Country Life
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April 24, 2021 They may seem dim, but chickens are off to investigate the world Credit: Universal Images Group via Getty
Assumed to be the lowest in the avian-intelligence pecking order, chickens are, in fact, more like feathered imitators
of Sherlock Holmes, says John Lewis-Stempel.
Why did the cockerel cross the track? To get to the barn, where the chicken feed is now stored.
Our Maran cock, Robespierre (‘the terror of the farmyard’), on discovering that the metal feed bin was not in its usual place in the woodshed, had gone off exploring to find it.
Chickens? Often assumed to be the lowest in the pecking order of avian intelligence. The reality? The world’s most common farmed animal there are 19 billion chickens on planet Earth is not such a dumb-cluck.