Three clucks to Sy Montgomery, who 14 years after publishing 鈥淏irdology,鈥� is still finding ways to make money off the charming stories she told in that book about various avian species. 鈥淲hat the Chicken Knows,鈥� subtitled 鈥淎 New Appreciation of the World鈥檚 Most Familiar Bird鈥� was a chapter in 鈥淏irdology,鈥� but is being re-released as a mini hardcover.
Readers who haven鈥檛 read it will be, briefly, captivated. In just 67 pages (16 of which are glossy color photographs) Montgomery introduces us to her 鈥淟adies,鈥� the ever-changing flock of hens she raised on her New Hampshire farm for decades starting in the 1980鈥檚. Blending her personal experiences as queen of the coop with everything you鈥檝e ever wanted to know about chicken behavior, it鈥檚 a fun and informative way to spend an hour.
Here鈥檚 a sampling of what you鈥檒l learn: Chickens outnumber people 4:1, they have more in common, anatomically, with dinosaurs than humans, you can mail order up to 350 different varieties of chicks, and roosters really are much meaner than hens. Montgomery sprinkles in those facts and plenty more as she shares stories about how her chickens behaved over the years and what they taught her about 鈥渉ow rich and varied their lives are, as fraught and joyous and changeable as our own.鈥�
Montgomery is wary of anthropomorphizing her feathered friends, so while she names them, she also tells plenty of stories that could be rebranded for a TV show called 鈥淲hen Chickens Attack!鈥� The funniest involves her minister, who makes the mistake of running his hand down one of the hens鈥� backs, a gesture that makes them assume a distinctive mating crouch. Across the yard, Alex 鈥渟aw a moral travesty, an insult to his roosterhood: the minister was trying to have sex with his hen.鈥� The minister survives the bloody 鈥渟purs first鈥� attack to the back of his calves, but learns to tend his own flock.
鈥淲hat the Chicken Knows鈥� joins 鈥淎 Hummingbird鈥檚 Gift鈥� and 鈥淭he Hawk鈥檚 Way鈥� as standalone mini-books pulled from the pages of 鈥淏irdology.鈥� Each has a new introduction by the author and would make nice stocking stuffers for bird lovers in anyone鈥檚 life.
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AP book reviews:
Rob Merrill, The Associated Press
