While it appears that the profiled chickens came from a couple that uses the eggs of their birds, the reason this article ended up at AAFL and in The New York times is the author's marvelling over how chickens defy our rather limited knowledge of their behavior and personalities:
As soon as Isabella came home from school and opened their cage, he [Chirp, actually a she, as they later discovered] would politely stand aside to let Cheep emerge. If she wandered out of his sight, he would squawk and scurry off to find her. Then Cheep would reappear with Chirp at her heels, jump up on Isabella’s arm and hold still to be scratched under the chin.Not news to me or my constant readers, but I'm sure many of you will find the piece useful in disabusing your friends and families of their stereotypes about birds. As usual, the Times requires a free subscription, but you can use bugmenot, if you prefer.
Chirp would observe these proceedings with a cocked head and a quizzical stare, but when Isabella reached down to give him equal time, he would step back — too shy, or too proud, to admit he too wanted to be touched — and make her chase him.
Whoever coined the phrase “dumb cluck” never met our chickens. All I had to do was open the refrigerator door and both would come running.
Please send the editor your letters in support of chickens, the most abused and consumed animal in America. This is a good time to remind readers of the arbitrary distinction between animals kept as pets and those turned into food, and to recommend a vegan diet as a way to eliminate this moral schizophrenia from their diets. Don't forget to include your full name, city, state and phone number in order to increase your chance of being published, and remember that short and pithy letters receive stronger consideration due to space constraints.
Labels: animal intelligence
