBC Two · BBC · 14 Jul 2010 · by: BBC

Jimmy Doherty investigates the humble chicken as he continues his series which reveals the hidden lives of the farmyard animals people usually take for granted.

Visiting a farm in Devon, he finds out what really goes on inside its bird brain.

Chickens originated in Southeast Asia and were first domesticated around 8,000 years ago. Today, there are more chickens on Earth than any other bird and, since the arrival of intensive farming in Britain 60 years ago, they have become an increasingly important part of our diet. In 1952 Britons ate one million chickens a year; by the Sixties that had become 200 million chickens annually; and today in the UK around 800 million chickens and 11 billion eggs are consumed each year.

Jimmy conducts a number of experiments to learn more about our feathered friends: he observes them in their social environment to see how the pecking order is determined; he tests their ability to cope with predators by introducing a hawk and a fox to the flock; and he finds out how intelligent they really are by trying to teach them to discriminate between human symbols.

Jimmy feels strongly that we should not take these complex birds for granted – they deserve a little more respect.