Science: Togetherness in Chickens

Why does a chicken cross the road?

A scientific answer: it is probably seeking the company of other chickens, and if it is a young chicken, this sociability indicates that it was raised with other chickens around. These are the findings reported by University of Maine Psychologists Alan Baron and George B. Kish, who measured the effect of early isolation on chicken behavior. They hatched 30 chicks in a dark incubator. Ten chicks were then moved to individual cubicles, getting no chance to see one another. Ten more were cooped in pairs, and the...

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