India is good for a surprise around any corner and on any street. We once passed a band of musicians blowing horns and banging drums, marching nonchalently down the middle of the road. Cows, of course, are sacred in the Hindu faith and go wherever they damn well please.
And on our way to the airport near Bhopal, our taxi driver asked if we wanted to halt and watch a truck feed the passengers.
They were transporting a brood of hens to market. [1] Properly defined, a brood is the family produced at a single hatching. This group had to be several broods. [2]
We were bemused by how healthy the hens were, and how agreeable to being transported together in baskets. They promptly headed for the field and their feed – and then back to the roadside to be placed again in baskets.
Chickens can’t fly (although they will get a running start and stay airborne for a second or two). There are more chickens than any other bird. According to Wikipedia, “[t]he domestic chicken is descended primarily from the red junglefowl (Gallus gallus).” They’re a gregarious species, and chicks are both incubated and raised communally.
We didn’t witness any of the usual pecking order. Maybe these hens were too hungry.
Later that night over dinner (no, I don’t recall if I ordered a chicken dish) we talked about animal husbandry. The fowl transport truck seemed to both of us much less cruel than an industrial chicken factory.
NOTES: [1] We were told these were Chinese hens, but I have not been able to find that breed anywhere. If my readers can identify this bird for me, I would be grateful. [2] Brood as a verb is also when a bird sits on the eggs to keep them warm with his or her body heat and hatch them. © Jadi Campbell 2017. All photos © Uwe Hartmann. To see more of Uwe’s animal photos and pics from our trips go to viewpics.de. Go to A Clowder, A Cluster, or A Cornucopia for earlier posts on specific animal groups.
Sources for chickens: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken and https://animalcorner.co.uk/animals/chickens/
Fun animal names from www.writers-free-reference.com, Mother Nature Network and www.reference.com.
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Fun and interesting post! 🙂 <3 Jackie@KWH
Glad you enjoyed it – they were one of those serendipity sights we sure weren’t expecting
I am speechless. Gorgeous post. Thank you.
..and gracious readers such as your fine self are the reason I post. You’re very welcome!
This is amazing! Love the whole traveling in baskets concept. According to my resident zoologist, these are guinea fowl, not chickens at all.
Guinea fowl! Thank you for clearing up the confusion! Could you ask your expert how to tell what Chinese hens are?
I too am impressed that the hens get a chance to stretch their legs and seem to be so well cared for on their way to market. But I guess it’s in their best interests to have happy, healthy animals to sell?
It’s probably the way they’ve always transported and cared for the hens. It was amazing how docile and happy they seemed!
This is amazing. It would never have occurred to me that they would let the hens loose, and that they would stop to feed them in the middle of transportation. Most animal husbandry these days seems to be so cruel. What an interesting post. I know I’d have been fascinated to watch such a sight.
Alison
Stopping on the side of a major road to watch this was one of those magical spontaneous events that are why we travel….