Do chickens have real emotions, can they love people?

ALL animals have emotions, including birds. They may not be identical to human emotions but enough research has been done on all sorts of animals to demonstrate that they are more like us than was previously ever thought, including the ability to bond, trust, and have affection. They don't forget if you hurt them either. Also, you get back what you put into the relationship.

They learn who feeds them. I guess that's as close as you can come with chickens - - or children.

I had a red hen that took a liking to me and learned to trust me. They don't really bond much but my hen would gladly take feed from my hand.