in defense of chickens

[Guest guest]

Chickens are definitely as smart as most dogs. Maybe

not the Border Collies, but your average dog, sure.

The heirloom breeds anyway. Here's some little known

chicken facts.

1. Chickens have over 200 distinct noises that they

use for communicating. They have not just a special

cluck for predators, but clucks that specify which

predator.

2. If a chicken sees a predator, and she's alone, she

won't make any noise--she'll hide instead. But if

she's with her flock, she will sound the alarm. In

other words, she'll put herself in danger to warn the

others.

3. Chickens have a cluck that means " yummy food over

here. " If a rooster sees a particularly nice looking

hen, he will make cluck the " yummy food " cluck in an

attempt to lure her closer.

4. One time when my chickens had run out of grain

(they have plenty of pasture and bugs, but they still

like their grain), the head hen (a Black Australorp

named Good Night) hopped over the fence and came down

to the house and right up to the back door to tell me.

On no other occasion did she ever hop the fence etc.

When I came out, she turned around and went back to

the chicken house.

5. A story from Robbin's book that I've always

loved. A mother duck died leaving a nest of orphan

baby ducks. A farmer took pity on them and put them

in with his chickens. One of the older hens adopted

them. The humans all thought it was funny that the

chicken couldn't tell that they were ducks and got a

lot of laughs out of watching her with them. Now, a

duckling with a duck mom will get protective oil from

her mother's feathers--this is what protects them from

water, so they can swim. Without a mother duck sitting

on them, babies can't be let into the water until

they're a few weeks old and have started to produce

their own oils. The day came when the ducklings were

old enough to swim on their own--and the hen marched

them down the lane to a small stream and one by one

pushed them all into the water! I imagine the humans

just stood there with their mouths hanging open.

6. In ancient Rome, one of the highest compliments you

could pay someone was to say " You were raised by a

hen " because everyone knew what great mothers hens

are. The compliment meant that you had impeccable

manners.

Lierre

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