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Fowl Play: A History of the Chicken from Dinosaur to Dinner Plate
From dinosaur to dinner plate, Sally Coulthard tells the fascinating � and sometimes shocking � story of the domestic chicken.
Earth is home to 23 billion chickens, at least ten times more than any other bird. For every human on the planet, there are three chickens. Despite being capable of flying only a few metres, this most adaptable animal has somehow managed to conquer the world.
In Fowl Play, Sally Coulthard probes every aspect of the genus Gallus: the evolution and domestication of the chicken; its social behaviour and array of physically striking varieties, from Rhode Island Reds to Belgian d'Uccles and from Buff Orpingtons to White Leghorns; its importance in ancient Egyptian religion, Roman augury and Christian theology; its role as egg-providing companion on farms and smallholdings and in suburban back gardens; and the darker reality of modern poultry farming and society's insatiable appetite for chicken breasts, wings and nuggets. This is a story of evolutionary change, epic global travel and exploitation, as well as biophilia, companionship and human ingenuity.
Earth is home to 23 billion chickens, at least ten times more than any other bird. For every human on the planet, there are three chickens. Despite being capable of flying only a few metres, this most adaptable animal has somehow managed to conquer the world.
In Fowl Play, Sally Coulthard probes every aspect of the genus Gallus: the evolution and domestication of the chicken; its social behaviour and array of physically striking varieties, from Rhode Island Reds to Belgian d'Uccles and from Buff Orpingtons to White Leghorns; its importance in ancient Egyptian religion, Roman augury and Christian theology; its role as egg-providing companion on farms and smallholdings and in suburban back gardens; and the darker reality of modern poultry farming and society's insatiable appetite for chicken breasts, wings and nuggets. This is a story of evolutionary change, epic global travel and exploitation, as well as biophilia, companionship and human ingenuity.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published October 13, 2022
14 people are currently reading
537 people want to read
About the author
Sally Coulthard
31books96followers After studying Archaeology & Anthropology at Oxford University, best-selling author and designer Sally Coulthard has spent the last twenty years designing, making and writing about homes, craft and outdoor spaces. She sees no boundary between the rules that govern good interior design and those which are needed to craft a spectacular studio or glorious garden.
Keen to make good design accessible, she’s written over twenty books about restoring houses, designing interiors and outdoor living. From garden styles to craftsmanship, creating workspaces to building sheds, Sally’s books inspire, encourage and equip readers to take on projects of their own.
Sally is a passionate advocate of rural living and regularly writes about nature and her experiences of smallholding deep in North Yorkshire countryside, including her ‘Good Life in Country� column for Country Living magazine.
Keen to make good design accessible, she’s written over twenty books about restoring houses, designing interiors and outdoor living. From garden styles to craftsmanship, creating workspaces to building sheds, Sally’s books inspire, encourage and equip readers to take on projects of their own.
Sally is a passionate advocate of rural living and regularly writes about nature and her experiences of smallholding deep in North Yorkshire countryside, including her ‘Good Life in Country� column for Country Living magazine.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 37 reviews
January 6, 2023
Review First, a magic trick that might even impress Penn & Teller! " is also well known for supposedly sneaking messages to close friends, imprisoned during the Inquisition, on the inside of hard-boiled eggs. Della Porta described an ancient recipe, grinding oak galls and alum with vinegar, to create an ink that soaks through the eggshell to leave a message on the inside of the egg but no trace of writing on the outside." Cool eh?
The first chapters of the book about the descent of chickens from fearsome dinosaurs was interesting. But after that it was a mixed bag. In common with many non-fiction books they have to hash up ancient history from Roman and Greek times, and throw in everything, the researchers came up with, whether folklore, farming, food or just filler. Sometimes the ancient history sources are good, but sometimes the author is just guessing, just conjecture and I think if you really don't know why are you putting it in? An example, bolding is mine
The book was a mish-mash of interesting, not-so-interesting and stuff I skimmed over. It's a real 3 star. I liked it, didn't love it, thought it was better than ok.
__________
Reading notes that have a lot to do with my wild chickens but nothing to do with the book I always like books about chickens. However, I have never read a book by an author that has actually had wild chickens living around them. I know this because I do and my observations over the years have never been reflected in a book. But I live in hope!
On some islands, the poorer islands, chickens are food. But on the richer islands, chicken comes from the supermarket and the wild population living around the place live their own lives sometimes, like the ones by me, in the bush, sometimes like by my shop, in the back garden. And sometimes which annoys restaurants no end, close to restaurants where they walk among the outdoor diners a bit like dogs, hoping for a handout. The restaurateurs put up signs saying, 'Do not feed the chickens' but the tourists, enchanted by the begging hens (roosters are much shyer) do feed them. Chickens shit everywhere.
In books and documentaries we are told that chickens live in flocks and this is true, but not the whole story. Chickens also pair off, 'marry' each other, and these relationships last for years. A rooster and a hen will just leave the flock and always be together, sometimes accompanied by baby chicks, sometimes accompanied by another hen, but always in the end, it will just be the rooster and hen, pecking away at the ground never more than a yard or two apart. I had no flocks living near my restaurant (when I had one) in town, but I had a 'married' couple that patrolled the place in the morning and before dusk picking up crumbs, cockroaches, whatever.
Where I live in the rainforest area I have one pair and a flock. My son used to feed a couple of the young ones but since they shit all over the porch he decided to feed them only by his car. He parks his car at the end of the drive which is 50 yards away down a hill. The chickens, the three bolder ones, would spy him coming out of the door and race on ahead of him to reach the car before he did and get some stale bread roll. They would happily take food from his hand but since they also peck (painfully) and get very bold, he stopped that.
Eventually the chickens worked out that if they moved their roost to a tree directly opposite the porch they would be able to see when we came out and they might get some food. So all the chickens moved to another tree and at dusk, when they roosted, you could see shiny little black eyes keeping an eye out, just in case.
One of the nice things about having wild chickens around is natural selection applies and the birds are truly beautiful. The hens all prefer the really showy males and some of them, like a rooster who is pure white with yellow tipped tail and head feathers attracts the females in the flock. No two of the hens or roosters are alike, but you can see family resemblances and realise which rooster impregnated which hen. It is really interesting living with wild chickens, more so than most animals since they aren't in the least bit shy.
The first chapters of the book about the descent of chickens from fearsome dinosaurs was interesting. But after that it was a mixed bag. In common with many non-fiction books they have to hash up ancient history from Roman and Greek times, and throw in everything, the researchers came up with, whether folklore, farming, food or just filler. Sometimes the ancient history sources are good, but sometimes the author is just guessing, just conjecture and I think if you really don't know why are you putting it in? An example, bolding is mine
Although the exact nature of Mithraic rituals is poorly understood, there are a number of sites where cockerels seemed to have been sacrificed in surprisingly large numbers. At a temple in Tienen, in Belgium, archaeologists found evidence of a single sacrifice of almost three hundred cockerels, while in temples dedicated to Mithras in London, the chicken was the species that most frequently got the chop. Quite why this was, isn’t clear.The pugnacious nature of the cockerel might seem to provide a plausible reason for it playing a lead role in the rituals of a military cult, but there is another possible explanation. The original Indo-Iranian Mithras was also the god of light and the sun, so the sacrifices may have been linked to the significance of the cockerel’s crow at daybreak.So no one has any idea why there were a lot of dead cockerels in the temples. It doesn't seem to have occured to anyone, maybe that was 'holy' food, fried chicken or something. Or like the Jewish Temples in Jerusalem, the roosters were sacrificed but then became the priests' food and that was really their only way of getting food. Maybe the temples of Mithras were kind of like ancient KFCs? Come for the prayers and stay for the chicken supper?
The book was a mish-mash of interesting, not-so-interesting and stuff I skimmed over. It's a real 3 star. I liked it, didn't love it, thought it was better than ok.
__________
Reading notes that have a lot to do with my wild chickens but nothing to do with the book I always like books about chickens. However, I have never read a book by an author that has actually had wild chickens living around them. I know this because I do and my observations over the years have never been reflected in a book. But I live in hope!
On some islands, the poorer islands, chickens are food. But on the richer islands, chicken comes from the supermarket and the wild population living around the place live their own lives sometimes, like the ones by me, in the bush, sometimes like by my shop, in the back garden. And sometimes which annoys restaurants no end, close to restaurants where they walk among the outdoor diners a bit like dogs, hoping for a handout. The restaurateurs put up signs saying, 'Do not feed the chickens' but the tourists, enchanted by the begging hens (roosters are much shyer) do feed them. Chickens shit everywhere.
In books and documentaries we are told that chickens live in flocks and this is true, but not the whole story. Chickens also pair off, 'marry' each other, and these relationships last for years. A rooster and a hen will just leave the flock and always be together, sometimes accompanied by baby chicks, sometimes accompanied by another hen, but always in the end, it will just be the rooster and hen, pecking away at the ground never more than a yard or two apart. I had no flocks living near my restaurant (when I had one) in town, but I had a 'married' couple that patrolled the place in the morning and before dusk picking up crumbs, cockroaches, whatever.
Where I live in the rainforest area I have one pair and a flock. My son used to feed a couple of the young ones but since they shit all over the porch he decided to feed them only by his car. He parks his car at the end of the drive which is 50 yards away down a hill. The chickens, the three bolder ones, would spy him coming out of the door and race on ahead of him to reach the car before he did and get some stale bread roll. They would happily take food from his hand but since they also peck (painfully) and get very bold, he stopped that.
Eventually the chickens worked out that if they moved their roost to a tree directly opposite the porch they would be able to see when we came out and they might get some food. So all the chickens moved to another tree and at dusk, when they roosted, you could see shiny little black eyes keeping an eye out, just in case.
One of the nice things about having wild chickens around is natural selection applies and the birds are truly beautiful. The hens all prefer the really showy males and some of them, like a rooster who is pure white with yellow tipped tail and head feathers attracts the females in the flock. No two of the hens or roosters are alike, but you can see family resemblances and realise which rooster impregnated which hen. It is really interesting living with wild chickens, more so than most animals since they aren't in the least bit shy.
November 25, 2022
Sally Coulthard has a wonderful talent. She takes the everyday things - plants, food, buildings, animals - and through the course of a book demonstrates just how wonderful, how interesting they can be. This time, it's the turn of the humble chicken. I imagine that most people don't spare this rather odd bird much thought. Its products (including itself) can end up on our dinner plates but, aside from the odd pub-quiz question ('which living animal is closest to the T. Rex?'), that's the limit of contact. In 'Fowl Play', however, Coulthard takes the reader on the millennia-long journey of the chicken, from its impressive origins, through jungle fowl, show bird, fighter, and scientific guinea pig, to provider of nourishment. It is both remarkable and fascinating. At each step, she shows the impact humanity has had on it and - surprisingly - the impact it has had on us.
I always look forward to reading Coulthard's work. Not only is she exceptionally well-read, but she communicates extremely well. 'Fowl Play' is no exception. In it, Coulthard includes history, archaeology, palaeontology, linguistics, geography, ornithology (obviously), genetics, medicine, and the cutting-edge of science into a pacy and engaging narrative, explaining heavy concepts as if they were child's play and delighting in every story. Her facts astound and her anecdotes amuse as she encourages the reader to look at her subject with a renewed sense of wonder.
'Fowl Play', more than any other book, however, does something a bit different. In showing how interesting these birds are, Coulthard addresses head-on our cognitive dissonance in how we think of them (if ever). Every Easter, we coo at pictures of these cute, bright yellow, fluffy chicks, but choose not to consider how they will live - and how they will die. But here, Coulthard does not pull her punches. Although there is absolutely no virtue-signalling, no dictatorial stance - as she says, the eating of flesh of any kind is a personal choice - there is a sophisticated layering of evidence and story-telling that makes the reader question the world's treatment of these living, thinking, feeling animals, as well as of methods of food production in general.
Coulthard's book is therefore the rarest of volumes: it is both serious and entertaining. Its message is delivered through marvellous little morsels of information, wrapped in wonder and seasoned with a healthy sprinkling of fun. It is masterfully done - and the perfect 'nudge'.
I always look forward to reading Coulthard's work. Not only is she exceptionally well-read, but she communicates extremely well. 'Fowl Play' is no exception. In it, Coulthard includes history, archaeology, palaeontology, linguistics, geography, ornithology (obviously), genetics, medicine, and the cutting-edge of science into a pacy and engaging narrative, explaining heavy concepts as if they were child's play and delighting in every story. Her facts astound and her anecdotes amuse as she encourages the reader to look at her subject with a renewed sense of wonder.
'Fowl Play', more than any other book, however, does something a bit different. In showing how interesting these birds are, Coulthard addresses head-on our cognitive dissonance in how we think of them (if ever). Every Easter, we coo at pictures of these cute, bright yellow, fluffy chicks, but choose not to consider how they will live - and how they will die. But here, Coulthard does not pull her punches. Although there is absolutely no virtue-signalling, no dictatorial stance - as she says, the eating of flesh of any kind is a personal choice - there is a sophisticated layering of evidence and story-telling that makes the reader question the world's treatment of these living, thinking, feeling animals, as well as of methods of food production in general.
Coulthard's book is therefore the rarest of volumes: it is both serious and entertaining. Its message is delivered through marvellous little morsels of information, wrapped in wonder and seasoned with a healthy sprinkling of fun. It is masterfully done - and the perfect 'nudge'.
February 10, 2024
Sally Coulthard has captured me with her writings this was the second book of hers I have had the absolute delight to read. Her chapters and topics are well organised and flow well as the book progresses. It is such a fascinating topic, and adventure through history a well written journey of the chicken. Loved this book.
October 10, 2024
Pleasantly surprised by this book, listened to the audio.
I know a lot more about chickens than i ever thought i would; did you know chickens turn their eggs to stop the chick sticking to the sides. I should rate higher than 3.75 stars but it's neither a book i would have in my personal library nor one i would recommend to someone because it's so niche, also not really up for a reread.
I know a lot more about chickens than i ever thought i would; did you know chickens turn their eggs to stop the chick sticking to the sides. I should rate higher than 3.75 stars but it's neither a book i would have in my personal library nor one i would recommend to someone because it's so niche, also not really up for a reread.
June 4, 2024
3.5 stars rounded down
Really enjoyed the first couple chapters, but as it kept going it was a bit all over the place
Really enjoyed the first couple chapters, but as it kept going it was a bit all over the place
Read
November 7, 2024DNF.
January 28, 2025
A fascinating account of the biological evolution of the chicken both at the hands of nature and us, and the socio-cultural aspects of how the chicken has impacted our society through the ages (albeit focused more on the western hemisphere). Well written and well researched.
July 21, 2023
This book was good but not quite as good and thorough as I would have liked. I imagine annoying editors insisting the author add extra fun parts that actually have little to do with the point of the book. It just got majorly side tracked all the time and I completely forgot that it was about chickens.
Like every book about any type of bird, it always mentions the dinosaurs. I guess because it's not quite hit common knowledge quite yet. There is a famous story of protein found in trex bones that was most similar to that of a chicken
Interesting that tinkering with chicken DNA and interrupting our stopping certain generic traits might be the closest and most realistic way to remake a dinosaur(the example of the vertebrae and long tail, snout and teeth).
One trait also lost is the penis. The book explains that some birds still have penises, including Argentinian duck that has the longest penis in relation to his body. Large penises and violent sex was replaced with colorful plumage and tidbitting in chickens. The trait though is something that can reactivate in meatier and bigger broiler chickens.
Then who is the original chicken when you study the order of birds of the Galliformes? One theory is that the modern day chicken does not stem from a single species but had been bread with multiple species. Darwin is famous for saying that it stemmed from the red jungle fowl. Later genetic research would conclude it's the Burmese red jungle fowl.
But how was it demotivated as it's a notoriously any animal? Well the ones that were more fearless towards humans got more grain. But domestication for eggs is something that would evolve many hundreds of years later. Even domestication for meat developed later. An important observation made is that the more fearless towards humans a chicken would be, the more aggressive it would be towards other chickens. The author talks about is the possibility of the original purpose maybe being as fighters.
The book in my opinion gets completely sidetracked on the history of chickens as it starts going into deep historic theories on whether the Polynesian people took poultry to new Zealand(they didn't) and deep analysis on witchcraft and the theme of the egg in mythology around the world. I get it but little to do about the history of chickens. It continues to cover the etymology of "chicken" and "chicks". and then it's involvement in religion or any other type of symbolic or ritualistic feature.
I'm far more interested in the intricate and mysterious pecking order and the language of roosters. Apparently chickens really do have a form of a language beyond just fear and alert. The author uses the adjective of Machiavellian to describe their behaviour especially with other roosters. Much more clever animals than we think. The pecking order is also unbelievably passed down to their offspring.
Finally the book covers the history of the more modern domestic chickens. It kind of starts with the Cochin chickens given to the queen of England in Victorian times. An exhibition in Birmingham was held in 1850 that drastically impacted the interest in them.The boom of the exotic chickens in England has to do with the interest for the orient that happened as the Dutch East India company had a monopoly on international trade at the time. The future of domestic breeds of course, heavily depended on the price of their sake in auction/the market. Same as for other animals than the humble chicken. Eventually a standard for exhibition was developed for 9 breeds that were judged on their appearance.
The book into some fascinating parts about the egg. It's odd and uneven shape remains a sort of mystery. The side it comes out on. Thin flying birds and stocky ground ones, flat or nest and the air pockets on the round side up.
The careful Artificial incubation in Egypt was a game changer as eggs stopped being seasonal.
To increase the yearly egg laying capacity, chickens had to be cross bred too. This time not the pure bred chickens for show but deeply crossbred chickens.
Unfortunately with the boom in domesticated chickens for eggs also came the horror of factory farming. The lack of vitamin d in inclosed spaces lead to sickly chickens, pecking to death with close proximity, cutting off beaks and so far the most bizarre and cruel, the doping and reaping of turkeys in the incubation. Another barbaric practice is the force feeding of chickens to fatten them up in their short and miserable life. Even more diabolical is the castration of roosters.
For most of the domestics chicken's history, they have been only known as a rare delicacy to eat and not a industry.
The classic mistake of the poor farmers wife that was matched with the perfect storm of an increase of wealth, a decrease of grain prices, international laws protecting competition, the introduction of supermarkets and refrigeration in the 20s. Switching to broiler chickens also have chicken farmers an extra life line with chickens that served their purpose and were likely to die. New York in particular with a massive Jewish population was one of the biggest markets.
But because of the scale and effort required for the business, farmers needed to solve the problem of getting bigger chickens, with little feed and grow fast. You need a different chicken that did not have one or the other shortcomings of the chickens then. After competitions being held and decades of breeding and technological improvements in vitamins and feed, the American broiler chicken on average weighs 2.9 kg compared to the 1920s broiler at 1kg that existed for centuries. These new brothers also took barely any time to grow and barely any feed either. The English broiler weighs 2.2kg but takes even less time to grow. Some birds with up to 4kg. The lifespan of the average chicken has changed to 7 weeks from the 10 years of the backyard chicken or the 30 years of the red jungle fowl. The modern day chicken industry is so large and so competitive that the broiler chicken is not known for its breed or crossing but by it's brand name. Their complex and extremely secretive pedigree is kept the same and to an accurate standard by a complex process of keeping the same breeds crossing for 4 generations which will lead to the actual broiler chicken. Takes about 4 years for the whole process. Of course these are not animals meant to exist for longer than their adolescence. With a number of health issues and also a extremely cramped existence, the broilers are quite literally meant to die.
The last couple parts of the book talk about the important part the chicken plays in the future of food as the main cheap protein source from animals. Chickens also play a part in experiments and research lab too. Unfortunately, the rooster on the other hand might have a shorter future than the hen as artificial insemination is being refined and changing the sex of the chick before it's born is a reality. Making the rooster almost completely redundant. One of the bigger problems for such a gigantic industry is the use of feathers. What to do with tons and tons of feathers. A solution that doesn't destroy the environment must be found.
The very end of the book shows us how much the perception of the chicken has changed in a relatively short amount of time. They are treated as utterly insignificant with a brutal existence during their extremely short lives. Even thinking or considering their fate or intelligence is a hassle for us as we have become so dependant on the cheap meat they provide. Your understand the quite literate meaning of the book, Fowl Play.
Like every book about any type of bird, it always mentions the dinosaurs. I guess because it's not quite hit common knowledge quite yet. There is a famous story of protein found in trex bones that was most similar to that of a chicken
Interesting that tinkering with chicken DNA and interrupting our stopping certain generic traits might be the closest and most realistic way to remake a dinosaur(the example of the vertebrae and long tail, snout and teeth).
One trait also lost is the penis. The book explains that some birds still have penises, including Argentinian duck that has the longest penis in relation to his body. Large penises and violent sex was replaced with colorful plumage and tidbitting in chickens. The trait though is something that can reactivate in meatier and bigger broiler chickens.
Then who is the original chicken when you study the order of birds of the Galliformes? One theory is that the modern day chicken does not stem from a single species but had been bread with multiple species. Darwin is famous for saying that it stemmed from the red jungle fowl. Later genetic research would conclude it's the Burmese red jungle fowl.
But how was it demotivated as it's a notoriously any animal? Well the ones that were more fearless towards humans got more grain. But domestication for eggs is something that would evolve many hundreds of years later. Even domestication for meat developed later. An important observation made is that the more fearless towards humans a chicken would be, the more aggressive it would be towards other chickens. The author talks about is the possibility of the original purpose maybe being as fighters.
The book in my opinion gets completely sidetracked on the history of chickens as it starts going into deep historic theories on whether the Polynesian people took poultry to new Zealand(they didn't) and deep analysis on witchcraft and the theme of the egg in mythology around the world. I get it but little to do about the history of chickens. It continues to cover the etymology of "chicken" and "chicks". and then it's involvement in religion or any other type of symbolic or ritualistic feature.
I'm far more interested in the intricate and mysterious pecking order and the language of roosters. Apparently chickens really do have a form of a language beyond just fear and alert. The author uses the adjective of Machiavellian to describe their behaviour especially with other roosters. Much more clever animals than we think. The pecking order is also unbelievably passed down to their offspring.
Finally the book covers the history of the more modern domestic chickens. It kind of starts with the Cochin chickens given to the queen of England in Victorian times. An exhibition in Birmingham was held in 1850 that drastically impacted the interest in them.The boom of the exotic chickens in England has to do with the interest for the orient that happened as the Dutch East India company had a monopoly on international trade at the time. The future of domestic breeds of course, heavily depended on the price of their sake in auction/the market. Same as for other animals than the humble chicken. Eventually a standard for exhibition was developed for 9 breeds that were judged on their appearance.
The book into some fascinating parts about the egg. It's odd and uneven shape remains a sort of mystery. The side it comes out on. Thin flying birds and stocky ground ones, flat or nest and the air pockets on the round side up.
The careful Artificial incubation in Egypt was a game changer as eggs stopped being seasonal.
To increase the yearly egg laying capacity, chickens had to be cross bred too. This time not the pure bred chickens for show but deeply crossbred chickens.
Unfortunately with the boom in domesticated chickens for eggs also came the horror of factory farming. The lack of vitamin d in inclosed spaces lead to sickly chickens, pecking to death with close proximity, cutting off beaks and so far the most bizarre and cruel, the doping and reaping of turkeys in the incubation. Another barbaric practice is the force feeding of chickens to fatten them up in their short and miserable life. Even more diabolical is the castration of roosters.
For most of the domestics chicken's history, they have been only known as a rare delicacy to eat and not a industry.
The classic mistake of the poor farmers wife that was matched with the perfect storm of an increase of wealth, a decrease of grain prices, international laws protecting competition, the introduction of supermarkets and refrigeration in the 20s. Switching to broiler chickens also have chicken farmers an extra life line with chickens that served their purpose and were likely to die. New York in particular with a massive Jewish population was one of the biggest markets.
But because of the scale and effort required for the business, farmers needed to solve the problem of getting bigger chickens, with little feed and grow fast. You need a different chicken that did not have one or the other shortcomings of the chickens then. After competitions being held and decades of breeding and technological improvements in vitamins and feed, the American broiler chicken on average weighs 2.9 kg compared to the 1920s broiler at 1kg that existed for centuries. These new brothers also took barely any time to grow and barely any feed either. The English broiler weighs 2.2kg but takes even less time to grow. Some birds with up to 4kg. The lifespan of the average chicken has changed to 7 weeks from the 10 years of the backyard chicken or the 30 years of the red jungle fowl. The modern day chicken industry is so large and so competitive that the broiler chicken is not known for its breed or crossing but by it's brand name. Their complex and extremely secretive pedigree is kept the same and to an accurate standard by a complex process of keeping the same breeds crossing for 4 generations which will lead to the actual broiler chicken. Takes about 4 years for the whole process. Of course these are not animals meant to exist for longer than their adolescence. With a number of health issues and also a extremely cramped existence, the broilers are quite literally meant to die.
The last couple parts of the book talk about the important part the chicken plays in the future of food as the main cheap protein source from animals. Chickens also play a part in experiments and research lab too. Unfortunately, the rooster on the other hand might have a shorter future than the hen as artificial insemination is being refined and changing the sex of the chick before it's born is a reality. Making the rooster almost completely redundant. One of the bigger problems for such a gigantic industry is the use of feathers. What to do with tons and tons of feathers. A solution that doesn't destroy the environment must be found.
The very end of the book shows us how much the perception of the chicken has changed in a relatively short amount of time. They are treated as utterly insignificant with a brutal existence during their extremely short lives. Even thinking or considering their fate or intelligence is a hassle for us as we have become so dependant on the cheap meat they provide. Your understand the quite literate meaning of the book, Fowl Play.
July 23, 2023
(2022) by provides of a mix of fascinating science and soporific cultural trivia relating to Earth's most industrialized bird. The odds are that many of us owe our lives to the humble chicken, and not just because they feed us but because their eggs have served as growing media for viruses used to create numerous vaccines against deadly diseases. Vaccines, of course, are the most successful medical intervention in history, having saved millions of lives directly as well as indirectly via the creation of herd immunity. (Although, notably, chicken eggs aren't part of making vaccines against COVID-19, we are reminded in footnote 8 of Chapter 8.)
The author certainly did her research, as the extensive footnotes indicate. She's either an insomniac or she reacts differently to soporific cultural trivia than I do. It's somewhat interesting to read about all the ridiculous things people believed about chickens and witchcraft in the past, but it's hard to see any relevance to anything that matters. And plenty matters today, such as the current set of ridiculous things people believe.
One of those ridiculous things, often fashionable among the sorts of people who write and read books such as this one, is that despite the clear evidence from chickens and all other domestic animals that DNA influences both physical traits and behavior, somehow none of this could apply in any socially or economically significant way to humans. That is, Nature must share our egalitarian values, so evolution will have insured that all the different population groups of humans around the world arrived at this present moment equally endowed with all the genetic variants necessary for success in the 21st century. Despite the extreme novelty of modern environments, evolution must have seen this moment coming and made sure to equip all of us equally for it. Therefore, any differences in average outcomes between groups must be entirely down to environmental influences, especially racism, sexism, and all the other -isms. Coulthard disparages (Chapter 6) the eugenicist ideas of (1866�1944), which reminds me of Young Earth Creationists cherrypicking paleontological errors from the same period (e.g., ) as evidence that "evolutionists" today don't know what they're talking about. Never mind that science in general seems to have made some headway in the last 100 years, resulting in some improvements to various technologies like the telephone for starters. Someone who doesn't like a field of science ought to honestly engage with its current version. Who knows, maybe the scientists in that field learned something from its past mistakes.
We shouldn't be surprised that Davenport might have gotten a few things wrong, as his eugenic speculations occurred years before anyone understood in detail what a gene was. But now science has given us powerful tools, such as (GWAS), which create the possibility of actually testing the hunches of people like Davenport instead of lazily vilifying them. But do you think anyone is going to propose, much less win funding for, any study that might have the possibility of disturbing anyone's comforting ? It seems unlikely that any promising young geneticist would want to ruin his, her, or their career by discovering prohibited truths, when there are so many less controversial problems to address. Such as, for example, finding treatments or cures for the 6,000+ known (few or none of which, by the way, distribute equally among the world's population groups, so Nature's respect for egalitarian ideals is demonstrably lacking there). Thus the final resolution of the great will have to wait. In the meantime, and well before anyone has actually checked, Coulthard seems to have placed all her chips on the socially acceptable bet, namely that none of the persistent average outcome differences between population groups can have anything to do with differences in the distributions of genetic material.
A measure of whether people understand a problem is their success in solving it. The same kinds of social, behavioral, and economic disparities that Davenport studied a century ago are still with us. We may fancy ourselves as far more enlightened today, but where's the beef? If we understand the environmental influences on social outcomes, we ought to be able to create environmental interventions that produce better outcomes, perhaps even equal outcomes, if not for everybody then at least for study groups receiving targeted interventions. As reports in the book , the track record of such intervention programs is not great. In particular, there is a peculiar "fade-out" effect, with some interventions showing improvements in children that fade out by adulthood. That's something to bear in mind, by the way, when you hear about the latest balleyhooed educational method.
The author certainly did her research, as the extensive footnotes indicate. She's either an insomniac or she reacts differently to soporific cultural trivia than I do. It's somewhat interesting to read about all the ridiculous things people believed about chickens and witchcraft in the past, but it's hard to see any relevance to anything that matters. And plenty matters today, such as the current set of ridiculous things people believe.
One of those ridiculous things, often fashionable among the sorts of people who write and read books such as this one, is that despite the clear evidence from chickens and all other domestic animals that DNA influences both physical traits and behavior, somehow none of this could apply in any socially or economically significant way to humans. That is, Nature must share our egalitarian values, so evolution will have insured that all the different population groups of humans around the world arrived at this present moment equally endowed with all the genetic variants necessary for success in the 21st century. Despite the extreme novelty of modern environments, evolution must have seen this moment coming and made sure to equip all of us equally for it. Therefore, any differences in average outcomes between groups must be entirely down to environmental influences, especially racism, sexism, and all the other -isms. Coulthard disparages (Chapter 6) the eugenicist ideas of (1866�1944), which reminds me of Young Earth Creationists cherrypicking paleontological errors from the same period (e.g., ) as evidence that "evolutionists" today don't know what they're talking about. Never mind that science in general seems to have made some headway in the last 100 years, resulting in some improvements to various technologies like the telephone for starters. Someone who doesn't like a field of science ought to honestly engage with its current version. Who knows, maybe the scientists in that field learned something from its past mistakes.
We shouldn't be surprised that Davenport might have gotten a few things wrong, as his eugenic speculations occurred years before anyone understood in detail what a gene was. But now science has given us powerful tools, such as (GWAS), which create the possibility of actually testing the hunches of people like Davenport instead of lazily vilifying them. But do you think anyone is going to propose, much less win funding for, any study that might have the possibility of disturbing anyone's comforting ? It seems unlikely that any promising young geneticist would want to ruin his, her, or their career by discovering prohibited truths, when there are so many less controversial problems to address. Such as, for example, finding treatments or cures for the 6,000+ known (few or none of which, by the way, distribute equally among the world's population groups, so Nature's respect for egalitarian ideals is demonstrably lacking there). Thus the final resolution of the great will have to wait. In the meantime, and well before anyone has actually checked, Coulthard seems to have placed all her chips on the socially acceptable bet, namely that none of the persistent average outcome differences between population groups can have anything to do with differences in the distributions of genetic material.
A measure of whether people understand a problem is their success in solving it. The same kinds of social, behavioral, and economic disparities that Davenport studied a century ago are still with us. We may fancy ourselves as far more enlightened today, but where's the beef? If we understand the environmental influences on social outcomes, we ought to be able to create environmental interventions that produce better outcomes, perhaps even equal outcomes, if not for everybody then at least for study groups receiving targeted interventions. As reports in the book , the track record of such intervention programs is not great. In particular, there is a peculiar "fade-out" effect, with some interventions showing improvements in children that fade out by adulthood. That's something to bear in mind, by the way, when you hear about the latest balleyhooed educational method.
January 8, 2023
Clucking good read
December 17, 2023
I learned so much and the research was amazing in this book.
May 20, 2023
Hoewel ik op een bepaalde manier meer aangetrokken ben tot kippen dan tot schapen vond ik het boek over de schaap een beetje interessanter ,
Om het boek 5 sterren te geven mochten er voor mij wat meer weetjes in over de kippen en hun eieren en mss wat minder over hun relatie tot de mens , alhoewel ik wel veel te weten ben gekomen over het gebruik (in de geneeskunde en ander onderzoek) en het uitbroeden van eieren , mocht er toch wat meer info over de communicatie , karakter, leefstijl van deze boeiende merkwaardige dieren .
Het boek is vlot en luchtig geschreven de schrijfster heeft een gemakkelijk leesbare schrijfstijl, � nu is het wachten op een boek over de koes waarin de schrijfster (voor deze lezer ) wat meer mag focussen op het dier zelf en een beetje minder op de relatie met de mens � 🐑🐑🐑🐑 , 🐔🐣🐥🐔, � 🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮 (?)
Om het boek 5 sterren te geven mochten er voor mij wat meer weetjes in over de kippen en hun eieren en mss wat minder over hun relatie tot de mens , alhoewel ik wel veel te weten ben gekomen over het gebruik (in de geneeskunde en ander onderzoek) en het uitbroeden van eieren , mocht er toch wat meer info over de communicatie , karakter, leefstijl van deze boeiende merkwaardige dieren .
Het boek is vlot en luchtig geschreven de schrijfster heeft een gemakkelijk leesbare schrijfstijl, � nu is het wachten op een boek over de koes waarin de schrijfster (voor deze lezer ) wat meer mag focussen op het dier zelf en een beetje minder op de relatie met de mens � 🐑🐑🐑🐑 , 🐔🐣🐥🐔, � 🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮 (?)
March 24, 2024
Sinds wij zelf vier krielkippen hebben, heb ik een meer dan gemiddelde belangstelling voor onze gevederde vrienden om dat cliche maar eens te gebruiken. Dit boek was voor mij dan ook een schot in de ros. Het is echt een geniaal boek: er is geen enkel aspect over de kip te bedenken waar Sally Coulthard geen aandacht heeft geschonken: aan de domesticatie, offerrituelen, vaccinaties, intensieve veehouderij en ga zo maar door. Voor elk wat wils. Compliment ook aan de vertaler. Alleen aan de bovenmatige aandacht voor Groot-Brittannië kun je merken dat het boek oorspronkelijk in het Engels geschreven is. De prachtige Engelse titel met woordspeling Fowl Play sneuvelde maar Kroniek van de kip, met als ondertitel Het verhaal van een plompe maar pientere vogel doet er met zijn alliteraties niet voor onder.
March 14, 2023
The author tells the story of the chicken and then brings home the implications on our lives. Two big takeaways:
1. Guess how many chickens are slaughtered annually for their meat. Were you close?
2. Her moral argument is summarized as "You have two choices after learning of the plight of the modern chicken. You can decide you don't really care about animals, or you can become a vegetarian. Most people choose a third path, which is to so distance themselves from facing the truth that they can continue to eat animal products without feeling any emotions whatsoever."
1. Guess how many chickens are slaughtered annually for their meat. Were you close?
2. Her moral argument is summarized as "You have two choices after learning of the plight of the modern chicken. You can decide you don't really care about animals, or you can become a vegetarian. Most people choose a third path, which is to so distance themselves from facing the truth that they can continue to eat animal products without feeling any emotions whatsoever."
December 6, 2023
Ik heb eigenlijk niks met kippen behalve dat ik er bij wijlen stukken van eet. Toch was het een boeiend relaas over de rijke geschiedenis van ons gevederd huisdier. De rol van de kip doorheen de eeuwen, van vechtkip over legkip tot plofkip geschikt voor massaproductie. Miljarden kippen op aarde die dienen als voedsel, elk continent lust wel een kippenvleugel of een gefrituurde nugget-in India minder, daar verkiezen ze plantaardig voedsel. De auteur breekt wel een lans voor deze intelligente hoenders die dan nog over een flinke brok emphatie beschikken. There is no such thing as a chickenbrain.
June 26, 2024
The natural history of Chicken, this book was a brilliant blow by blow of how the Chicken has attained it global status as pet, predator of the legless garden pests, provider of protein ovoids, pillow filler and crumbed deep fried dee lish isss ness.
As a student of history, philosophy and theology, the humble chicken feature’s in each subject, whether usefully or not. Sally Coulthard shows us that reviled or revered the Chicken deserves our recognition for its determination to succeed in a world of selected human ugliness for profit or the joy they spread when their beauty, dedication, devotion to humans is exhibited with loving kindness and longevity.
Thank you for your words of wisdom Sally Coulthard, and your eloquence Deirdra Whelan, very much appreciated Ladies. (-:
As a student of history, philosophy and theology, the humble chicken feature’s in each subject, whether usefully or not. Sally Coulthard shows us that reviled or revered the Chicken deserves our recognition for its determination to succeed in a world of selected human ugliness for profit or the joy they spread when their beauty, dedication, devotion to humans is exhibited with loving kindness and longevity.
Thank you for your words of wisdom Sally Coulthard, and your eloquence Deirdra Whelan, very much appreciated Ladies. (-:
July 12, 2023
This book presented so much that I didn't know about this almost ubiquitous bird, all in a succinct, but complete history. For example, the speculation in collectible chicken breeds in the late 19th century, similar to the tulip speculation boom, was interesting. The development of the egg carton, the incubator, and broiler chicken factory farms all were brand new to me. Research on chickens having a rudimentary language - fascinating, brand new information to me, at least. Enjoyable.
May 22, 2024
I loved this book, but I suspect it takes a unique person to be able to say that. I can't see a lot of people getting excited about the history of chickens. This book gives all sorts of information, but (for me) the real excitement was the descriptions around the selective breeding that has been done so that we can get 300+ eggs out of a layer and maximize the growth of a broiler to about 6-9 weeks.
January 28, 2024
I learned a lot from this book and found many of the anecdotes interesting, but there are definitely areas I think this book could be improved. As a resource, this book should only be used to inspire more in-depth research, serving as a jumping off point as opposed to the basis of your understanding. I do wish the author had explored certain areas more and from multiple perspectives.
May 29, 2023
This is like so much better than I thought it would be. I genuinely learned so much and the way she wrote this book was so entertaining while being extremely informative. I didn’t only learn about chickens but just a bunch of interesting facts in general!
July 23, 2023
The title delivers, that much is sure. I personally wished there were more content related to the bird's biology. I also felt that the middle chunk of the book that covered specific regions was rather skippable, but I wouldn't count that as an issue.
June 26, 2024
Heerlijk informatief boek over kippen en hun betekenis door heen de geschiedenis. Ook een doordenker op het vlak van dierenwelzijn en hoe wij daar naar kijken.
Heel graag gelezen door de vlotte taal en de duidelijke liefde die de schrijfster heeft voor de dieren!
Heel graag gelezen door de vlotte taal en de duidelijke liefde die de schrijfster heeft voor de dieren!
December 15, 2022
Some chapters went a little bit too much into the linguistics side, like the evolution of the word chick. But by the end it became the book I expected.
February 4, 2023
An engaging read loaded with historical and modern fun facts of our favorite fried poultry.
April 24, 2023
Very interesting, detailing the bird's history from the dinosaur days, what its early ancestors are likely to have been, through to the early and current farming practices
May 26, 2023
Thought provoking
June 13, 2023
Really really fascinating, and well-told, history. I think it would have been 5-stars for me in print, but the audiobook narrator was very dry.
September 29, 2023
Een stuk verontrustender dan het schapenboek
October 12, 2023
Needs a better balance...
Too much middle ages information. Not much about the 20th century. I read the whole book, so it's recommended. Enjoy.
Too much middle ages information. Not much about the 20th century. I read the whole book, so it's recommended. Enjoy.
February 22, 2024
Chickens have never been more interesting.
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