ANATOMY

Detailed explanation-1: -When chickens eat, they use their beaks to break up their food by pecking it or beating it against the ground to break off smaller pieces. The food is then swallowed whole, without chewing and is stored in the crop before moving to the gizzard.

Detailed explanation-2: -Chickens don’t have teeth and they’re prey animals, so they can’t waste much time chewing. Instead, they swallow food quickly and store it away in their crop, a pouch-like organ meant solely for storage. It’s the first pit stop for her layer feed. Within the crop, very little digestion occurs.

Detailed explanation-3: -Backyard chickens love to forage. This is an essential yet innate chicken behaviour, once necessary for chickens to survive. Foraging is where chickens will peck and scratch the ground to find tasty morsels. This is how the wild ancestors of chickens would have found food, by scratching with their feed and pecking.

Detailed explanation-4: -The pecking order is, literally, determined by pecking. Bigger, stronger, and more aggressive chickens bully their way to the top of the flock by pecking the others into submission with their pointy beaks. First they strut about, fluff their feathers, and squawk, but if that doesn’t get the point across, they peck.

Detailed explanation-5: -Most chickens aren’t interested in attacking humans. Moreover, hens rarely attack unless they’re sitting on eggs or protecting young chicks. So if you’ve got a broody hen on your hands, just know, it’s natural and normal for her to peck at you, to fluff up, and even growl if you so much as look at her.