Chickens, the new kittens

Cats have always attracted our attention. They are funny, adorable, cuddly and terrifying. Something about their dr-jekyll-mr-hyde at a moment’s notice has fascinated us to the point that we can watch them over and over again. Before the internet embraced the cat obsession, it seemed to be claimed primarily by aged spinsters who would shake a bag making an army of cats descend, a threatening future most hoped we would never experience. Similar to video games and memes, cats have evolved into something nearly everyone is involved in, cat memes have infected our lives and the bizarre fascination has seeped into our daily grind, welcomed in a way we no longer have to be ashamed of.

So is it as chickens are becoming the new kittens. The internet and our extra time in quarantine has inspired us to search beyond cats, something possibly a little more useful during these uncertain times. Over the last few months chicks and chickens have been in high demand, an opportunity for an investment that may not have come for years. New owners are sprouting across the nation, many of them having wanted this since they were a child and held their first chick at a farm or petting zoo, inspiring that first need to see more of these underappreciated darlings.

Something about the feathered, crowing, purring and preening of the average chicken has become wildly popular as an interactive pet that also willingly pops out breakfast from that-place-which-shall-not-be-named (chicken butt). Maybe it’s the excitement of owning a mini dinosaur (although utterly inaccurate) their bizarre mix of reptile-impregnated-my-parrot seems to resonate with many. I like to think it is our underestimating them as dumb birds and then seeing them be quite clever that surprises and entertains us.

My own experience with chicks goes way back when I was a mere child of nine and one of our adult hens went “missing” only to emerge what seemed like years later (really only a few weeks) with a tiny fluffball in tow. Our hens had their claim of ten acres and each spring was a thrilling discovery of hens with chicks, scratching and squawking in a magical realm of life and nature. I studiously traced the lineage of all new chicks, a gripping tale of seduction, survival and solitude that every hen seemed to heroically personify. The years of our chickens were the development of myself and how I understood society. Chickens may peck, prod, attack and scandalize each other, but they also warn, protect, and preen together. Most of all, Chicken was never meant to be alone.