Chicken Tales
Friday, December 27, 2024
Chicken Tales
This is not an attempt to move into CynthiaW’s terrain of special animals. It’s more a review of a book review. Victorino Matus at the Washington Free Beacon read the short chicken book from Sy Montgomery, a prolific author of children’s and adult non-fiction books about animals. Her latest is What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World’s Most Familiar Bird.
[H]onestly, what we think we know is these birds aren't very smart (to wit, the term “birdbrain,” not to mention its depiction in pop culture from the Muppets to Moana). But as Montgomery points out, chickens will freely return to their pens at night—sleeping in their own hierarchical arrangement, i.e., a pecking order. Research indicates they are able to distinguish more than 100 other chickens. Roosters supposedly recognize themselves in the mirror.
The rest of the review makes it sound like a delightful read. The Goodreads reviews point out that it’s a short work, coming in at under 100 pages.
Some of you have probably read Montgomery’s work, but I haven’t. This particular work doesn’t sound likely to have taken a very deep dive into the species Gallus gallus and its long history with our species, but I imagine there are books that have handled the subject.
Happy Third Day of Christmas! Today’s special animal friends are three French hens, the Faverolles chicken, Gallus gallus domesticus. This breed was developed in the late 1800s in Faverolles, a town in northern France, by cross-breeding a number of other kinds of chickens. Faverolles has historic buildings and some scenery. It looks like a pleasant place to visit, in an, “Oh, this place exists,” sort of way:
https://www.francethisway.com/places/a/faverolles-aisne.php
Faverolles are a medium-sized and rather stout bird with really cute, fluffy feathers on their feet and legs. They can be grown for either eggs or meat. They weigh from 6 to 8 lbs.; males are larger than females. A healthy female in her prime will lay 150 to 200 eggs per year. The eggs are usually colored light brown or pink. This chicken-farming gentleman likes them very much:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azVAseLmdoY
Faverolles roosters are quieter than most other breeds, and both sexes are docile and easily managed. They should not be kept in a mixed flock with more aggressive breeds, because they won’t grow or lay well if they are bullied and stressed. They are recommended as a poultry pet for children due to their gentleness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJtQ82G7GuU
If your true love gave you three of them today, that would be very thoughtful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DQK4r8Fcso
They have chickens at the stable where D takes riding lessons. If I'm sitting in a lawn chair during her lesson (instead of napping in the car), they'll come sidling up to me on their dinosaur feet and peck my shoes and poke their heads into my purse while making cute little chicken sounds.