September Is National Chicken Month!

Chickens are amazing animals who definitely don’t want to be on the menu for any meal. They’re inquisitive, sensitive birds who are thought to be as smart as mammals like cats, dogs, and even primates! So in honor of National Chicken Month, we thought we’d share some super-interesting facts about our fine feathered friends with you:  

• Chickens enjoy watching television and listening to music. Some prefer classic rock, and others like classical music. Who knew?!
• Chickens have the ability to understand that recently hidden objects still exist, something that young children don’t even understand—try it with your little brother.  
• Chickens are able to learn by watching the mistakes of others.
• Chickens can recognize more than 100 other chickens and remember them.
• A mother hen will turn her eggs as many as five times an hour and cluck to her unborn chicks, who will chirp back to her and to one another from within their shells!
• Chickens have more than 30 different cries that they use to communicate, including separate alarm calls depending on whether a predator is traveling by land or sea.
• Just like dogs, cats, and humans, each chicken is an individual with a distinct personality. Some enjoy human company, and others are shy or even a bit aggressive.
  

Kim Sturla, who runs Animal Place, a sanctuary for abused and discarded farmed animals, has seen chickens empathize and show affection for one another. She told us about two elderly chickens named “Mary” and “Notorious Boy” who had been rescued from a city dump. The chickens became friends and would roost on a picnic table together. One stormy night when it was raining very hard, she went to put Mary and Notorious Boy in the barn and saw that “the rooster had his wing extended over the hen, protecting her.”

Pretty cool, huh? Yeah, we thought so too. But chickens raised for food aren’t able to do any of the things that come naturally to them. So give a little bird a break and go vegetarian! Order your very own copy of PETA’s “A Chicken’s Life” comic book and share it with your friends.