Title: How to Speak Chicken
Expected
publication: Today
My
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2
Book Description:
Best-selling author Melissa Caughey knows that backyard
chickens are like any favorite pet — fun to spend time with and fascinating to
observe. Her hours among the flock have resulted in this quirky, irresistible
guide packed with firsthand insights into how chickens communicate and
interact, use their senses to understand the world around them, and establish
pecking order and roles within the flock. Combining her up-close observations
with scientific findings and interviews with other chicken enthusiasts, Caughey
answers unexpected questions such as Do chickens have names for each
other? How do their eyes work? and How do chickens learn?
My musings:
I am not called “the crazy chook lady” for nothing, so of
course I absolutely had to read this book! After decades of keeping our own
backyard chooks, who are a much loved part of our family, I have done a fair
bit of reading on the subject and have quite a few “how to” chicken related
books on my shelves. However, How to Speak Chicken is delightfully different. Instead
of giving advice on keeping chickens, it delves into the subject of how
chickens communicate, and how we can get more out of our flock if we are able
to understand their language.
The author’s love for her flock shines through on every
page, as she shares both her own insights as well as latest research findings
about how intelligent chickens really are. I found it utterly fascinating, even
though I had suspected that there is a lot more to these lovable creatures than
we give them credit for. Did you know that chickens can remember up to 20
members of their flock, and have a unique call (or “name”) for each one of
them, including you (once you have been accepted into their flock)? Can you
tell when they are warning you of a perceived danger from the ground as opposed
to danger from the air? Have you ever suspected that chickens can sleep with
half of their brain still wide-awake and alert for danger? I didn’t, but ever
since reading about chicken communication I have been a lot more attuned to the
call of my own hens and how they “chat” with their sisters and members of our
family. I watched in fascination as the new puppy was initially greeted with a “danger
from ground” alert, but is now accepted with soft clucks as she sniffs around
the chook pen.
If you are a chicken lover, or have a chicken lover in your
midst, this delightful book would make a perfect Christmas present. The
charming and uplifting pictures of various chickens provide a colourful
backdrop to the interesting information contained in its pages. Despite being
informative, the text is easy to read and devoid of the scientific lingo that tends
to exclude some readers – this is a book that can be read and enjoyed by the
whole family. Full of love for our feathered friends, How to Speak Chicken was
both one of the most informative as well as uplifting books of the year for me –
I loved it. So much that I have dominated a few lunchtime conversations with “did
you know that chickens .....” Hopefully friends and family will either share my
enthusiasm or learn to forgive me!
Summary:
I highly recommend How to Speak Chicken to any chicken lover
or anyone who is still sitting on the fence about them – apart from learning to
appreciate the intelligence of these loveable backyard creatures, the fun and
fascinating facts contained in the book will make you a star of any dinner
conversation (just ask my family ;).
Thank
you to Netgalley and Storey Publishing for the free electronic copy of this novel and
for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.
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