Chatty chicks Did you know chicks start communicating before they hatch? Inside the egg, developing chicks begin to hear sounds during the final days of incubation. They can recognise and respond to vocalisations, especially the gentle clucks of their mother hen and will often cheep back from inside the shell. This early communication helps synchronise hatching and allows chicks to bond with their mother before they even see the world. When a hen talks softly to her eggs, she’s doing more than m