One day my bantam cochin hen, Gwen, came clear across the grass fussing and fussing till I asked her if she wanted to go in the house. Together we set out. She hurried ahead of me and hurried in when I opened the door. She needed that door opened for her to get to her cage where she could lay her egg properly, and she knew I could and would do it for her. That is not stupid.
Many people assume chicken are cowards.
We've got to remember they are small birds, and survival instincts tell them to run most of the time when faced with danger. People with companion chickens are struck by their mixture of vulnerability and affection on one hand and their pride and will on the other. Cindy Pollock tells how her bantam hen, Ferguson, would sit for hours in her lap, trilling and clucking, and looking up at her with bright dark shoe-button eyes. People are touched by a hen's pride in her eggs and her determination to hatch a brood once she has a mind to. When the chicks hatched, we heard their peeps and discovered the hen's secret.