New Hampshire author and naturalist Sy Montgomery has dedicated books to hummingbirds, turtles, octopuses and many more animals.
In her newest book ‘What the Chicken Knows,’ she takes us into the coop and shares the rich and varied lives of these birds. Montgomery joined NHPR’s All Things Considered host Julia Furukawa to talk about the book.
Transcript
So you've written about many animals, including those that have touched your life. What is your experience with chickens?
[For] most people, their most intimate relationship with a chicken is of a culinary nature. Dead and cooked is never the best way to meet someone.Sy Montgomery
Well, I've had 20 years of experience with chickens living with me, sometimes on my head, in my sweater [or] walking across my keyboard. I have discovered that this animal that everyone thinks they know is certainly not the dirty, stupid, ignorant creature that just walks around saying ‘bok bok bok.’ These ladies, and the roosters as well, have an awful lot to teach us. They have extremely complex lives and they're just a source of constant delight and wonder.
So do you feel like chickens kind of had a bad rap before this?
They totally do. I think part of this is because [for] most people, their most intimate relationship with a chicken is of a culinary nature. Dead and cooked is never the best way to meet someone. You're not at your best at that point. This, I think, is why we underappreciate chickens. But everyone knows a chicken. Everyone can identify a chicken. Even if you can't tell a robin from a crow, you know what a chicken looks like.
Could you tell us a little bit more then about maybe some of the misconceptions we might have about chickens?
Well, chickens have a great sense of social order. Chickens will recognize over 100 different faces, and they recognize each other by their faces. They know lots of individuals and their relationships are extremely important to them.
So I want to talk about anthropomorphism. That's the idea that people often project our human traits onto animals. And you bring this up in the book after you describe your chickens personalities and maybe the flock personalities too. Do you think you humanized your chickens – gave them human identities?
Well, we often project onto other people what we would like them to think and behave. So I'm aware that we do that kind of thing. Chickens have some of the same behaviors that we do, but they don't have others. To think that animals do not think and feel and know, I think that, anthropocentrism, is far more dangerous than anthropomorphism. On the other hand, if all animals had exactly the same motives as humans, fish would ask to be taken from the water and your dog or cat would not lick under its tail during the dinner party. They have different stuff going on than we do.
What would be your advice for someone who wants to keep chickens? And maybe for the first time?
Well, first I would say [you should] realize that there is a possibility that there is a rooster coming into your life. Because unless you specifically order from a place that has sexed them, it's very possible you're going to get a rooster. And many people are not happy with their rooster.
And some places don’t allow roosters, right?
Yes, because of their crowing.
The other thing that I would advise people getting a flock of chickens—I mean, obviously you want to be able to care for them. You want them to be able to be outside. You want them to be able to find delicious bugs. You want them to be able to find a nice patch of dirt where they can dust bathe, and you want to make sure that they're not going to be picked off by predators.
But in terms of enjoying your chickens, I would say just watch. Watch and listen. I actually had a baby monitor that I put down by the barnyard. And so I would be writing to the sound of their lilting chicken voices.
