The more I learn about animal cognition, the more I realize how ignorant I have been. (I recently read an article, for example, strongly suggesting that insects feel pain.) So not surprisingly, Sy Montgomery’s exquisite story telling reveals that chickens have personalities. Chickens can be brave, inquisitive, funny, clever, caring, ruthless, foolhardy, sneaky, and thankful. An attentive human can quickly learn to understand chicken and with a little practice talk back.
Montgomery weaves together anecdotes from flocks she has known and avian science with such ease that you cannot even see her making the transition. She will make you love chickens as companions and yet not shed a tear when she stops keeping chickens after 20 years. Bears, weasels, raccoons, coyotes, and hawks all took advantage of her birds, but as she points out, the return of nearly extirpated predators to the woods of New England is actually cause for celebration.