Written by Jennifer
March 09, 2009
Try to stifle your laughter as an earnest spinster recounts the time she found her chicken, #7, frozen in the snow.
I can't exactly recall how the conversation turned to chickens one sunny Sunday afternoon about two weeks ago, but suddenly both of my co-workers were extolling the virtues of a little PBS documentary called The Natural History of the Chicken. They couldn't tell me enough about this surprising gem, and one of them just happened to own the DVD. Within a few days, it was sitting at my desk, begging to be watched. C'mon, you know you want to see it too!
I must first preface by saying that there's almost nothing natural about The Natural History of the Chicken. It sounds like an evolutionary tale of how chickens came to be and how they became such an integral part of our lives, but in the realm of documentaries, this is more of a comedy. Try to stifle your laughter as an earnest spinster recounts the time she found her chicken, #7, frozen in the snow.
She brought the chicksicle into the house, set it on the kitchen table, but found it impossible to fit into a shoebox for a proper burial. Its feet were sticking straight up, you see, and as she tried to smash them into a more manageable shape, she found that its little heart was still beating. Thinking fast, she administered mouth to beak resuscitation and saved #7's life.
As if this weren't enough, she went on to achieve a moderate amount of fame, which was, admittedly, a bit difficult to deal with. It did, however, provide her with an opportunity to meet with some sort of Chicken Whisperer. They were able to talk to #7 and ask, "Little chicken, did you go to the light?" This reenactment comes complete with a visual of #7's life flashing before its eyes: egg! chick! chicken!
Next we meet Cotton the Rooster, whose owner is a dingy redhead who swims with him in the pool, washes him with baby shampoo, and has a special chicken seat in her car. She's even constructed a little pair of chicken underpants, lest Cotton should have an accident in the house. Seriously!
Even crazier is the story of Mike the Headless Chicken. Around 1945, a family was slaughtering chickens when they noticed one of them running around like a chicken with its head cut off. They assumed he would just "go ahead and die", but Mike kept on running. In fact, he continued pecking the dirt and trying to be a chicken in spite of the fact that his head was missing. Apparently just enough of the brain stem was left to keep Mike going, so they used an eye dropper to drop food down his esophagus and to suck out all the mucous and crap that would collect and start to strangle him. Looking to make a buck, they hit the sideshow circuit. Strangely, they wound up with a lot of hate mail, not much profit, and eventually Mike died in his hotel room when the fam forgot the eyedropper at the sideshow. Oopsie.
Other highlights include a man who raised his own chickens and could tell from their flavor that they were happy, a man who does a frighteningly accurate rooster impression, and the touching tale of Liza the Banty Hen. Some bits have more comedic value than others, but all are highly entertaining. Don't be a chicken—check it out!
