Fluffy feathers or blushing cheeks? New study shows how to spot happy hens

Hen-barrassed? Researchers have found out that hens blush, and think they know why

Researchers in France have discovered that a hen's facial expressions can reveal a lot about how it's feeling.

By looking at how hens - female chickens - respond to different situations, the researchers found that the animals give human-like blushes when feeling scared or excited.

Blushing is when someone's skin goes redder due to a rush of blood, in humans it is associated with being embarrassed.

In this study the exposed skin around the chickens' faces was monitored to see if it changed colour when they were picked up or heard a loud noise.

The scientists saw that the skin got redder when the birds were in a more stressful situation.

But in a not so human reaction, hens were found to fluff their feathers when they were calm and relaxed.

Research has shown that lots of other animals like mice, dogs, cats and chimps communicate their emotions with facial expressions but less is known about birds.

To study the hens, researchers looked at two groups of chickens.

They set up cameras to film the hens in different states - ones where they would be calm, ones where they would be rewarded with food, and ones where they might be scared.

The researchers looked at the skin redness of the hens' faces during these different emotions to come to their conclusions.

They also found that the hens' feathers spiked up when they were experiencing calm moments during preening or resting.

The new report, published in the journal Plos One, says that the findings could help "explore the emotional lives of birds, which is a critical step when trying to improve poultry welfare."

The idea being that farmers will be able to see whether their chickens are calm and happy or not.