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Chickens (Miscellaneous; Compendium)

In the Isle of man, there is a small colony of feral chickens near a stone circle. I couldn't find the name of the circle. It is in the mountains, inland in a quiet road. The chickens are rather tame, as they approached our car as if they expected us to give them some food. The cockerels seemed to be keeping an eye on us.
 
Here are the pictures of the chickens and the stone circle.
 

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ramonmercado said:
I bet you wouldn't be so blasé if a a flock of 100 crazed chickens charged you, as the bullets run out you'd have to decide whether to save the last one for yourself.
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Mmm 100 chickens... Do they crossed the road or not, that is the question?
 
Draheste said:
In the Isle of man, there is a small colony of feral chickens near a stone circle. I couldn't find the name of the circle. It is in the mountains, inland in a quiet road. The chickens are rather tame, as they approached our car as if they expected us to give them some food. The cockerels seemed to be keeping an eye on us.
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You understand that you have neglected the servants of the shrine? Better go back with a bag of corn just in case.
 
Thanks. That is an advice I have to bear in mind next time I visit the island..
 
Leap of faith: ancient Britons viewed hares and chickens as gods
Iron age research reveals modern Easter festivals not first to celebrate chicks and bunnies

Brown hares and chickens were revered as gods rather than reared for food when they were first introduced to Britain in the iron age, archaeological analysis suggests.
In research that shows modern-day Easter festivals were not the first to celebrate chicks and bunnies, a team of experts from the universities of Exeter, Leicester and Oxford have found evidence that the animals were buried with care and intact in the period that preceded the Roman invasion of Britain.

Historical evidence suggests Britons of the period associated the animals with deities and considered them too special to eat. Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Julius Caesar’s firsthand account of the Gallic wars, says “the Britons consider it contrary to divine law to eat the hare, the chicken or the goose. They raise these, however, for their own amusement or pleasure.”

[...]

“Historical accounts have suggested chickens and hares were too special to be eaten and were instead associated with deities – chickens with an iron age god akin to Roman Mercury, and hares with an unknown female hare goddess. The religious association of hares and chickens endured throughout the Roman period.

“However, archaeological evidence shows that as their populations increased, they were increasingly eaten, and hares were even farmed as livestock. Rather than being buried as individuals, hare and chicken remains were then disposed of as food waste.”

Full Article:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-britons-viewed-hares-chickens-as-gods-easter
 
Yithian said:
Leap of faith: ancient Britons viewed hares and chickens as gods
Iron age research reveals modern Easter festivals not first to celebrate chicks and bunnies

Brown hares and chickens were revered as gods rather than reared for food when they were first introduced to Britain in the iron age, archaeological analysis suggests.
In research that shows modern-day Easter festivals were not the first to celebrate chicks and bunnies, a team of experts from the universities of Exeter, Leicester and Oxford have found evidence that the animals were buried with care and intact in the period that preceded the Roman invasion of Britain.

Historical evidence suggests Britons of the period associated the animals with deities and considered them too special to eat. Commentarii de Bello Gallico, Julius Caesar’s firsthand account of the Gallic wars, says “the Britons consider it contrary to divine law to eat the hare, the chicken or the goose. They raise these, however, for their own amusement or pleasure.”

[...]

“Historical accounts have suggested chickens and hares were too special to be eaten and were instead associated with deities – chickens with an iron age god akin to Roman Mercury, and hares with an unknown female hare goddess. The religious association of hares and chickens endured throughout the Roman period.

“However, archaeological evidence shows that as their populations increased, they were increasingly eaten, and hares were even farmed as livestock. Rather than being buried as individuals, hare and chicken remains were then disposed of as food waste.”

Full Article:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-britons-viewed-hares-chickens-as-gods-easter
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Yithian, thought you might find this article interesting, as it links with hares and the age of their symbolism
*Note: in any depictions of the ancient three hares, there are three hares in a circle with only three ears - not so obvious at first!
https://www.newscientist.com/articl...es-motif-is-an-ancient-mystery-for-our-times/
 
Maybe not revered as Gods but as Messengers of the Gods. There’s a big difference but probably not one today’s average Guardian reporter would understand.
 
Fearsome Feral Fowl Frightens Folks

Their raucous clucking deprives residents of sleep. They leave the neighbourhood “wrecked”. And food left out for them attracts “rats the size of cats” to an otherwise peaceful, leafy suburb.

New Zealand’s national lockdown to quell the spread of Covid-19 appears to have vanquished the virus, but it has had one unintended consequence: the re-emergence of a plague – not of frogs or locusts but of feral chickens, a flock of which is once again menacing an area of west Auckland.

Residents of Titirangi, a suburb of fewer than 4,000 people and about 20-30 feral chickens, emerged from New Zealand’s coronavirus lockdown to find a nightmare they thought had ended was not over. The feral chickens, which council contractors had been working to gently capture and rehome since their numbers peaked in 2019, had multiplied during the shutdown.

“It’s reignited old divisions in the village,” said Greg Presland, the long-suffering chair of the Waitākere Ranges community board, which is tasked with addressing the problem. Some Titirangi residents have said on social media that the chickens bring a quaint and charming character to the village. Others say they’re “like something out of a Stephen King movie”.

Presland, who said “about 15” of the birds have taken up residence 50 metres from his house, said the problem began in 2008 when a resident had released two domesticated chickens in the village and they had “gone rogue.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...chickens-return-to-plague-new-zealand-village
 
ramonmercado said:
Fearsome Feral Fowl Frightens Folks

Their raucous clucking deprives residents of sleep. They leave the neighbourhood “wrecked”. And food left out for them attracts “rats the size of cats” to an otherwise peaceful, leafy suburb.

New Zealand’s national lockdown to quell the spread of Covid-19 appears to have vanquished the virus, but it has had one unintended consequence: the re-emergence of a plague – not of frogs or locusts but of feral chickens, a flock of which is once again menacing an area of west Auckland.

Residents of Titirangi, a suburb of fewer than 4,000 people and about 20-30 feral chickens, emerged from New Zealand’s coronavirus lockdown to find a nightmare they thought had ended was not over. The feral chickens, which council contractors had been working to gently capture and rehome since their numbers peaked in 2019, had multiplied during the shutdown.

“It’s reignited old divisions in the village,” said Greg Presland, the long-suffering chair of the Waitākere Ranges community board, which is tasked with addressing the problem. Some Titirangi residents have said on social media that the chickens bring a quaint and charming character to the village. Others say they’re “like something out of a Stephen King movie”.

Presland, who said “about 15” of the birds have taken up residence 50 metres from his house, said the problem began in 2008 when a resident had released two domesticated chickens in the village and they had “gone rogue.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...chickens-return-to-plague-new-zealand-village
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Typical Aucklanders...
 
ramonmercado said:
Fearsome Feral Fowl Frightens Folks

Their raucous clucking deprives residents of sleep. They leave the neighbourhood “wrecked”. And food left out for them attracts “rats the size of cats” to an otherwise peaceful, leafy suburb.

New Zealand’s national lockdown to quell the spread of Covid-19 appears to have vanquished the virus, but it has had one unintended consequence: the re-emergence of a plague – not of frogs or locusts but of feral chickens, a flock of which is once again menacing an area of west Auckland.

Residents of Titirangi, a suburb of fewer than 4,000 people and about 20-30 feral chickens, emerged from New Zealand’s coronavirus lockdown to find a nightmare they thought had ended was not over. The feral chickens, which council contractors had been working to gently capture and rehome since their numbers peaked in 2019, had multiplied during the shutdown.

“It’s reignited old divisions in the village,” said Greg Presland, the long-suffering chair of the Waitākere Ranges community board, which is tasked with addressing the problem. Some Titirangi residents have said on social media that the chickens bring a quaint and charming character to the village. Others say they’re “like something out of a Stephen King movie”.

Presland, who said “about 15” of the birds have taken up residence 50 metres from his house, said the problem began in 2008 when a resident had released two domesticated chickens in the village and they had “gone rogue.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...chickens-return-to-plague-new-zealand-village
Click to expand...
some exasperated locals had suggested they instead be sent to a local frozen chicken company.

“The thought’s actually starting to appeal,” Presland said.

Eradication of the birds from Titirangi “would be ideal” he said. But as long as locals continue to feed the chickens, the menace would likely continue.

“I know who it is and I can’t make her stop,” he said. “I’ve tried.”

There's always one !
 
They probably thought he was going to feed them.
 
Fowl!

A farmer has given his chickens footballs to play with while they are stuck indoors during the bird flu lockdown.

Bird keepers across the country have been told to keep their flocks indoors since the start of this week to reduce transmission. Phill Crawley, from Sunrise Poultry Farms in Sileby, Leicestershire, said toys kept his chickens entertained. They also enjoyed playing with road traffic cones, he added. The lockdown order, brought in by chief veterinary officers for England, Scotland and Wales, will remain in place until further notice.

Mr Crawley said although older birds who have been outside "more regularly" will be less used to staying inside, the younger ones are "relatively unaffected". He added there was enough indoor space for the flock as the birds go to bed inside the shed at night anyway.


https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leicestershire-55315242
 
chicken and rice is a historical dish? There's a grain of truth in that.

From chicken biryani to khao mun gai, chicken and rice is a winning combo worldwide.

But the two are more inextricably linked than even chefs realized. A pair of new archaeological studies suggest that without rice, chickens may have never existed.

The work reveals that chickens may have been domesticated thousands of years later than scientists thought, and only after humans began cultivating rice within range of the wild red jungle fowl, in Thailand or nearby in peninsular Southeast Asia, says Dale Serjeantson, an archaeologist at the University of Southampton who was not involved with the research. The studies, she says, have “dismantled many of the hoary myths about chicken origins.”

Charles Darwin proposed that chickens descended from the red jungle fowl—a colorful tropical bird in the pheasant family–because the two look so much alike. But proving him right has been difficult. Five varieties of jungle fowl range from India to northern China, and small chicken bones are rare in fossil sites.

In 2020, a study of 863 living chickens’ genomes confirmed that the jungle fowl Gallus gallus spaedicus subspecies was the ancestor of living chickens; chickens share more of their DNA with that subspecies than other types of jungle fowl. That in turn narrowed the site of domestication to Southeast Asia. Researchers have proposed fossils as early chickens dating back 8000 to 11,000 years ago in northern China and Pakistan. But genetics of living birds could not narrow the window for domestication, says geneticist Ming-Shan Wang, a postdoc at the University of California, Santa Cruz, first author of the genetic study. And they have not been able to get enough ancient DNA from fossil chickens to pinpoint the date. So paleo-anatomist Joris Peters of Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich teamed up with Greger Larson, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Oxford who is an expert on animal domestication. The duo organized an international team that began a comprehensive reevaluation of chicken bones, their dates, and records on them, from more than 600 archaeological sites around the world. In a separate study, the group directly dated chicken bones found in western Eurasia and Northern Africa.

https://www.science.org/content/article/how-wild-jungle-fowl-became-chicken
 
ramonmercado said:
Feral fowls finished off.

Why did the jogger cross the road? Because he was being chased by a gang of 100 feral chickens.

Or at least he was before they were killed by marksmen brought in to end the “nuisance” they have been causing residents on Jersey. A row has broken out on the largest of the Channel Islands after a cull of 65 chickens was ordered by the government after years of complaints. It is believed that they were once pets but were dumped in the wild after becoming too unruly and went on to form gangs up to 100 strong, there being no foxes on the island to reduce their number.

Some islanders have been complaining to the authorities for years that the birds have been tormenting them by crowing in the middle of the night and chasing joggers off “their” territory. They are said to have wrecked gardens and are a danger to traffic when they cross the roads.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/jersey-feral-chickens-meet-a-violent-end-ckm2mj86z
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At least those were free. I briefly worked with the un-free sort. I couldn't do it now though. Fine when they're little chicks but a few weeks later after being pumped with heaven knows what kind of drugs when they're fully grown....no.
 

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‘It’s getting worse’: Hawaii’s feral chickens are taking over downtown Honolulu​


In Hawaii, feral chickens are choosing to leave the country life and make their home in the densely populated areas of Honolulu.

The state notoriously has an ongoing problem with feral chickens, largely blamed on hurricanes setting them loose, tourists feeding them and even on cock fighting operations. The growing populations are a known nuisance in the suburbs and rural areas of the different Hawaiian Islands, but now the wild fowl are infiltrating the concrete jungles of Honolulu in greater numbers.

“Chickens are wandering around like they own the place,” Karin Lynn, a Honolulu resident, told Civil Beat. “They just don’t belong in an urban environment. It seems to be there’s no control over it and it’s getting worse. … It’s a feral menace.”
Aside from roosters crowing in the hours before dawn, the feral chickens damage crops, spread weeds, threaten native plants and are a road hazard.

https://www.sfgate.com/hawaii/article/hawaii-feral-chickens-in-honolulu-17555886.php

maximus otter
 

The Curious Case Of The Goth Chicken​


One of the blackest animals on Earth is a chicken. In Java, Indonesia, where the bird is native, it’s known as Ayam Cemani. Across the internet, the majestic hyper-melanistic bird is known as the goth chicken.

ayam-cemani-m.png


Black bones, tissue, and organs are rare in the animal kingdom, and the Ayam Cemani chicken is one of only a handful of birds known to have this coloration. It’s a pretty cool look that comes with a curious scientific explanation, caused by a complex rearrangement in these birds’ genome.

[They] exhibit fibromelanosis, a type of hyperpigmentation that’s turned their tissues black. The driving force behind it appears to be a complex mutation involving the EDN3 gene, which codes for endothelin-3.

https://www.iflscience.com/black-bones-tissue-and-organs-the-curious-case-of-the-goth-chicken-70104

maximus otter
 
More feral fowl fiends found in the Isle of Man.

Concerns over growing flock of wild hens on outskirts of village​


Hens and cockerels

Growing groups of hens have been sighted at Glen Roy and the Dhoon

Village residents have been warned by a local authority not to abandon hens in the surrounding area after reports of an increase in poultry roaming wild.

Garff Commissioners has stressed it is a criminal offence to leave the birds and has called for people in Laxey to stop feeding them.
Commissioner Mel Christian said "two or three" birds had turned into a flock of more than 20 in recent years.

She said it was now "beginning to become a bit of a problem."

An increase in sightings of wild poultry in the areas of Glen Roy on the outskirts of Laxey and the Dhoon Glen car park have been reported to the local authority in the last year.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-67308530
 
maximus otter said:

The Curious Case Of The Goth Chicken​


One of the blackest animals on Earth is a chicken. In Java, Indonesia, where the bird is native, it’s known as Ayam Cemani. Across the internet, the majestic hyper-melanistic bird is known as the goth chicken.

ayam-cemani-m.png


Black bones, tissue, and organs are rare in the animal kingdom, and the Ayam Cemani chicken is one of only a handful of birds known to have this coloration. It’s a pretty cool look that comes with a curious scientific explanation, caused by a complex rearrangement in these birds’ genome.

[They] exhibit fibromelanosis, a type of hyperpigmentation that’s turned their tissues black. The driving force behind it appears to be a complex mutation involving the EDN3 gene, which codes for endothelin-3.

https://www.iflscience.com/black-bones-tissue-and-organs-the-curious-case-of-the-goth-chicken-70104

maximus otter
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I have eaten those a few times.
 
Looks weird!
 
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