Mar

10 Fine-Feathered Reasons to Keep Backyard Chickens

by Bruce Goldstone on March 31, 2014

Backyard hen and chickens, pets that can help you be happier. (Image © sherjaca/Shutterstock)

Here, chick chick chick. Come to my house!
© sherjaca/Shutterstock

Want to Be Happier? Go to the Birds!

Chances are, backyard chickens are kicking up dust in a yard near you. More and more people in urban and suburban areas are keeping these familiar yet exotic birds and smiling about it.

Could chickens help you be happier? Here’s a flock of ten reasons they just might.

Reason #1: Fresh Eggs Are Tasty

Philosophers can argue “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” until the cows come home, but for chicken keepers the answer’s clear: It’s the eggs.

In a recent poll at BackYard Chickens, 92% of responders said that one reason they keep chickens is for the eggs. Ron Ludlow, the owner of the site, acknowledges the growing popularity of “the pets that make you breakfast!”

Fresh eggs from backyard chickens, illustrating one way these birds can help you be happier. (Image © stocknadia/Shutterstock)

Fresh eggs will keep your sunny side up.
© stocknadia/Shutterstock

Home cooks are discovering that super-fresh eggs from your yard are the secret ingredient that makes extra-special omelets, souffles, and much more. Even a simple fried egg is a delight when you know exactly where it came from.

Reason #2: Chickens Are Surprisingly Good Pets

Even for people who begin keeping chickens for the fresh eggs, these curious and quirky birds often become favorite family pets.

Darrell Schoeling and Jeff Corbin have been keeping chickens in New Paltz, NY for several years now. Although initially reluctant, Darrel has jumped into the hobby with an enthusiasm matched by his birds’ personalities.

Man with backyard chickens indoors, showing how these pets can help you be happier. (Image © Jeff Corbin)

Poultry pals
© Jeff Corbin

Along the way, he’s had many “Oh, I see” moments including this one: “I had no idea they’d be so interactive,” he admits. “They come running when they see us. Our chicken Penguin loves to sit in my lap.”

Reason #3: They’re Cute or Beautiful or Weird-Looking (or Sometimes All Three)

If you think of chickens as dull, brown birds, look again. Chickens come in an astonishing variety of spectacular color combos, from the sublime to the outrageous.

A variety of backyard chickens, pets that can help you be happier. (All images © Shutterstock, top row: sherjaca, Catalin Petolea, Bill Purcell; bottom row: Fotografiecor.nl, sanddebeautheil, sherjaca)

A colorful hen party
© Shutterstock, top row: sherjaca, Catalin Petolea, Bill Purcell
bottom row: Fotografiecor.nl, sanddebeautheil, sherjaca

The Extraordinary Chickens books and calendars by photographer Stephen Green-Armytage show off many unusual breeds. They have a devoted public, eager to gawk at the latest in poultry pulchritude.

Reason #4: Because You Can

City zoning laws permit chickens in a lot more places than you might think. For example, you can keep chickens in New York City or Las Vegas (though in both areas, as in many others, noisy roosters aren’t allowed.)

Businesses like NYC’s Victory Chicken, are helping people in big cities “bring the chicken back into everyday American life.” With an all-in-one package of coop, chickens, supplies, and training, it’s easy to get started, and services for feed delivery, coop cleaning, and chicken check-ups help out later.

A chicken walking down a city street, illustrating the idea that these pets can help you be happier. (Image © Dwight Smith/Shutterstock)

Chickens are permitted in many cities
(though this rooster is probably out of bounds).
© Dwight Smith/Shutterstock

You can visit BackYard Chickens to learn more about local zoning laws in your area, and there’s help on legalizing chickens at My Pet Chicken.

Reason #5: You’ll Be in Good Company

There’s an impressive and growing community waiting to welcome you once you take the poultry plunge.

When Ron Ludlow launched BackYard Chickens in 2007, its forum had about 50 members. That number jumped to 1,000 in 2008 and 25,000 in 2009. Today, the site has over 235,000 members.

Of course, you can connect with chicken celebrities, too, such as Andy Schneider, aka The Chicken Whisperer, whose internet poultry show offers advice on everything from raising chicks to showing prize-winning specimens. His guests are a veritable who’s who of chickendom.

Andy Schneider, the Chicken Whisperer, who talks on Internet radio about how backyard chickens can help you be happier. (Image © Andy Schneider))

The Chicken Whisperer® knows his birds.
© Andy Schneider

Even the literati have gotten involved. Pulitzer-Prize winner Alice Walker joined the chicken brigade with her heart-warmingly goofy memoir The Chicken Chronicles.

Reason #6: Kids + Chickens = Learning Galore!

Keeping chickens can help children learn about responsibility, life cycles, ecology, and animal behavior, all while having fun with a flock of feathered friends.

Girl holding a backyard chicken, a pet that can help you be happier. (Image © Jeff Corbin)

Kids and chickens really click (and cluck).
© Jeff Corbin

Some kids get so involved that they begin to raise and show chickens with organizations like 4-H.

Reason #7: Super-Rich Soil is a Fantastic Freebie

Fantastic soil is yet another by-product of chicken keeping. Darrel Schoeling boasts that the soil produced by composting his flock’s litter is “the envy of the New Paltz Gardens for Nutrition.”

Feed your chickens nearly any kitchen scraps that you’d compost and they’ll turn them into luxurious, nitrogen-rich soil.

Backyard chickens, pets that can help you be happier. (Image © schubbel/Shutterstock)

Kitchen scraps go in and fantastic fertilizer comes out.
© schubbel/Shutterstock

Reason #8: Bugs Away!

Another handy side effect of chickens is their voracious appetite for creepy crawlers.

A grasshopper, one of the insects eaten by backyard chickens, whose pest control can help you be happier. (Image © Kirsanov Valeriy Vladimirovich)

Chickens eat almost anything that crawls.
© Kirsanov Valeriy Vladimirovich/Shutterstock

Happy chickenistas report their birds chomping on grasshoppers, fleas, flies, fire ants, grubs, and pillbugs. They’ve even been seen snacking on scorpions, beginning with the troublesome stinger before getting to work on the rest of the bug.

Reason #9: Going Slow Can Keep Diversity Alive

Chickens are a simple way that many people can participate in the slow-food movement. While most people don’t have the resources to start a self-sustaining organic garden, many have the space available for a handful of egg-laying hens.

This movement to keeping backyard chickens is a move toward self-sustenance with global benefits for food production. And home farming of chickens offers another important fringe benefit—breed diversity.

Two backyard chickens from diverse and unusual breeds, pets that can help you be happier. (Images © Imageman/Shutterstock)

Two faces of chicken diversity
© Imageman/Shutterstock

For efficiency, factory farms keep a very limited number of chicken varieties. Backyard chicken fanciers, however, keep a huge number of rare, heritage breeds that might otherwise go extinct.

Reason #10: Clucking Can Cheer You Up

No matter how you look at them, chickens are kinda funny, which is a very good thing. Backyard chickens can be a natural anti-depressant. Making you laugh is just one more way these friendly fowl can help you be happier.

Backyard chicken, a pet that can help you be happier. (Image © Anna Hoychuk/Shutterstock)

Could you keep a straight face around a mug like this?
© Anna Hoychuk/Shutterstock

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Bruce Goldstone 19 Comments

Discoveries

Mar

Same Animal + Different Cultures = Surprise!

by Bruce Goldstone on March 13, 2014

Falling cat, illustrating animal sayings that vary in different cultures and languages. (Image © deshy / iStock)

“If this is Life #7, I sure hope I’m an English-speaking cat!”
© deshy / iStock

Animal Symbols and Sayings

All over the world, cats are known for their seemingly magical ability to escape dangers that would be fatal to other, less feline species. But different cultures and languages vary in how they talk about kitty’s special talents.

English speakers describe their death-defying trickiness by saying cats have nine lives. Consider 9Lives cat food, and its spokescat Morris, who vouch for the statistic.

Cats have the same reputation in Spanish, but in that language, they get only 7 lives. Are cats in Spanish-speaking cultures really less resilient than those where English is spoken? No, cats are cats, but the animal symbols and sayings across cultures may be quite different.

When you cross cultures, it’s a good idea to understand the differences so you don’t make a monkey out of yourself. Here’s some help with other critters in the animal kingdom.

Who’s Wise?

In ancient Greece, the wise goddess Athena was often depicted with or represented by an owl. That literary tradition plus the stately stare of the owl made this bird a symbol for wisdom in most Western cultures.

Wise-looking owl, representing wisdom, an animal symbol that varies in different cultures and languages. (Image © lingkuo / iStock)

Owl = Wisdom, right?
© lingkuo / iStock

But not everyone thinks owls are all that clever. In India, the owl’s stare is considered dopey rather than penetrating, leading to its reputation as a dim-wit. In fact, the Hindi word for owl— oolu—can also mean dolt, idiot, or fool.

Dopey-looking owl, reflecting an animal symbol that varies in different cultures and languages. (© Catherine Philip/iStock)

Maybe owls aren’t super smart after all.
© Catherine Philip/iStock

And in the Netherlands, owls are a symbol of being stubborn, uncooperative, and inflexible. There’s a Dutch saying that goes Wat baten kaars en bril, als den uil niet zienen wil? (What difference do light and glasses make, if the owl doesn’t want to see?)

Interpreting the Turtle

For many English speakers, turtles are symbols of slowness, persistence, and determination.

Turtle moving slowly, reflecting an animal symbol that varies in different cultures and languages. (© nwhaa / iStock)

Turtles always mean slow and steady, don’t they?
© nwhaa / iStock

But in, Thailand, turtles are associated with something very different. Watch this ad and see if you can figure out why it makes sense.

If the video does not display, watch it here.

Yep—that’s an ad for deodorant because turtle in Thai is slang for body odor.

Monkey Business

In some Western countries, monkeys are playful tricksters. English speakers talk about monkeying around, monkey business, and more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

What do you talk about when
you talk about monkeys?
© Hung_Chung_Chih/iStock

But other cultures perceive the monkey in a far different way. In Portuguese, monkeys carry an element of sudden surprise. To express astonishment, a Brazilian might say Macacos me mordam! (Monkeys bite me!) It’s like saying “Well, I’ll be damned!” Or, if you ever watched the old Batman TV series, think of Robin’s ever-changing catchphrase of surprise, “Holy [fill-in-the-blank], Batman!”

Regal monkeys, reflecting an animal symbol that varies in different cultures and languages. (© fatchoi / iStock)

In China, however, monkeys aren’t silly or surprising. They’re clever and noble. At one time, the Chinese title marquis and the word for monkey had the same pronunciation: “hou.” So, in China, the monkey is associated with dignity, social position, and intelligence.

Silken Sayings

Some cultures express the same advice or wisdom in an animal saying, but the animals are different. For example, in English, there’s this saying: You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

A pig's ear, reflecting animal sayings that vary in different cultures and languages. (Image © Morgan David de Lossy / iStock)

In Spanish, a saying about monkeys is pretty much the same: Aunque la mona se vista de seda, mona se queda. (A monkey that dresses in silk is still a monkey).

A baboon in a scarf, reflecting animal sayings that vary in different cultures and languages. (© fuse / Thinkstock)

Animal Anticipation

In English, to caution against making plans for something good until it really happens, people say: Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

Chick and eggs, reflecting animal sayings that vary in different cultures and languages. (© gpointstudio / iStock)

In Russia, people express pretty much the same sentiment: не дели шкуру неубитого медведя. (Don’t sell the pelt before the bear’s been shot.) Similar sayings show up in French-Canadian, Danish, Swedish, and Polish.

Brown bear, illustrating animal sayings that vary in different cultures and languages. (© dgwildlife / iStock)

You Don’t Have to Be Real to Play

Different cultures even have different views of imaginary animals. In Western countries, dragons are usually fierce fire-breathing monsters that ravage villages and torment princesses. Something worthy of slaying. But in China and many Asian countries, they’re considered very good luck. Something worthy of celebrating in joyful dances.

Boy hugging Chinese dragon, reflecting an animal symbol that varies in different cultures and languages. (© Digital Vision / Photodisc)

Oh, I see— Manners, taboos, and animals, too, are all part of understanding different cultures and languages. The symbols and sayings that may seem universal are often not. You might think about that the next time the cat’s got your tongue—because in Spanish, they’d blame your silence on mice: ¿El ratón te comió la lengua? (The mouse ate your tongue?)

♦♦♦

For more cross-cultural insights that will make you culture-smart, see “How Much Power’s in a Flower?” and “The Musical Scale Across Cultures.” To get a language fact a day, connect with @languagebandit.

Video of the Thai deodorant commercial VIA The Zealous Water Buffalo.

Comment on this post below.

Bruce Goldstone 1 Comment

Cultural Diversity/Cultural Symbols/Language & Culture/Worldwide Sites

Mar

Worker Badges: Vintage Portraits Hint at Life Stories

by Bruce Goldstone on March 3, 2014

Worker's badges that include vintage portraits, hinting at lost life stories of the American worker. (Images courtesy of Ricco/Maresca Gallery)

Once worn to work daily, ID badges are now a hot collectible.
Images courtesy of Ricco/Maresca Gallery, New York

What Do You C in Employee IDs?

Above my computer here at home hangs an old worker’s ID badge. This vintage portrait moves and intrigues me, offering a glimpse into the life stories of American workers who punched clocks day in, day out.

A friend gave me the badge, partly because it’s from my hometown of Cleveland. I often look at worker number 338 and wonder what his days were like.

Worker's badge that includes a vintage portrait, hinting at lost life stories of the American worker. (Image © Bruce Goldstone)

I love this ID, with its worn leather tab and rubbed finish. But mostly I love the almost-smiling portrait of a man I know almost nothing about.

Bruce Goldstone Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/The World's Photography/USA

World Views:

Topics

Author Archives: Bruce Goldstone