A bestselling author and expert on chicken behavior leads readers into the surprisingly complex inner workings of a chicken's brain.
Backyard chicken keeper Melissa Caughey shares her years of experience and research about our feathered friends with this entertaining and informative exploration of what chickens think and feel. From chick days to the golden stage of "henopause," Caughey offers insights into the range of feelings that chickens can express, their unexpected intelligence, personality types, and flock dynamics.
Table of Contents:
1 The Universal Bond between Humans and Chickens
The Domestication of Chickens
How People Perceive Chickens
How Chickens Perceive People
Do My Chickens Love Me?
Chickens as Healers
Developing Trust
2 Flock Talk: How Chickens Communicate
Shouting and Whispering
I Recognize That Voice!
Understanding Different Languages
Fowl Language
How to Speak Rooster
Food Calls
The Importance of Names
Different Roles in the Flock
When Henopause Happens
3 From Feathers to Feet and Everything In Between
Chicken Anatomy [spread]
All about the Beak
Chicken Ears Are Better than Human Ears
The Beauty and Function of Feathers
Legs and Feet
4 Chicken Psychology: Deeper into the Realm of Bird Brains
How Do Chickens Learn?
Passing Down Knowledge and Tradition
Do I Know You?: Recognizing Others
Covert Chickens: Speaking in Code
Devilish Chickens: Deceit and Manipulation
Broody Hens in Hypnotic State
Memory and Sense of Time
Self -Awareness
Personality Traits
Feelings and Emotions
Epilogue - Do Chickens Have Souls?
Review Quotes:
"This book will make you really love chickens and teach you a lot about animal behavior."-- Temple Grandin, author of Animals Make Us Human and Animals in Translation
"Melissa Caughey is to chickens what Jane Goodall is to chimpanzees."-- John Kricher, author of Peterson Guide to Bird Behavior
"A delightful dive into the world of chickens."-- Library Journal
Melissa Caughey is the author of the best-selling books How to Speak Chicken and A Kid's Guide to Keeping Chickens, as well as Chicken Wisdom Frame-Ups. She is a backyard chicken keeper, beekeeper, master gardener, and writer who pens the award-winning blog Tilly's Nest. Caughey has been featured in many national publications and can be found speaking on an array of topics at events across the country. She lives on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
Storey Publishing
Pub Date: February 04, 2025
0.5" H x 7.9" L x 5.9" W
128 pages
paperback