Chickens can certainly teach us a lot about life, humor included. Their comical antics and unique personalities offer endless amusement. Whether it’s their dramatic reactions to a simple treat, their serious squabbles over the best dust-bathing spot, or their completely nonsensical but highly earnest clucking conversations, they provide a constant source of lighthearted entertainment.
Their ability to find joy in the smallest things—a freshly turned patch of dirt or a sunbeam on the coop floor—serves as a gentle reminder not to take everything so seriously and to appreciate the simple pleasures in life.
Here are a few other things that I learned looking after the neighbour’s chickens (and three guinea hens) this past Christmas . . .
1. chickens see more colours than humans so walking in the coop sporting lots of colour is like flipping a switch on a neon sign . . . you are bound to cause an uproar ;(
2. don’t count your eggs before they are collected, or rather removed from the coop, as chickens are naturally curious and can break eggs that they are pecking at with curiosity . . . in fact, they can break all the eggs in seemingly seconds ;(
3. the circle of life is real and sometimes brutal ;(
4. some days you are just going to get crapped on so don’t let it ruin your day ;(
Following are some of my favourite chicken quotes:
I dream of a better tomorrow where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Boys, I may not know much, but I know chicken poop from chicken salad – Lyndon B. Johnson
Ain’t nobody here but us chickens – Song lyrics, Louis Jordan
The Sky is falling! – Chicken Little, childrens fable
Sticking feathers up your butt does not make you a chicken – Chuck Palahniuk
I feel like a carton of eggs holding up an elephant – Sherman Alexie
Left wing, right wing, chicken wing, it don’t make no difference to me – Woody Guthrie
Curses, like chickens, come home to roost – Susanna Moodie
If you dream of becoming an eagle, you follow your dreams and not the words of a bunch of chickens – Penny Johnson Jerald
It may be the cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs – Margaret Thatcher
