Chickens seem to have the whole civilized disagreement down to a science.
Have you heard the term "hen pecked?" Ever thought about where that came from?
When one looks at the flock on the farm, he or she would see normally see calm chickens, clucking and cooing softly, grazing among the browning turf looking for a stray bug that has decided to peek out from a cover of warm earth or some lingering strands of green grass.
The second a tasty morsel of something such as an earthworm or some other such large creature appears, the treasure hunter chicken excitedly clucks, not being able to contain her excitement, and all of the others come running. It instantly turns into a game of keep-away with the bird that found the tidbit running frantically from the others who are chasing it all clucking excitedly, hoping for a bit of the goodness.
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It’s over in a matter of seconds, usually ending with the finder gulping down whatever it is quickly, and then the flock resumes to its usual business of browsing, scratching and doing whatever chickens do.
Occasionally, a tiff between two chickens will ensue, resulting in one being “hen pecked” to remind him or her of the place in the flock. This happens between hens, between roosters or sometimes between an older hen and a young rooster. I’ve never seen a rooster pick on a hen. I guess he’s too busy trying to flirt.
Usually, a few strategic pecks at the head, neck or back of the offending chicken cause the less dominate bird to back away, clucking what I can only imagine is a “OK, sorry, sorry” from the bird, and all returns to peacefulness. Birds have this disagreement thing figured out.
No one holds grudges, gives a lingering evil eye, doesn’t invite them over for dinner … the list goes on. They resume to doing what they enjoy doing — looking for that next gulp of food and scratching along the ground. That sounds like a pretty good life.
Until the next time…
Stephanie Strothmann owns Purple Shamrock Farm LLC in rural Seymour. Read her blog at whattheclucker.blogspot.com. Send comments to [email protected].