Chicken's interesting vision

 

Chicken's Vision

Chickens have different things about their eyes than we do; 

Monocular vision,

Different eyes for different tasks,

Motion vision,

and Ultraviolet vision.

Monocular vision:

People have what is called binocular vision. That means both eyes work together to form one image. But chickens have monocular vision. They still have two eyes, but they are widely separated on each side of their head. So they can see a very wide field of vision -- 300 degrees!

This helps them watch for predators easily. Ever tried sneaking up on a chicken? You just can't.

Different eyes for different tasks:

Surprisingly, a chicken's left eye excels at focusing on distant objects, such as predators, or their own flock, whereas their right eye is good at close focus, such as when searching for bugs and worms. It's kind of queer to know that your backyard friend IS looking out for you.

This is why chickens tend to tilt their head or eye you with one eye when looking at you

Motion vision:

Chickens need to perceive easily moving objects for a couple of reasons. First, it helps with finding little insects on the earth, and secondly, it aids in watching for predators.

Fortunately for the birds, a double cone structure in their retinas provides them with better motion perception than we have. They're more likely to notice something moving, basically.

Ultraviolet vision:

Understanding color in your chickens' vision is pretty cool. What we think of light -- meaning the shining sun and the colors of the world -- is just one small piece of the much broader electromagnetic spectrum. Our eyes are receptive to that portion of the spectrum, but there are other portions to it that we can't see, like X-rays and...

Ultraviolet light. Chickens vision is interesting because they can perceive ultraviolet light. This is in addition to the portion of the spectrum that we humans can see. It's impossible to imagine what this looks like to chickens, but we can make some educated guesses. Chickens can probably look at a rainbow and see an additional band. 

What's also interesting about this extra part of the spectrum is that certain foods that chickens look for, such as insects, seeds and some fruits are easier to see in ultraviolet light. Feathers also have a distinctive look in ultraviolet light, and mother hens may use this fact to evaluate which chicks are males or females. (I think that's pretty cool)

Source: ChickensMagazine.com

Chicken owner tips:

If you are a chicken owner, here are some tips!

• Get a chicken coop light at a high refreshing rate 
• Avoid fluorescent light fixtures in your coop

Thank you for reading this article!

Colette Wiering