After caring for six adult chickens for over a year, a friend and I bought six baby chicks to start our own flock. A lot of thought went into buying chicks.
- What breeds produce the most eggs?
- Which ones egg during a harsh New England winter?
- Temperaments?
- Is there a bully breed?
The six adult chickens have a bully in the coop who never misses a chance to pick on the others. We didn’t need another problem child.
- What will the chicks look like as adults?
Good looks weren’t as important to us as egg production, but why not shoot for both? Also, if certain breeds don’t like human interaction, we’d never be able to love on them. Neither of us could handle that.
Once we chose the perfect blend of breeds, we brought home the babies, which we kept in the living room of my friend’s house. Yes, the living room. We wanted the chicks to imprint on us and feel like part of the family, just like we did 34 years ago with our pet turkey.
When the chicks grew into gangly teenagers, we built onto the existing coop to create a duplex. Six adults on one side, our babies on the other and safely out of reach of the bully. The original owner of the six adults got tired of them, so we adopted them as well. Twelve chickens can be chaotic and challenging if you don’t stay one step ahead, but they’re never boring!
My sweet angels. The crookedness of the photo seems to fit their goofy personalities. LOL
While watching both flocks forage, grow, and play, I couldn’t help but draw a parallel between chickens and writers.
Believe it or not, we have a lot in common with these intelligent birds.
Foraging for food: Chickens spend a significant part of their day foraging for food, pecking and scratching at the ground to uncover earthworms and insects. Writers also forage for ideas, observing, researching, and exploring to gather material and inspiration for plots.
Structure and organization: Chickens exhibit a pecking order, a social hierarchy that dictates access to resources like food and nesting spots. Writers also engage in structuring and organizing their work, arranging ideas, outlining, and refining their work to present a coherent and engaging storyline.
Hatching: Just as a chick emerges from an egg after development, writers develop their ideas and create a first draft, which is later refined and polished, much like a chicken preening its feathers for optimal health and function. They also want to look nice. When the teens first saw their reflections, you should’ve seen them hamming it up. Hilarious!
Social interaction and learning: Chickens are social creatures who learn from observing other flock members. Writers learn and develop their craft by observing the works of other authors, studying their techniques, and adapting elements to create their own style and refine their voice.
Communication: Chickens use a variety of vocalizations to communicate with one another, such as alarm calls, contentment clucks, and honks. Writers also use various literary techniques and stylistic choices to evoke emotions in their readers.
Molting: The molting process likens to the challenges and discomfort associated with personal and creative growth.
I’m not the only author to find inspiration in chickens, either through direct observation or by using them as characters and/or metaphors.
- The Chicken Chronicles by Alice Walker
The acclaimed author and poet found inspiration in her flock of backyard chickens, using them as a lens to explore themes of nature, community, and spiritual discovery.
- Jackie Polzin’s Brood
This novel uses a flock of chickens to explore grief and miscarriage, demonstrating how even seemingly simple creatures can carry profound emotional weight.
- The Chicken Books by John Spiers
Inspired by his own flock, Spiers writes fiction for children and blogs about his chickens, offering quirky takes on “chicken economics” and “chicken religion.”
- Jan Brett, another children’s book author, keeps chickens to aid her artistic process, using them as models for her illustrations.
Chickens are highly intelligent, sentient birds with unique personalities, and like fellow writers, deserve our respect and kindness.
Where are my chicken lovers? Have you ever raised chicks? It’s a rewarding and fun experience. What other traits do chickens and writers share?
No chickens or other livestock allowed where I live–they attract predators. That led to an all out ‘chickengate’ in our development, so we got a metal chicken sculpture for our yard.
But my brother has always had chickens, from a rooftop coop on a city apartment building to their own quarters now that he lives in a rural area. They lay eggs, but they’re teeny-tiny ones. Takes about a dozen to make an omelet. Pretty colors, though. My mom had a pair of decorative chickens on her dining room table.
I’ve not thought of comparing writers to chickens, but I enjoyed your comparisons.
A rooftop coop sounds awesome, Terry.
Oh, yeah, people are serious about their chickens. I would have loved to seen chickengate. 😂
*have seen
Don’t have enough tea in me yet.
My friend, the great close up magician Johnny Ace Palmer, does the cups and balls trick, which usually ends with the magician revealing three large items, like lemons, under each cup. But Johnny produces three live chicks! These little cuties cheep and walk around on the table. Then Johnny puts a KFC box on the table and puts the chicks in it.
“Lunch,” he says with a twinkle in his eyes.
Gallows humor for chicken fans, I know. But hilarious.
In suburban L.A. you can have a small number of hens, but no roosters.
Chickens’ favorite actor is Gregory Peck.
I’ve heard L.A. has other forms of life that do a lot of crowing.
Hahaha! Gregory Peck. Good one! The magician’s act sounds hilarious, Jim. 😂
I love the analogies, Sue!
We’ve never owned chickens, but we had an interesting poultry experience a few years ago in Israel. We spent a couple of months in an apartment in an area of Jerusalem called East Talpiot where there were numerous apartment buildings in close proximity to each other. Somebody had a rooster in one of the close-by buildings, and that bird would crow in the middle of the night. That was a mystery. Why would a rooster crow in the dark?
At some point back in the States, we met a chicken farmer. I told him the story of the midnight rooster, and he solved the mystery. He said the owner probably got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and turned on a light which prompted the rooster to crow. Maybe we can make an analogy with that. (Social media?)
Have fun with your feathered friends!
“Why would a rooster crow in the dark?”
Kay, that evoked a book title for me… Crowing In The Dark.
🙂
Thanks, Kay! That’s fascinating about the midnight rooster. Who knew? I love roosters—gorgeous plumage and swagger—but they aren’t necessary for eggs. Maybe once we buy land we’ll get one, though we really want a donkey, mini cow, and goose. 😊
Never had chickens, but my gramma did.
We’d spend at least 2-3 weeks with her on her farm every summer…to give our parents a break from us, no doubt. 🙂
I did not like those chickens. There was a rooster that I remember being as tall as I was, chasing me around the yard whenever I’d try to gather eggs for gramma. Had occasional nightmares about that rooster.
But I sure enjoyed your chicken/author comparisons, though!
Have a great day.
Roosters are temperamental, for sure, Deb. We only have hens, and they’re love bugs.
Glad you enjoyed the comparisons. Have a fabulous day!
We had Wyandotte Chicken back in the late 80s. They were beautiful and since we lived on 200 acres, they roamed free, which was fine until we had a surprise 8″ snow (in Mississippi) and had to climb up in the trees where they roosted to catch them so we could put them in the barn where they wouldn’t freeze.
Enjoyed your post!
Wow, Patricia! Two hundred acres with chickens (and presumably other animals) roaming free sounds like paradise. Wyandottes are beautiful!
Fun post, Sue!
A good friend raised chickens. She’s an exceptionally kind person but she also believed they had to earn their keep by laying. If not, she’d dispatch them.
IRL, I doubt I could wring a chicken’s neck but, from a writing POV, I’ve certainly wrung the necks of various characters or plots that didn’t produce.
Haha! We’re cut from the same cloth, Debbie. An easier way to dispatch is a few drops of ether in a paper bag. Painless for the chicken and the heartbroken human.
They’ll be no killing of our flocks, unless it’s to end their suffering. When they stop producing eggs, we’ll add a senior coop where they can live out their golden years.
My children and I are house hunting. One of the houses we looked at had a next door neighbor with a chicken coop. We move on, but the chicken coop was not the deciding factor.
My nephew has or had chickens. He had a bully. One day the bully tried to bully nephew. Then nephew was down a chicken and up some soup.
Haha! Sounds like a smart move on your nephew’s part, Alan. We did the same to a bully turkey years ago, and our remaining turkey, Lou, couldn’t have been happier about it.
Happy house hunting!
Hi Sue! This is an amusing comparison.
I have raised chickens, both in and outside of the home.
I bought two Ayam Cemani chicks & raised them in my home office until it was warm enough for them to integrate outside into GenPop with the rest of my regular ladies.
(Home office & chicks was a Bad idea; do NOT follow my example! The dust was impossible to keep on top of and the noise during meetings was only funny the first time! Lol!)
But I loved my little Goth Nuggets. Raising livestock definitely does teach you a lot about yourself and nature!
It sure does, Cyn! Had to look up Ayam Cemani chickens. OMG, they’re gorgeous! How’s their temperament? Love black birds. Our Rhode Island Blue steals my breath every time she steps into sunlight and a kaleidoscope of blues and green accent her black plumage.
I don’t know if you’ll see this, Sue, but Ayams are … special. Haha!
I had two sisters. They were as unlike as peas and strawberries.
One was a totally bully. I was forced to sell her to a friend whose children were starting an Ayam breeding line. Keb’s whole demeanor changed around a rooster!
Kita stayed with us for several more years until a stroke took her. She was not sweet, but she was far more manageable than her sister had been! I do miss her.
And their eggs are tiny and a gorgeous matte cream, NOT black as viral nonsense tries to claim.
My grandma grew up on a farm, and she wanted to show us that chickens did not come from the grocery store wrapped in plastic. She bought a dead chicken at the market and showed us how to remove the feathers and pin feathers. She cut it open and we saw all the shell-less eggs developing inside the hen. Grandma insisted they were a delicacy, but we were too grossed out, but we did eat the fried chicken.
Lesson 1: It’s not easy to get to the guts of your novel.
Lesson 2: Writers can be dumb clucks.
Hahaha! Your comment cracks me up, Elaine. 😂 What a fascinating life lesson from your grandmother. I bet those shell-less eggs were delicious, but I doubt I would’ve indulged as a child.
Bwaak!
😂😂😂
Gave me a smile today. Thanks. I have nothing to add except here in my little Michigan hideaway, I drive a half hour out in the sticks for my fresh eggs fix. The eggs are always weirdly motley in color, size and even shape. The egg lady tells me every hen’s output is different. Who knew? The eggs in the store are all the same color and shape.
All I know is they taste so much better! Go hens!
They sure do, Kris! Once you have a fresh egg, with its neon-orange yolk and full-bodied white, there’s no going back to the crap on grocery store shelves. Just the difference in yolk color shows how old store-bought eggs really are, never mind how well the white holds together while cooking. Don’t even get me started on taste. Well, you know. Backyard hens rule! Plus, the various shell colors make the kitchen more festive. 😁 🐓🐣
I don’t know if you’ll see this, Sue, but Ayams are … special. Haha!
I had two sisters. They were as unlike as peas and strawberries.
One was a totally bully. I was forced to sell her to a friend whose children were starting an Ayam breeding line. Keb’s whole demeanor changed around a rooster!
Kita stayed with us for several more years until a stroke took her. She was not sweet, but she was far more manageable than her sister had been! I do miss her.
And their eggs are tiny and a gorgeous matte cream, NOT black as viral nonsense tries to claim.