In this article, I’m answering a burning question I know you want to know the answer to (that’s why you’re here!) - do chickens have eyebrows?
Table of Contents
Why Do We Have Eyebrows?
Have you ever wondered why we have eyebrows?
I have, but I tend to question everything. So, I can help explain to you why we have those furry lines of hair above our eyes:
The main function eyebrows perform is keeping sweat, rain and so on from running into our eyes. They also act as an extra line of defense against other things getting into our eyes.
Our eyes are one of the most sensitive and complex organs in our bodies. We are designed in a way that we provide decent protection against damaging them.
Our brows stick out a little, the hair on our brows helps capture or redirect stuff from running directly down into our eyes, and we also have eyelashes and eyelids.
We also use our eyebrows to help communicate with each other. Even noticed how eyebrows drawn in a certain way completely changes the facial expression of a cartoon character?
You make gestures and cues with your eyebrows, even if you’re not aware of it. You’ll raise them when you’re surprised, frown when frustrated or annoyed, and so on.
Interesting, eh?
Do Chickens Have Eyebrows?
No, chickens do not have eyebrows.
I say this because, if you look at a chicken you can clearly see they do not have eyebrows. At least, not in the same form that we do.
They do have fur around their eyes, so this provides some protection. But you can’t call the fur around their eyes “brows”.
Now, there are some breeds of chicken that are very furry, like silkies. There are also some breeds that have thicker hair around their eyes, so some of you are probably thinking you’ve seen eyebrows before.
But as I said, having fur or feathers above the eye does not mean they have eyebrows.
Related - Do chickens have eyelashes?
Do Chickens Not Need Eyebrows?
This is the other part of the evidence that chickens do not have eyebrows is they don’t need them.
Chickens are very different from us anatomically. They don’t sweat as we do. Therefore they don’t need a furry line above their eyes to stop sweat getting into their eyes.
But what about rainwater and other stuff I hear you say?
Their eyes are cleverly designed to deflect water and other debris getting into their eyes.
As you can see from the header image above and the other picture above, they have some raised skin to protect their eyes.
Chickens also have feathers, and most importantly a thin, nictitating membrane which is called a “third eye”.
Also, eyebrows are made from hair. All mammals and hair, but birds do not. Birds have feathers, which are very different from hair.
Related - Do chickens sweat? Nope, here’s why.
Conclusion
I hope that’s cleared it up for you. It’s fairly clear that chickens do not have eyebrows and I’ve given you some reasons why they do not need them, so they aren't missing out!
They are perfectly designed to be able to keep their eyes clean and stop anything running into their eyes without a brow to help.
Plus, they don’t need them to communicate either. If your chicken is annoyed by you, do you think they would raise an eyebrow or frown?
It would be pretty cool, but alas it’s just one of the many things that make chickens so unique and different from us.
Resources
Image credits - Header image by Blaz, white chicken image by Tarikul Raana on Unsplash
