Chicken myths and old wives' tales, please!

[fl_deb]

Quote:
I agree. In my experience, it is the men who are chicken about that sort of thing.

I can't count how many chicken butts I've probed. My hubby would NEVER be caught dead with his finger up a chicken. He didn't even know until yesterday that chickens only have one "hole", and that roosters have no actual 'equipment'. That's another funny thing, the number of people that don't know those two basic facts about chickens.

I have purposely not told some people about the "basics" because I am certain they would freak out or decide that only my chickens sufferred from that!

Go figure!

 

[Wisher1000]

Okay, on second thought, nevermind. After walking away from the computer with my mouth open I realized that Beekissed meant no OUTSIDE equipment. You'll have to forgive me, I am tired.

I have (jokingly) told people that after carefully checking all of my chickens over, I have found no nuggets, therefore I will not be raising mine for meat.

 

[Wisher1000]

Like I said, I am tired. Please don't write to correct me on the "inside equipment" statement. I know, it is not like a mammal's, it is more like a pimple. But hey, they DO have equipment, how else could they get the job done? LOL I'll be shutting up now......

 

[Parrotchick]

I've known otherwise intelligent people who thought that eggs were dairy products because they were in the dairy aisle at the grocery store or in close proximity to the milk and cheese. Once they gave it more than a moment's consideration, they realized their mistake and were most likely to agree "oh duh."

A LOT of people think a rooster is needed to get eggs. I'd say at least half the people I've ever talked about it with think that and I was probably guilty of it at one time myself. It's not that people are stupid in most cases, they just don't think about it all. They haven't really conceived of it in terms of fertilized vs. unfertilized, they just think of an egg as being the first step towards having a baby chicken and in order to have babies you need a male and female. It instantly becomes crystal clear when you compare it to a women ovulating: "Oh, right, egg. I get it."

 

[helenmar]

Uh Oh Im going to have to do some serious reading-I actually didnt know Roosters had no "equipment"?How on earth do they fertilise the ladies???Now Im confused???
Unfortunately one of my 3 looks like a rooster and being new to chickens I am hoping I can keep him without him upsetting the neighbours with noise.I dont have a problem with fertilised eggs as long as I collect every time they are laid and dont risk any old ones that have been semi incubated (i presume i wont then find a half developed chick?)and be traumatised!!!Helen x

Quote:
I agree. In my experience, it is the men who are chicken about that sort of thing.

I can't count how many chicken butts I've probed. My hubby would NEVER be caught dead with his finger up a chicken. He didn't even know until yesterday that chickens only have one "hole", and that roosters have no actual 'equipment'. That's another funny thing, the number of people that don't know those two basic facts about chickens.

 

[Kaceyx73]

Not so much a myth as a funny story.

A young lady at the bank asked me the other day (cold and windy) if I had gotten my ladies sweaters for the cold.... Puzzled, I said no, but they do make saddles and diapers for chickens. I guess you can imagine the look on her face, probably the same as mine when I first saw those on the net. I, at least, took the opportunity to find out what they were for. The diaper was easy to explain, but trying to have a polite, public discourse about why hens need a saddle... well, let's just say priceless. You know, roosters have claws, and sometimes if there are only a couple of hens he can tear his hens up, you know, when he's gettin' his groove on...

New flock manager since July, and I've already had a neighbor telling me her boyfriend didn't understand the eggs without a rooster deal. Even a friend that got his chicks in the same order as mine didn't know that while we were discussing it. The same neighbor was discussing with her mom (they're from Jersey) about me having chickens when her mom replied "You know how these southern people are..." Any comments from non-southerners on that one?

Another neighbor swears fertilized taste better as well as brown. Of course she grew up on a farm with lots of yard-birds. Guess it reminds her of her childhood.

 

[GAchick]

Quote:
I can't count how many chicken butts I've probed. My hubby would NEVER be caught dead with his finger up a chicken. He didn't even know until yesterday that chickens only have one "hole", and that roosters have no actual 'equipment'. That's another funny thing, the number of people that don't know those two basic facts about chickens.

They merely touch cloaca's and the rooster deposits the sperm. No actual 'penetration' by 'equipment'...

 

[bargain]

Eggs with pointy tips always make baby boys who become roosters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tested this, it's not true

 

[PunkinPeep]

http://factoidz.com/how-do-chickens-and-rooster-mate/

This article has a decent explanation of how chickens mate and how it works. It is called the "cloacal kiss," which i think gives a pretty decent picture of what's happening.

But did you know that there's also a band named "Cloacal Kiss?" Interesting.



For the record, before i got chickens, i also thought i had to have a rooster. But i did the research and figured it out before we got any chickens.

It's the large number of people - even country folks - who think a rooster can lay eggs that boggle my mind.

 

[Miss Lydia]

okay wait a minute what was that about us southerners?