Chickens: the creator of eggs, nature’s alarm clocks, and delicious Sunday afternoon dinners. Not that I would dare to consume any of my beloveds at the farm. I would, however, shame a few of them, which has become quite the trend on Instagram, as you can see from the pic above.
Chicken shaming is a simple enough exercise. All you need is a Sharpie, a piece of paper, and a chicken who refuses to play by the rules. Out of the thirty-eight feathered friends we have on the farm, there are a few with a cavalier, “rebel without a cause” attitude. Merida steals bread and won’t let you help her, even if the entire slice is stuck to her face. Henrietta, my spirit animal, is top of the pecking order, and don’t you forget it! Any hen who attempts a taste of her watermelon rind gets a severe reprimand. Ragnarok, our rooster, is a good guy, and shows the hens where to peck for grubs, but he can be an exhibitionist when it comes to sex.
And then the other night, we caught the girls hosting a bash with a flock of turkeys, without our permission. As soon as we showed up, the turkeys took off running, and not a single hen could look us in the eye. If I could have id’d the instigator, I’d have hung a sign around her neck that reads “Messes around with bad boys.”
In the meantime, here are some examples of #chickenshaming from around Instagram:
Top photo via The Little Things.