A hardware store clerk in Boise once asked me if my chickens had a favorite color.

He was serious, and said his Rhode Island Reds always chose the red feeder over the green one. Has anyone else noticed their birds showing a weird preference like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

dylan233mo ago

That's a funny story, but honestly it sounds like a coincidence. Chickens don't see color the way we do, and they're mostly driven by food. Maybe the red feeder was in a better spot, or the feed in it tasted different. My birds just go to whichever feeder is full, they don't seem to care about the color at all. Could it have been something else about the setup?

scott.mia3mo ago

Yeah, my barred rocks do that too (and @dylan23 might be right about the food thing, honestly).

spencer_ross2mo ago

Wait, hold on. "Chickens don't see color the way we do"? That really threw me. I mean, I know they're not like us with a full rainbow or whatever, but I thought they could at least tell red from green or something. My whole story about the red feeder was based on them picking it over the blue one every single time, and now you're telling me it might not even register to them? That's kind of wild to think about. I guess it makes sense if they're just going for the food position, but it really feels like they had a preference. It's hard to just write off all those times they fought over the red one first.