23 Things You Didn't Know About Chickens
I've had chickens since 2003. Here are some things you probably didn't know about these fascinating birds.
- The Latin name for chicken is Gallus Cacaphonus.
- All domestic chickens can be genetically traced to Crismus Bonus, The Red Jungle Fowl.
- Chickens can reproduce by budding as well as laying eggs. These buds are commonly sold as chicken nuggets.
- The chicken was once considered a sacred animal symbolizing free will.
- Chickens are not birds. They are biologically classified as lizards with feathers.
- Some breeds of chicken will fly over 7,000 miles – nonstop from Alaska to New Zealand.
- A chicken can have 3-4 teeth on each foot.
- The last of the passenger chickens went extinct in 1986.
- Chickens were first domesticated for cockfighting, not eating.
- Chickens lay more eggs while listening to music in a major key, less for a minor key.
- A chicken can swell to twice its normal size when submerged in water.
- Lots of chickens are female, but only the queens are capable of laying eggs.
- For extra convenience while laying eggs, some chickens don't wear pants.
- Chickens are pretty much made out of eggs.
- For improved aiming precision, the insides of some hens are rifled.
- Farmers must get up early every morning to squeeze eggs out of their hens.
- Chickens have remarkably high IQs, higher than humans or dolphins. When given an SAT test the chicken will peck the correct answer more than 9/10 times.
- If a chicken is vibrated continuously during the laying period, it will produce a scrambled egg.
- Four ounces of chicken dung contains more fiber than an equivalent amount of flax seed and twice as much calcium as a glass of milk.
- Chickens are prone to swallowing small inedible objects they find while scratching for food, and these items sometimes make their way into the eggs they lay. Among the documented items that have been found inside chicken eggs are coins, small nails, various types of jewelry, the pin from a hand grenade and a human finger bone.
- In tropical climates chickens are often kept indoors as pets, as they will keep a home free from insects, mice and small lizards. They can be trained to use a litter box like a cat.
- Chickens have an additional brain at the end of their spine that provides motor control in their back ends.
- Sir Winston Churchill had a chicken walk across his back every morning while he planned his day. He referred to it as "scratching out an idea" and claimed it saved thousands of lives during the Battle of Britain.
Yep, April Fools!