So the girls do not seem to mind the cold, but they do not trust snow. I wonder what they think about it? Chickens obviously see at least some color because they always go after the red nail polish I wear on my toes (in the summer). They can pick out the corn feed from the chicken meal--that's another phenomena, a topic for later. They can pick out bugs in the dirt before I can see them.
Maybe they think snow has no substance since it is all the same. Does it look like clouds to them--although I don't think many chickens have flown high enough to experience clouds. The real question is: How do they think???
Maybe there is a collective chicken consciousness. Going back to the corn feed--the first day I brought them corn feed, it was in a clear bag. They began pecking at the corn in the bag, chasing me for it, in fact. They had never experienced corn before so this was not a learned behavior. There are other things, like oyster shell or pine shavings, that I have brought out to them in a clear bag and they have never pecked at that.
I have come to the conclusion that there must be a collective chicken consciousness. The aversion to snow must be part of it. If there is a collective chicken consciousness, are there also chicken archetypes? Like Chicken Little, or the Chicken that Crossed the Road, or Chicken Soup (probably not a favorite), or Playing Chicken . . . We will have to ask Chicjung for a consult, til next time...
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