Chicken

Animal Series

by Annie Potts

No creature has been subject to such extremes of reverence and exploitation as the chicken. Hens have been venerated as cosmic creators and roosters as solar divinities. Many cultures have found the mysteries of birth, healing, death and resurrection encapsulated in the hen’s egg. Yet today, most of us have nothing to do with chickens as living beings, although billions are consumed around the world every year.

 

In Chicken Annie Potts introduces us to the vivid and astonishing world of Gallus gallus. The book traces the evolution of jungle fowl and the domestication of chickens by humans. It describes the ways in which chickens experience the world, form families and friendships, communicate with each other, play, bond, and grieve. Chicken explores cultural practices like egg-rolling, the cockfight, alectromancy, wishbone-pulling and the chicken-swinging ritual of Kapparot; discovers depictions of chickenhood in ancient and modern art, literature and film; and also showcases bizarre supernatural chickens from around the world including the Basilisk, Kikimora and Pollio Maligno. Chicken concludes with a detailed analysis of the place of chickens in the world today, and a tribute to those who educate and advocate on behalf of these birds.

 

Numerous beautiful illustrations show the many faces (and feathers and combs and tails) of Gallus, from wild roosters in the jungles of Southeast Asia to quirky Naked-Necks and majestic Malays. There are chickens painted by Chagall and Magritte, chickens made of hair-rollers, and chickens shaped like mountains. The reader of Chicken will encounter a multitude of intriguing facts and ideas, including why the largest predator ever to walk the earth is considered the ancestor of the modern chicken, how mother hens communicate with their chicks while they're still in the egg, why Charlie Chaplin’s masterpiece required him to play a chicken, whether it’s safe to take eggs on a sea-voyage, and how “chicken therapy” can rejuvenate us all. This book will fascinate those already familiar with and devoted to the Gallus species, and it will open up a whole new gallinaceous world for future admirers of the intelligent and passionate chicken.

 

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, History, Nature, Birds, Science, Natural History

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2012

Reviews

[g-na · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book, apparently one in a series each about various animals. This volume is all about the common barnyard chicken and tells us of its origins, a bit about its biology, and describes chickens in art, culture, and lore. There is also extensive information here about the sheer cruelty behind commercially raised chickens; presumably if you're reading this book you at least somewhat like chickens as animals, so it is important to know what happens to bring billions of chicken and egg meals to the table.

A fact I found particularly interesting is that using the term "chicken" disparagingly is a relatively new thing, coinciding with "twentieth-century industrialization and the consequent invisibility of actual chickens from the lives of modern-day consumers." Prior to that, "roosters and hens have been admired for their vigilance, courage and loyalty to family or flock" which is quite a sad reflection on the way food animals are treated.

[Poppy Fitzgerald-Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned so much about chickens! Cried a little bit! Very good!

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought it for work, for which it was only marginally useful (I wanted to know more on eggs). Bloody riveting on chickens though. Brilliant book.

[Georgina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly brilliant book

[Martha☀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

For such a thin little book, Chicken packs in a huge amount of information. It traces the 10 000 year history of chickens co-habitating with humans, from chicken bones found in ancient middens to cave art and Egyptian drawings. For thousands of years, Chickens have had an impact on humans for entertainment (cock fighting), nourishment, and companionship. Following their glorification in the post-war era to their current state of degradation in factory farms, Potts gives a complete and concise account of their lives and enslavement. Proving that their intelligence and sensibilities are far beyond our comprehension, Potts leaves you with a drive to stop consuming factory produced chicken products - from battery laid eggs to mcnuggets; from dog food to featherless meat birds. Anyone can easily see that our current mistreatment of chickens is cruel and unsustainable.
A great read!

[Kelly Egan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great book. So informative and easy to read and beautiful! I am such a chicken fan, and I learned so much about the history of these birds, and how far they've come, and how far we've degraded them.

Annie Potts was one of my all time favourite lecturers, and I truly think she's a remarkable teacher and author. Totally, one hundred percent recommend this book to everyone who loves chickens or who just wants to learn more about them. Be prepared to cry though - human treatment of chickens is brutal and horrifying. But it wasn't always. Maybe one day in the future, it won't be again.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

You will never eat commercial chicken or mass produced eggs after reading this, not just because of the matter of fact description of industrial chicken farming, but also because of the rediscovery and description of the chicken's dignity and beauty. It appears to part of a series-which I will look out for.

[Amy]

I highly recommend this book for anyone who eats chicken and/or eggs. This isn't some animal rights propaganda with a pro-vegan agenda. It's a very well researched book about chickens; how humans view them, how humans have and still do treat them, and how they fit into human culture.

[Doug Millison]

Not everything I wanted to know about chickens but a good start; recommended