More about hens
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"Chickens are complex, intelligent, and social animals.
... In nature, chickens live in stable social groups comprised of up to 30 other birds ... The flock mates coordinate their activities, so they dust bathe, forage, rest, and roost together. The birds recognize each other by their facial features and prefer the company of those they know, avoiding chickens unfamiliar to them.
Chickens use their sensitive beaks like we use our hands—for exploring their surroundings, picking up items, feeding, and more. They search for food by scratching with their claws and pecking with their beaks more than 10,000 times in a single day.
These birds also form strong family ties. A mother hen begins bonding with her chicks before they are even born. She will turn her eggs as many as five times an hour and softly cluck to her unborn chicks, who will chirp back to her and to one another. After her chicks have hatched, the devoted mother dotes over her brood, teaching them what to eat, how to drink, where to roost, and how to avoid enemies. Young chicks separated from their mother huddle together at night for a couple of months, eventually lining themselves up on a perch and roosting like adults.
Chickens are intelligent animals and good problem-solvers. ... they use separate alarm calls depending on whether a predator is traveling by land or in the sky. Australian scientists recently discovered that some hens emit high-pitched sounds to signal they have found food. The more they prefer a particular food, the faster they "speak."
In the wild, a mother hen will threaten other hens who come within 20 feet of her chicks. Chickens will also fight with eagles and foxes to protect their kin."
More at http://www.hsus.org/farm/resources/animals/chickens/
