Althouse: "I remember stepping inside and being blown away by the birds."

March 12, 2013

"I remember stepping inside and being blown away by the birds."

"They were gorgeous! And the show itself—the people, the smell, the sounds, the camaraderie of the shows and the beauty of the birds—who knew there were so many varieties of chickens beyond what you think about when they’re on your dinner plate?"

18 comments:

rhhardin said...: Put an ad in the paper offering to take roosters and you'll probably get a dozen or so. Let them live free in the back yard.

Wake at 4am.; 3/12/13, 6:22 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I would not have guessed that chickens were so photogenic.; 3/12/13, 6:23 PM
chickelit said...: My grandmother collected ceramic chickens. I remember a cheap glass one that she had which was actually a sitting hen having two pieces--a cover and base. She kept candy inside for us grandkids. I had about two dozen cousins and all my dad's brothers and sisters would show up on different weekends so as not overwhelm her as she was widowed early and lived alone.

When I was 12 or so, I decided to get her a porcelain chicken and found one at a second hand shop. I must have gotten the money from my paper route. She put it on her tschochke shelf (we called it a curio cabinet then) and as I grew older I forgot about it. Shortly before she passed away, she returned it to me. I still have it.; 3/12/13, 6:52 PM
edutcher said...: The one posing as a Rhode Island Buff Orpington is actually Daffy Duck.; 3/12/13, 7:13 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: We used to raise chickens and some ducks. There was a black banty hen who was very motherly. She reminded us of a little Italian Grandmother, all dressed in black and very bossy. Once she decided to hatch some duck eggs that had, for some reason that I don't recall, been abandoned by the duck. It was very funny to see the Banty mothering the ducklings and her frantic dismay when the baby ducks decided to take a swim in the pond was hysterical.; 3/12/13, 7:22 PM
Synova said...: I like chickens.; 3/12/13, 7:52 PM
Bob_R said...: We used to raise chickens. Vicious, cannibalistic, little monsters. I eat three eggs a day now.; 3/12/13, 8:00 PM
Ben Calvin said...: A chicken ain't nothing but a bird. http://youtu.be/88pD6vKNptk; 3/12/13, 8:12 PM
Rusty said...: What I knows about chickens is that the best dry fly hackle comes from the roosters neck.
And eggs.; 3/12/13, 8:22 PM
William said...: A chicken's most lovable and attractive quality is its good taste. If the the chicken didn't taste good, it would have gone the way of the dodo bird.; 3/12/13, 9:10 PM
Alex said...: Chickens are there for the eating.; 3/12/13, 9:37 PM
Mark said...: It's what's for dinner.; 3/12/13, 10:02 PM
rcommal said...: Who knew? I did (always have) along with so many others. Silly it is, that "who knew" could be considered a serious question. But the truth of it is that it can be a serious question and in fact, it is.

OMG. So grateful to be only one generation from farm-raised, among other stuff.; 3/12/13, 11:33 PM
JAL said...: Amazing. I had no idea.

Though my favorite chicken is the Buff Orpington immortalized in "Dagwood and Blondie" as Mrs. Buff-Orpington.; 3/13/13, 12:18 AM
ampersand said...: The second picture looks like Looney Tune's version of a fowl Mae West.; 3/13/13, 2:27 AM
Jim in St Louis said...: Of course we raised chickens at home, but here in the city the only birds I see are at the farmers market in Soulard. Live birds are a big seller among the Asians. Mrs Luu tells me that she can really tell the difference between a fresh bird on the dinner table and some corpse that has been siting in a grocery store shelf for a couple of days.; 3/13/13, 2:51 AM
Rusty said...: William said...
A chicken's most lovable and attractive quality is its good taste. If the the chicken didn't taste good, it would have gone the way of the dodo bird.

Dodo birds got et.; 3/13/13, 5:54 AM
ed said...: "White Leghorn Bantam Cock."

Definitely Foghorn Leghorn.

In other news....

So many chickens, so little frying oil ...; 3/13/13, 9:18 AM