Chicken (Animal)

This book really opened my eyes to the marvellous beings that chickens are. I've raised chickens for the past several years in a small backyard flock, and I had an inkling... but only an inkling of their wonderful, complicated, amazing little lives. Once you read this book, you will never look at chickens the same again.Please note that after reading this book it will probably be difficult to regard mass produced chicken (for meat) and eggs in the same way as before. This is all to the good! More backyard flocks!

Annie Potts, (not the actress,) takes us on a real eye-opener concerning a favorite bird of mine- Gallus gallus domesticus, distant relative of the dinosaurs.She's informative, but not stuffy; educational, but not boring.Perfect for any age- if you can read, you can enjoy this book and learn so much.I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys birds, especially poultry.

I am fascinated by chickens. I wish I could have my own flock. They are not. I remember a farmer telling me a couple of his chickens had died. I said, "I'm sorry." "They were just chickens," he replied. This book will dispel the "just chicken" theory. It is fascinating.

I was kind of disappointed in this, as I was looking for something more about chickens in terms of behavior and what is known scientifically about them. But this is very strong in the area of chickens and the role they have played in human civilization, mythology and art.

I have been researching chickens for several years. This is THE definitive source. Thank you Annie for your thoughtful, thorough and exhaustive research on chickens. This should be a NY Time best seller!

I loved this book. The author did an amazing job telling all sides of the chicken story. Well researched and lovely photos!

This is among the very best of the "Animal" series, longer than some. The many illustrations are a compelling read in themselves, but add Potts' excellent writing and passion (yes, passion about chickens) and that's a recipe for a fast and informative read. It's not all light reading because she explores modern industrial agriculture and sees the chicken as a victim--many billions of birds each year treated inhumanely.The chapter titles will give you a sense of the wide variety in the book. It starts with From T-Rex to Transylvanian Naked Necks, on evolution and domestication. Then Chicken Wisdom and Chicken lore (two chapters) that are full of just that--lore such as the proverbial chicken soup being good for illness. Next comes Popular Chicken", followed by Gallus Graphicus,, the chicken in art, rather more common that you might imagine. The next chapter is the depressing Meat Chicks and Egg Machines. The Epilogue is titled Appreciating Chickens.There really is a lot here. There is some on how chickens experience their world, and it is plain that the birds are rather more intelligent than commonly thought. The case for the industrial chicken and the egg machine is that breeding and methodology has produced excellent food at a low price, at the cost of massive inhumaneness. The chicken has appeared in art over many centuries, often as a symbol. Wishbones, cockfighting, divination, developing species from the Asian Jungle Fowl, whether the Araucana breed predates the Spanish in the Americas, and more.

Like the previous 43 volumes in the excellent Animal series by Reaktion Books, Chicken is compact, colorful and accessible. Easily read in one sitting, it is also fun to leaf through as it features over 100 illustrations.Author Annie Potts presents a remarkably thorough tour of this fascinating and misunderstood bird, from its biology and behavior to its tangled and dramatically changed relationship with humankind. Readers will discover a creature with a social life and communication skills far beyond what is commonly attributed to a "bird-brain." A section on cockfighting is an eye-opening testimony to male sexual insecurity riddled with symbolism and gendered overtones.I was a bit confused by the taxonomy in the first chapter, in which subspecies of Gallus gallus (e.g., G. g. lafayetii) are called "species." I also prefer to see language that more fittingly describes chickens as autonomous individuals "who ... utter" alarm calls rather than automatons "that ... emit" these calls (p. 46).But these are minor irritants. Most importantly, Potts doesn't skirt the industrialization of chicken farming, which poignantly has made this the most slaughtered species ever. That particular tragedy is compounded by two further truths: the paradox that this monstrous carnage is invisible to most of us, and the irony that our ignorance has reduced a bird once respected and even revered to one demeaned as a symbol of cowardice.I commend Chicken to anyone and everyone with an intimate connection to chickens--which means most of us given that we eat them insatiably.

This has proved to be a fascinating treasure trove of facts and information.I absolutely love this little book, and have bought the one on rats to see whether that is as good too.If you like chickens, you'll love this book.(If you're squeamish, don't read the bit about how they are processed for meat though, it'll give you nightmares, but that isn't the book's fault)

This book was in perfect conditions. I can only say that I am very pleased with my purchase. For that reason I can only recommend this library.