I am firmly convinced that many, if not all, of life's secrets can be discerning simply by watching your chickens. In short, in think chicken behavior holds the key to human happiness, and by observing our fowl and following their example, we can achieve a happier life, and perhaps even enlightenment. Below, I am attempting to formulate my own such observations in 19 precepts. I call these precepts The Tao of Chickens. (I was thinking of naming them "The Zen of Chickens", but eventually settled for "Tao", since Tao has less connotations of rigid rituals and more of naturalness.)
I want to make one thing clear right off the bat: All of chickens' behavior is not good or worth emulating. Chickens do some things that are questionable, such as never settling for one sexual partner. Other things are downright inappropriate, like completely disregarding table manners or gorging styrofoam. Then there are those chicken behaviors that cannot be classified as other than utterly evil; bullying, assault, theft, rape, abandonment of children, even murder and cannibalism, sometimes of infants. In looking to chicken behavior as a guide, one has to sift through the bad to get to the good.
And here comes, as I see it, the good - the 19 precepts of the Tao of Chickens:
1. Love yourself and everything about yourself unconditionally.
A healthy chicken will never indulge in self-damaging behavior. No matter how a chicken looks, how healthy or sick, young or old, or popular or hated they are, a chicken will always do what's best for them in the present circumstances.
We humans might look at a chicken and find them "silly looking" due to strange tufts of feathers, "shabby" because they are molting, or "ugly" due to a deformity. We might think a particular rooster has a stupid crow or that a hen is unintelligent or crazy due to a certain odd habit. But a chicken will never pass such judgement on themselves. Chickens walk through life with undiminished dignity, always being sure that they deserve all that's good in life. A chicken might avoid other flock members because it's low on the pecking order, but that's not due to a lack of sense of self-worth, but a pragmatic way to avoid unwanted bickering.
We had a hen, "Little Peep", who would, to our amusement, always sit on a particular rock. If she were a human, she might after a while think "no-one else sits on this rock. I must be weird, being the only one that does it. Perhaps I should stop". But Little Peep, being a chicken, accepted her quirk without hesitation.
Accept your quirks. Walk through life with the unwavering self-esteem of a chicken.
2. Live in the present.
I often get interrupted when I do something I enjoy; I might be listening to an interesting radio show, and then someone sits down next to me and starts to talk to me. When this happens it tends to irritate me for a long period afterwards. Chickens are above such irritation.
It constantly happens that a chicken is indulged in something they enjoy immensely - dust bathing, sun bathing or scratching a particularly interesting piece of soil - and I happen to interrupt it. Perhaps I startle it, or it starts to run after me because it thinks I have food. After such an interruption, the chicken never shows sign of irritation. It doesn't ever even shows interest in resuming what it was doing the moment before. It just starts over from where it happens to stand at the moment. If I scare it out of a dust bath, and it ends up in the middle of the lawn, it just bends down and starts to peck grass. The dust bathing can always be resumed another time. The world doesn't end if that other time is later today, tomorrow or next week. If I were a chicken, I would, in the previous paragraph's example, forget all about the radio and focus on having an interesting conversation with the person who sat down next to me. And I would be less irritated and therefore more happy for it.
Living in the present also means constantly learning new things. Our chickens continuously find new and better places to dust bathe, dig for food, sun bathe and perch. If we put them in a new coop, they quickly learn to sleep and eat in their present quarters. They never cease to adapt to the latest news.
And it means letting go of the past. If a chicken has been bullied, and the bullying one day stops, the former victim doesn't seek revenge, or even seem to remember that the bully used to be mean. They are just happy that the bullying is over.
3. Always be on the lookout for danger.
Chickens tend to have one eye on the ground and one in the sky; if a bird of prey appears, they hide under a bush. They are always alert for odd noises, which could mean an approaching predator and certain death. Also, they are wary of anything new. Give them a new type of food, and they might wait days before trying to eat it. Give them peat to dust bathe in, and they will refuse to even step on it until they have given it a proper ocular exam. Expose them to a new area, such as a new pen, and they will not rush into it, but slowly and carefully explore it, square foot by square foot.
Now, I'm not saying that humans should walk around and be worried all the time. That would certainly not amount to increased well-being. Neither am I suggesting we should be paranoid and assume that strangers want us harm. But a healthy dose of carefulness is always good. Perhaps we should avoid the darker back alleys, and walk across the street if a band of loud teenagers enter our path late at night. Perhaps we shouldn't buy that car that seems so awesome and cheap without giving it a thorough test drive. And for the love of Pete, beware of Internet scams.
As long as there will be humans, there will be people who try to fool us, or worse. There is no harm in being at least a little prepared for the worst.
4. Enjoy life's little pleasures.
The other day, a week-old chick started walking down the ramp from the coop to the run. As it did, it passed a ray of sunlight. The moment its whole body was touched by the sun's rays, it stopped its descent, lay down on its side, and spread a wing. For a little while it lay there, and while I certainly can't read chickens' minds, it seemed to me to have no problem in the world; nothing existed for the little chick than the lovely feeling of warmth spreading across its fuzzy little body.
Similarly, when I give my chickens cold oat porridge, they react as a human might if they had won jackpot on the lottery.
Life for a chicken is a buffet of pleasures. So should it be for us.
5. Don't let insignificant things bother you.
In my daily life, I let a million things bug me. If I, for example, have had a poor night's sleep, I think about that several times during the day, perhaps muttering irritatingly to myself that I too rarely get to sleep in, worrying that my lack of sleep may cause me to catch a cold or not lift as much as I should later during today's gym session. I might worry that I'm not going to sleep well next night either, and even try to take a nap later in the day to make up for it even though I don't even feel tired.
A chicken wakes up when it wakes up, and that's it. My chickens must have had a thousand poor night sleeps; being awakened by roosters, cars, thunder, fireworks, me barging in and checking to see that they're all there, not to mention the summer sun. Again, I can't read their minds, but they seem to have never made a big deal of it. If they're tired, they rest a bit; if they feel like doing something else, they do that.
In a year, one night's sleep isn't going to matter. In three days, it won't matter. So I shouldn't dwell on it.
6. Never give up if your goal is set.
This precept I dedicate to one particular cockerel. We once hade four red sex link hens, and you know how mean they can be. We thought we'd buy a rooster for them. We did, but the rooster - which was actually a cockerel - was way too young for those adult, tough hens; some three or four months old, not even mature enough to have drooping tail feathers when he arrived.
The hens bullied him incessantly. He literally couldn't get within then yards the first day without getting chased off. And this didn't cease.
If I may use myself as an example again: I would have given up within a week. I would flee the back yard, or just sit in a corner and be depressed.
But not the cockerel.
He continued to try to be a part of the flock, by the simple strategy of always staying as close to the hens as they would allow him to. And lo, this distance became a few inches shorter every day.
After six months, he was a full-grown rooster. By then, the distance had shrunk to zero inches - he was allowed to mate them.
I can't imagine the loneliness of being stuck with four humans who would chase me off whenever I got close, and the sadness, frustration and downright madness that would soon ensue. But this cockerel was made of sterner stuff.
If I were half as goal-oriented as he, there is no telling how successful I would have been today.
7. Groom yourself impeccably.
Chickens spend a lot of time dust-bathing, their version of showering. A lot of their waking hours are spent preening their feathers. As a result, a healthy chicken not only looks neat and has no odor, but is also somewhat water-proof, well-insulated and free from pest.
Vanity is a sin in many religions, and is probably unhealthy if taken to excess. But basic, daily grooming keeps us healthier and looking and smelling nicer - and almost everybody appreciates if the people they meet don't look or smell bad.
8. Know that appearance matters, but that it's far inferior to behavior and attitude.
Most people who have had chickens for some time have probably experienced it: A tiny chicken with overbearing attitude scares the living crap out of a more mellow chicken who is physically large enough to swallow the small one whole.
Or maybe the most bullied hen in the coop starts to sit on eggs, turns aggressively protective of her offspring, and suddenly the toughest bully can't go near her without losing at least one feather.
Appearance matters in chickens. The size and redness of the comb, among other things, signals vitality; a chicken that doesn't look vital may be bullied. So may a chicken that simply looks odd. But far more important than that seems to be attitude. If a chicken lets other chickens know that they are not to be messed with - they will not be messed with.
This is a lesson I believe applies to humans.
9. Rise and go to bed early.
There are scientifically proven benefits to being awake when the sun is up and in bed when it is down. If one eats after sundown, a larger percentage of the food turns to fat than when we eat in the day. Daylight affects our hormonal system. In modern society, with all its artificial light, staying up late is the norm. It is, however, probably better for us to adopt the circadian rhythm of our chooks.
If nothing else, your day will be more fun if you're awake at the same time as your chickens.
10. Eat a varied, healthy, mostly plant-based diet, but don't fret excessively over food.
As it happens, humans and chickens have, with some exceptions, similar nutritional needs. We are both omnivores who can thrive on many different types of food (our similar diets may be one reason chickens have been such a common companion to us throughout the ages). Eating lots of different grain, vegetables and animals is probably good for us (we should, in fact, probably eat bugs too).
One thing many humans need to work on is to be as relaxed about what we eat as chickens. These days, with the ever-present exposure to unrealistic beauty ideals, eating disorders run rampant. And even if you don't have a full-on disorder, a lot of people worry to much about what they eat. That worry can be more detrimental to health than crappy eating in itself.
Chickens generally eat healthy, but if you throw in a piece of cake, they will gorge. Ideally, we should do the same.
11. Do a lot of varied physical exercise, but never in excess.
A free ranging chicken is probably incredibly fit and healthy. They spend their whole days walking around on different types of ground, scratching, hopping, flapping, running, and generally moving about in all the different ways they're designed to. However, you will never see a chicken run until the point of total exhaustion, fly until it has to lie down to rest, or pull something so heavy with its beak that it risks straining its neck.
A sedentary lifestyle is incredibly bad for us, yet extremely common. We would be better off walking around all day, digging ditches, climbing trees, raising houses, carrying babies, and moving about as variedly as a chicken.
At the other extreme is athletes who work out to the point of injury, overtraining or worse. That is both un-chicken-like and unwise.
12. Rest when needed.
Lying down and just chilling can seem like a sin if you're grown up in the modern world with its sometimes strict ideas of working class morale. However, it is something we probably all should do from time to time. Science is starting to back this up; there is evidence that when we're being lazy is the time that the brain recuperates and forms new connections.
Chickens understood this ages ago. Even the most active of them takes a few hours every day just relaxing.
13. Spend a lot of time in company of kin.
Poor mental health is running rampant in Sweden, and probably other countries too. One big reason for this is that people are lonely. Humans are dedicated flock animals and we don't feel good being on our own most of the time, like people are today.
Chickens go to bed together, wake up together, and spend most of their waking hours together. So should we.
14. Spend a lot of time outdoors.
That "fresh air is good for you" is more than just an old wive's tale; there is scientific evidence that we'd be wise to be outdoors more. Sunlight gives us important vitamin D. There are studies saying it's good for mental health to be surrounded by greenery. And while outdoors, you tend to move around more. We should probably be outside as much as a chicken.
15. Pick your battles.
Chickens can be incredibly brave and it should generally be seen as a misnomer when cowards are referred to as "chickens". However, chickens do run away from many battles. Just as they should. For what can a chicken do against a human or a dog chasing it, for example? Chickens have no natural armor or weapons to speak of. Running and hiding are their best defenses. And they are clever enough not stand against overwhelming odds just to seem brave. In a similar vein, we ourselves should only face real danger if we have very good reason to.
16. Everything in moderation.
Chickens never sleep to much or too little, exercise too much or too little, eat too much or too little... In fact, I can't think of anything they to too much or too little. They are role models when it comes to moderation.
17. Empty your bowels whenever you feel like it.
Naturally, we can't poop whenever we feel like it, as a chicken does. But we would be wise to at the most socially acceptable extent release our bowel content as often and quickly as we can. Holding stuff in can seriously upset your stomach and possibly cause serious health problems in the long run.
18. Suffer stoically without complaint.
This is another point that shouldn't be taken too literally. If a chicken shows any suffering, they might get bullied by the flock. Humans are generally not so inclined. On the contrary, we tend to help those seeming to suffer. So stoicism doesn't exactly have the same place in human society as in chicken society.
However, once you've gotten all the help you can for the problems you have, whining further will do no good but only cause others distress. A lot of us would do well to be more chicken-like in the face of suffering and put up a brave face a lot of the time.
19. Be prepared to sacrifice your comfort, health, perhaps even life, for a greater good.
The above mentioned rooster and his four red sex links ended up as fox food one unfortunate night. When discovering the remains afterwards, it was evident that there where far more rooster feathers than hen feathers. The rooster had tried to defend his hens; even though it was a fight he couldn't win, he had picked this battle because it could result in his hens escaping. He had sacrificed himself for the greater good.
Chicken mothers also often show such bravery. One of our hens with chicks, in a chicken tractor, sat with a bloody head one evening. A magpie had tried to eat her through the net. The hen had stayed put, deciding that suffering was better than getting up and risking one of her chicks being taken.
While it is best if one never has to enter a situation as the ones above, I think one should strive to be as brave as the birds in question if one were to arise.
As you can see from my examples, even the lowliest of chickens make me, a 34-year-old able-bodied man of normal intellect, seem like a bumbling fool by comparison. I might never approach the wisdom of fowl. However, at least I have identified goals to strive for, and strive is all one can do.
I would love it if you would comment on my precepts, and perhaps complete my list, change it as you see fit, or discuss some points of it. I am sure a lot of people here are wiser than me. I also feel I could figure out a lot more to say about the subject, but this will have to do for now.
May peace be upon your souls!
I want to make one thing clear right off the bat: All of chickens' behavior is not good or worth emulating. Chickens do some things that are questionable, such as never settling for one sexual partner. Other things are downright inappropriate, like completely disregarding table manners or gorging styrofoam. Then there are those chicken behaviors that cannot be classified as other than utterly evil; bullying, assault, theft, rape, abandonment of children, even murder and cannibalism, sometimes of infants. In looking to chicken behavior as a guide, one has to sift through the bad to get to the good.
And here comes, as I see it, the good - the 19 precepts of the Tao of Chickens:
1. Love yourself and everything about yourself unconditionally.
A healthy chicken will never indulge in self-damaging behavior. No matter how a chicken looks, how healthy or sick, young or old, or popular or hated they are, a chicken will always do what's best for them in the present circumstances.
We humans might look at a chicken and find them "silly looking" due to strange tufts of feathers, "shabby" because they are molting, or "ugly" due to a deformity. We might think a particular rooster has a stupid crow or that a hen is unintelligent or crazy due to a certain odd habit. But a chicken will never pass such judgement on themselves. Chickens walk through life with undiminished dignity, always being sure that they deserve all that's good in life. A chicken might avoid other flock members because it's low on the pecking order, but that's not due to a lack of sense of self-worth, but a pragmatic way to avoid unwanted bickering.
We had a hen, "Little Peep", who would, to our amusement, always sit on a particular rock. If she were a human, she might after a while think "no-one else sits on this rock. I must be weird, being the only one that does it. Perhaps I should stop". But Little Peep, being a chicken, accepted her quirk without hesitation.
Accept your quirks. Walk through life with the unwavering self-esteem of a chicken.
2. Live in the present.
I often get interrupted when I do something I enjoy; I might be listening to an interesting radio show, and then someone sits down next to me and starts to talk to me. When this happens it tends to irritate me for a long period afterwards. Chickens are above such irritation.
It constantly happens that a chicken is indulged in something they enjoy immensely - dust bathing, sun bathing or scratching a particularly interesting piece of soil - and I happen to interrupt it. Perhaps I startle it, or it starts to run after me because it thinks I have food. After such an interruption, the chicken never shows sign of irritation. It doesn't ever even shows interest in resuming what it was doing the moment before. It just starts over from where it happens to stand at the moment. If I scare it out of a dust bath, and it ends up in the middle of the lawn, it just bends down and starts to peck grass. The dust bathing can always be resumed another time. The world doesn't end if that other time is later today, tomorrow or next week. If I were a chicken, I would, in the previous paragraph's example, forget all about the radio and focus on having an interesting conversation with the person who sat down next to me. And I would be less irritated and therefore more happy for it.
Living in the present also means constantly learning new things. Our chickens continuously find new and better places to dust bathe, dig for food, sun bathe and perch. If we put them in a new coop, they quickly learn to sleep and eat in their present quarters. They never cease to adapt to the latest news.
And it means letting go of the past. If a chicken has been bullied, and the bullying one day stops, the former victim doesn't seek revenge, or even seem to remember that the bully used to be mean. They are just happy that the bullying is over.
3. Always be on the lookout for danger.
Chickens tend to have one eye on the ground and one in the sky; if a bird of prey appears, they hide under a bush. They are always alert for odd noises, which could mean an approaching predator and certain death. Also, they are wary of anything new. Give them a new type of food, and they might wait days before trying to eat it. Give them peat to dust bathe in, and they will refuse to even step on it until they have given it a proper ocular exam. Expose them to a new area, such as a new pen, and they will not rush into it, but slowly and carefully explore it, square foot by square foot.
Now, I'm not saying that humans should walk around and be worried all the time. That would certainly not amount to increased well-being. Neither am I suggesting we should be paranoid and assume that strangers want us harm. But a healthy dose of carefulness is always good. Perhaps we should avoid the darker back alleys, and walk across the street if a band of loud teenagers enter our path late at night. Perhaps we shouldn't buy that car that seems so awesome and cheap without giving it a thorough test drive. And for the love of Pete, beware of Internet scams.
As long as there will be humans, there will be people who try to fool us, or worse. There is no harm in being at least a little prepared for the worst.
4. Enjoy life's little pleasures.
The other day, a week-old chick started walking down the ramp from the coop to the run. As it did, it passed a ray of sunlight. The moment its whole body was touched by the sun's rays, it stopped its descent, lay down on its side, and spread a wing. For a little while it lay there, and while I certainly can't read chickens' minds, it seemed to me to have no problem in the world; nothing existed for the little chick than the lovely feeling of warmth spreading across its fuzzy little body.
Similarly, when I give my chickens cold oat porridge, they react as a human might if they had won jackpot on the lottery.
Life for a chicken is a buffet of pleasures. So should it be for us.
5. Don't let insignificant things bother you.
In my daily life, I let a million things bug me. If I, for example, have had a poor night's sleep, I think about that several times during the day, perhaps muttering irritatingly to myself that I too rarely get to sleep in, worrying that my lack of sleep may cause me to catch a cold or not lift as much as I should later during today's gym session. I might worry that I'm not going to sleep well next night either, and even try to take a nap later in the day to make up for it even though I don't even feel tired.
A chicken wakes up when it wakes up, and that's it. My chickens must have had a thousand poor night sleeps; being awakened by roosters, cars, thunder, fireworks, me barging in and checking to see that they're all there, not to mention the summer sun. Again, I can't read their minds, but they seem to have never made a big deal of it. If they're tired, they rest a bit; if they feel like doing something else, they do that.
In a year, one night's sleep isn't going to matter. In three days, it won't matter. So I shouldn't dwell on it.
6. Never give up if your goal is set.
This precept I dedicate to one particular cockerel. We once hade four red sex link hens, and you know how mean they can be. We thought we'd buy a rooster for them. We did, but the rooster - which was actually a cockerel - was way too young for those adult, tough hens; some three or four months old, not even mature enough to have drooping tail feathers when he arrived.
The hens bullied him incessantly. He literally couldn't get within then yards the first day without getting chased off. And this didn't cease.
If I may use myself as an example again: I would have given up within a week. I would flee the back yard, or just sit in a corner and be depressed.
But not the cockerel.
He continued to try to be a part of the flock, by the simple strategy of always staying as close to the hens as they would allow him to. And lo, this distance became a few inches shorter every day.
After six months, he was a full-grown rooster. By then, the distance had shrunk to zero inches - he was allowed to mate them.
I can't imagine the loneliness of being stuck with four humans who would chase me off whenever I got close, and the sadness, frustration and downright madness that would soon ensue. But this cockerel was made of sterner stuff.
If I were half as goal-oriented as he, there is no telling how successful I would have been today.
7. Groom yourself impeccably.
Chickens spend a lot of time dust-bathing, their version of showering. A lot of their waking hours are spent preening their feathers. As a result, a healthy chicken not only looks neat and has no odor, but is also somewhat water-proof, well-insulated and free from pest.
Vanity is a sin in many religions, and is probably unhealthy if taken to excess. But basic, daily grooming keeps us healthier and looking and smelling nicer - and almost everybody appreciates if the people they meet don't look or smell bad.
8. Know that appearance matters, but that it's far inferior to behavior and attitude.
Most people who have had chickens for some time have probably experienced it: A tiny chicken with overbearing attitude scares the living crap out of a more mellow chicken who is physically large enough to swallow the small one whole.
Or maybe the most bullied hen in the coop starts to sit on eggs, turns aggressively protective of her offspring, and suddenly the toughest bully can't go near her without losing at least one feather.
Appearance matters in chickens. The size and redness of the comb, among other things, signals vitality; a chicken that doesn't look vital may be bullied. So may a chicken that simply looks odd. But far more important than that seems to be attitude. If a chicken lets other chickens know that they are not to be messed with - they will not be messed with.
This is a lesson I believe applies to humans.
9. Rise and go to bed early.
There are scientifically proven benefits to being awake when the sun is up and in bed when it is down. If one eats after sundown, a larger percentage of the food turns to fat than when we eat in the day. Daylight affects our hormonal system. In modern society, with all its artificial light, staying up late is the norm. It is, however, probably better for us to adopt the circadian rhythm of our chooks.
If nothing else, your day will be more fun if you're awake at the same time as your chickens.
10. Eat a varied, healthy, mostly plant-based diet, but don't fret excessively over food.
As it happens, humans and chickens have, with some exceptions, similar nutritional needs. We are both omnivores who can thrive on many different types of food (our similar diets may be one reason chickens have been such a common companion to us throughout the ages). Eating lots of different grain, vegetables and animals is probably good for us (we should, in fact, probably eat bugs too).
One thing many humans need to work on is to be as relaxed about what we eat as chickens. These days, with the ever-present exposure to unrealistic beauty ideals, eating disorders run rampant. And even if you don't have a full-on disorder, a lot of people worry to much about what they eat. That worry can be more detrimental to health than crappy eating in itself.
Chickens generally eat healthy, but if you throw in a piece of cake, they will gorge. Ideally, we should do the same.
11. Do a lot of varied physical exercise, but never in excess.
A free ranging chicken is probably incredibly fit and healthy. They spend their whole days walking around on different types of ground, scratching, hopping, flapping, running, and generally moving about in all the different ways they're designed to. However, you will never see a chicken run until the point of total exhaustion, fly until it has to lie down to rest, or pull something so heavy with its beak that it risks straining its neck.
A sedentary lifestyle is incredibly bad for us, yet extremely common. We would be better off walking around all day, digging ditches, climbing trees, raising houses, carrying babies, and moving about as variedly as a chicken.
At the other extreme is athletes who work out to the point of injury, overtraining or worse. That is both un-chicken-like and unwise.
12. Rest when needed.
Lying down and just chilling can seem like a sin if you're grown up in the modern world with its sometimes strict ideas of working class morale. However, it is something we probably all should do from time to time. Science is starting to back this up; there is evidence that when we're being lazy is the time that the brain recuperates and forms new connections.
Chickens understood this ages ago. Even the most active of them takes a few hours every day just relaxing.
13. Spend a lot of time in company of kin.
Poor mental health is running rampant in Sweden, and probably other countries too. One big reason for this is that people are lonely. Humans are dedicated flock animals and we don't feel good being on our own most of the time, like people are today.
Chickens go to bed together, wake up together, and spend most of their waking hours together. So should we.
14. Spend a lot of time outdoors.
That "fresh air is good for you" is more than just an old wive's tale; there is scientific evidence that we'd be wise to be outdoors more. Sunlight gives us important vitamin D. There are studies saying it's good for mental health to be surrounded by greenery. And while outdoors, you tend to move around more. We should probably be outside as much as a chicken.
15. Pick your battles.
Chickens can be incredibly brave and it should generally be seen as a misnomer when cowards are referred to as "chickens". However, chickens do run away from many battles. Just as they should. For what can a chicken do against a human or a dog chasing it, for example? Chickens have no natural armor or weapons to speak of. Running and hiding are their best defenses. And they are clever enough not stand against overwhelming odds just to seem brave. In a similar vein, we ourselves should only face real danger if we have very good reason to.
16. Everything in moderation.
Chickens never sleep to much or too little, exercise too much or too little, eat too much or too little... In fact, I can't think of anything they to too much or too little. They are role models when it comes to moderation.
17. Empty your bowels whenever you feel like it.
Naturally, we can't poop whenever we feel like it, as a chicken does. But we would be wise to at the most socially acceptable extent release our bowel content as often and quickly as we can. Holding stuff in can seriously upset your stomach and possibly cause serious health problems in the long run.
18. Suffer stoically without complaint.
This is another point that shouldn't be taken too literally. If a chicken shows any suffering, they might get bullied by the flock. Humans are generally not so inclined. On the contrary, we tend to help those seeming to suffer. So stoicism doesn't exactly have the same place in human society as in chicken society.
However, once you've gotten all the help you can for the problems you have, whining further will do no good but only cause others distress. A lot of us would do well to be more chicken-like in the face of suffering and put up a brave face a lot of the time.
19. Be prepared to sacrifice your comfort, health, perhaps even life, for a greater good.
The above mentioned rooster and his four red sex links ended up as fox food one unfortunate night. When discovering the remains afterwards, it was evident that there where far more rooster feathers than hen feathers. The rooster had tried to defend his hens; even though it was a fight he couldn't win, he had picked this battle because it could result in his hens escaping. He had sacrificed himself for the greater good.
Chicken mothers also often show such bravery. One of our hens with chicks, in a chicken tractor, sat with a bloody head one evening. A magpie had tried to eat her through the net. The hen had stayed put, deciding that suffering was better than getting up and risking one of her chicks being taken.
While it is best if one never has to enter a situation as the ones above, I think one should strive to be as brave as the birds in question if one were to arise.
As you can see from my examples, even the lowliest of chickens make me, a 34-year-old able-bodied man of normal intellect, seem like a bumbling fool by comparison. I might never approach the wisdom of fowl. However, at least I have identified goals to strive for, and strive is all one can do.
I would love it if you would comment on my precepts, and perhaps complete my list, change it as you see fit, or discuss some points of it. I am sure a lot of people here are wiser than me. I also feel I could figure out a lot more to say about the subject, but this will have to do for now.
May peace be upon your souls!
