every day is a good day
Chickens have such intense, beautiful eyes. When you are close to them, they follow your every move. Billy can see me from a long way off. If he sees me on the back porch, he’ll come running to see if I have a treat for him. I guess I’m lucky to have a chicken who greets me in the morning. How many people get to say that.
Though with their piercing eyes, when thirty or more chickens come running after you, it can be startling. Imagine what thirty pairs of intense eyes chasing you looks like.
Born just a few hours ago, this chick looks up at me, trying to make sense out of what she is seeing. Snuggled next to her mother, safe in a soft, straw bed, she has it made. Only a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of the 25 million chicks born in the USA today were born under the warmth of their mother’s body. A world of fun and adventure is awaiting her and her siblings. With a mother to look out over her, she should have a great childhood.
Hens on their nests can have piercing eyes. Kuma-hime 熊姫 (Bear Princess) glares at me with eagle eyes. Hens usually stay perfectly still until you get too close. Then they erupt, squawking and batting their wings, making a fuss and sometimes running away.
Curious Becky wonders who approaches. I find it amusing that chickens will cock their heads just like people when they are trying to figure out something. It points to a behavior we inherited from a very distant common ancestor. If so, it means that animals have been cocking their heads for hundreds of millions of years.