September is a fowl month

Sometimes special occurrences have a way of sneaking up without us being cognizant of their arrival, especially those that are for the birds. This is not meant as a derogatory remark since September being National Chicken Month is once more upon us. Couldn't find a scratch of background information in spite of pecking around as to the reason for devoting an entire month to chickens. Perhaps chicken farmers and people in the agricultural community felt that chickens needed a higher profile. Go know.

For people reading this wondering, "what type of background data have you gleaned about chickens , Eleanor?" - your wait is over. According to the www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/14-fun-facts-about-chickens, here are a few highlights:

- the chicken, Gallus gallus domesticus, is a domestic subspecies of the red jungle fowl, a member of the pheasant family that is native to Asia.

- the  bird was probably first domesticated for the purpose of cockfights, not as food.
- chickens aren’t completely flightless—they can get airborne enough to make it over a fence or into a tree.
Now the latter fact comes as a surprise, at least to me. I've always been under the impression that chickens and their ilk were earthbound, fated to scratch and peck the earth. Can't speak for others but I've never actually seen a chicken in flight or stuck up in a tree. Mind you, I've seen photos of roosters sitting on a fence or on top of chicken coops waiting for the sun to put in an appearance on the horizon, in preparation to declare that the day has officially started. Flying chickens, though, are one would imagine, somewhat of a rare sighting in most circles.
- these birds are omnivores. They’ll eat seeds and insects but also larger prey like small mice and lizards.
Yet another I-didn't-know-that fact. Remember this the next time you sit down to a chicken dinner

-  with 25 billion chickens in the world, there are more of them than any other bird species.
-  female chickens are pullets until they’re old enough to lay eggs and become hens. Male chickens are called roosters, cocks or cockerels, depending on the country one lives in.
Another interesting puzzler in the chicken world. Chickens start out being pullets until they're a year old after which they lay eggs and are suddenly known as chickens. Why? I mean, wouldn't it be easier for everyone concerned for them to be known as pullets all their lives? Is there something wrong with being a pullet? To confuse the issue (for me at least) a hen is also known as a female chicken. But I digress.

- in the romance area, a rooster announces that he's found food by emitting a "took-took-took" sound but hens ignore them if they're aware that food is available. Why would a hen want to wait and get it second-hand if it's available free, right? Food first, obviously, before romance. In order to get their attention and in an attempt to impress the hens, roosters perform a dance called, 'tid-bitt-ing' where they make sounds moving their heads up-and-down, picking up and dropping food.

 - researchers have discovered that the female of the species prefer roosters that frequently 'tid-bit' along with larger, brighter combs on their heads. One could deduce from this information that hens are somewhat shallow and will opt for looks rather than personality. But again I digress.

Amazing how chickens have had an influence on our lives and are mentioned in many everyday expressions. Came across  a listing of fowl terms on the www.backyardchickens.com site:

- flew the coop - gone
- up with the chickens - waking early with the sunrise.
- going to bed with the chickens
- like a chicken with it's head cut off (there have been instances where a/chickens have been reputed to live without a head like Mike the Headless Chicken, who was reputed to have survived 18 mos. minus a head  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken)
- shake a tail feather - get moving
 - being chicken - being afraid 
-  sunny side up - cheerful attitude
-  chicken out - not follow through
-  ruffle one's feathers - something annoys you
-  chicken hearted - not brave
-  chickens have come home to roost - the past is catching up (this infers that chickens leave home for a while and if so, one wonders where they go and what they do while gone. Anybody?)
-  rule the roost - to be the boss
-  pecking order - finding your place
-  cock of the walk - to be the boss
-  do chickens have lips? - dumb questions gets dumb answer (love this expression)
-  play chicken - a stand off
-  something to crow about - exciting news to tell
-  chicken scratch - poor handwriting (frequently attributed to those in the medical profession)

All of this is leading up to that age old question or issue that has stumped human-kind for time immemorial: just why did the chicken cross the road?

Thinking further (too much time on my hands, obviously), there is really no reason for any chicken not to cross the road if said chicken wanted to.  The big question is what would induce a chicken to cross the road in the first place
Maybe a chicken would want to cross a road simply because the road is there to cross - or not
Perhaps chickens - some but not necessarily all - can't recognize the existence of a road that's set out in front of them
There could be a possibility that to a chicken, a road is a means of seeking an escape from the tedium and ennui of  being relegated to living out its life in a coop (hence the expression: cooped up)
Then again, perhaps the chicken had already crossed the road, had a taste of what was on the other side and wanted to return to see if what she experienced was real
In conclusion, maybe the chicken crossed the road because she had an urge to cross it, which overcame her better judgement, and she was wiser having arrived at the other side knowing that her life would be the same no matter which side of the road she was on.
Oh the angst of chicken indecision!

Since it's impossible to communicate with chickens in a language that would be compatible to both humans and fowl, it's all pure speculation at best. Merely a peck in the dark.

 

A time to reflect as to the chicken's place in society

In addition to September being the gate-way month into fall, it is also a fowl month. In case people weren't aware of it - can't speak or opine for others but it never crossed my mind - September is National Chicken Month.

In researching chickens on the web, came across some interesting facts about the bird via www.Smithsonian.com blog. These are the type of facts that makes one shake one's head in amazement while uttering, "go figure" or "I didn't know that!':

- the chicken, gallus domesticus, is a domestic subspecies of the red jungle fowl, a relation of the pheasant family and native to Asia. The grey jungle fowl also contributed to the chicken's evolution

- statistically, there are 25 billion chickens on the planet, give or take a couple of thousand who didn't make it into the stats

- they were first domesticated for cock-fights and not for food

- in spite of the general assumption (at least I assumed it) that chickens can't fly, they can with a great effort, make it over a fence or even into a tree. Hopefully, in the case of the latter, there would be no cats lurking in tree branches waiting to be rescued by firefighters... But I digress.

- they are omnivores and enjoy a meal of seeds and insects but - gasp - they also indulge in an occasional meal of nice and lizards. Remember that during your next chicken dinner.

- in the romance area, a rooster announces that he's found food with a "took-took-took" but hens ignore them if they're aware that food is available. The roosters, in an attempt to impress hens, perform a dance called, 'tid-bitting' where they make sounds and move their heads up-and-down, picking up and dropping food. Researchers have discovered that the females of the species prefer roosters that frequently 'tid-bit' along with larger, brighter combs on their heads. One could deduce from this information that hens are somewhat shallow and will opt for looks rather than personality. But again I digress.

- scientists believe the roosters wattle - the dangly thingy under his beak - aids in attracting a hen's attention while performing his tid-bitting.

So this is all leading to that age-old questions which have been perplexing woman/mankind for millenniums: which came first - the chicken or the egg and just why did the chicken cross the street, anyway.

After great thought, it seems logical (at least in my mind) that the chicken had to originate from the egg, initially. However - it's always the 'howevers' in life that get you in the end - there had to be a hen to lay said egg, thus the formula: hen+rooster in the mood=chicks.

Don't want to speak disparagingly but chickens and their ilk are known to have short attention spans. Perhaps - pure speculation on my part - they cross the road merely because there is a road and they want to perpetuate the illusion that chickens enjoy crossing a road, when in effect, they are petrified of becoming chicken fricassee. Then again, how do we really know whether chickens want to cross the road, anyway? Perhaps it's one of those urban legends that have been passed down from person-to-person and chicken-to chicken. When you think about it (too much time on my hands) there is no logical reason for a chicken to cross the road. It`s a fowl day when these issues don`t receive some attention

Eggs-actly.

Talking turkey - do not baste with kitty litter

The holiday of Thanksgiving for those people who celebrate has passed but on its heels so to speak, is Christmas. Both holidays focus on family gatherings and sitting down (or standing as the case may be) for a festive meal with turkey as the main course. Turkey being poultry requires that certain precautions be taken when cooking the bird with some people unsure of how to go about it. This is when the Butterball turkey group who are in the business of selling turkeys and other things fowl, step in to help people out. On a personal observation, there are a lot of human turkeys I've come across in my life but I digress.

The company has set up a consumers Turkey Talk Line in which people can consult for any and all turkey-related issues. Questions can arise like how long should one roast a 25 lb. bird, or how large a turkey to buy for a party of 15 people. Normal, every day questions. Then there are issues that don't fall into the mundane, run-of-the-mill category.

For example after checking his father's freezer, a man from Alabama consulted with the Talk Line to find out about the best way to cook a 30 and then years old-ish bird. It was suggested that perhaps a good way to begin would be to buy a new turkey.

- A woman in her 70's who was cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, called for assistance after her mother(!) told her that she was tired of preparing the big meal and it was time that her daughter learned how. O-kay...whatever...

- Then there's the woman who couldn't figure out why her turkey had no breast meat and was told that her turkey was merely upside down. Or a first-timer who was sobbing her heart out after thawing her turkey and rinsing it in dish soap no less and couldn't get rid of the suds from the bird. At least there would be clean cuts.

- There's oil - and then there's oil a man who called to say that he had cut his turkey in half using a chainsaw and wondered if the oil from the chain would affect the turkey.

Any and all turkey-related questions covering all categories are answered by a team of presumably turkey experts at the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line, a free 24-hour, call-in hot line. It's open to residents living in the U.S. and Canada throughout November and December by calling 1-800-BUTTERBALL. There is a plethora of information for everyone focusing on everything turkey - and then some:

http://www.butterball.com/contact-us#faqs

By the way, I recall a while back somebody forgetting to remove the bag of giblets from inside the turkey cavity and roasting them. Gave it that je ne sais quoi flavor. Thinking further, it just could have been me.

My favorite turkey-related question was posed by a woman who wanted to know if it was all right to cook her turkey on a bed of cat litter. Only if she asks the cat permission.