why did the chicken cross the road what
do you think of when you think of
chicken maybe you only think yum nuggets
perhaps you think of the wise advice not
to count your chickens before they hatch
have you ever been called a chicken I’m
not sure where that one came from I know
chickens braver than me but there are so
many references to chickens in our
everyday lives that people hardly think
of the animal behind the name many of
these idioms don’t even make sense
winter chickens are just as Pepe’s
spring chickens bad eggs don’t plot to
make atomic bombs they just don’t hatch
and it seems to me like everything
tastes like chicken so if there are so
many things to think about when you
think about chickens you’re probably
wondering what I think about I think
about my chickens a few years ago I
decided I wanted chickens my chickens
have made me a better person because of
them I’m more responsible and work
harder I’m Lucy Campbell and I’m here to
tell you the story of my chickens and
why it is important for children to have
responsibilities such as chores I was
roughly seven when I first asked for
chickens and my mom said definitely not
we already had a dog and several fish
but I wasn’t ready to give up just quite
yet I really wanted chickens I’m not
sure why I chose chickens out of all of
the animals in the world but once I did
it stuck to me and it wouldn’t let go it
all came down to one afternoon it’s very
clear in my memory I was asking my mom
if we could get chickens just like I had
done every day before that and out of
nowhere she said yes I guess she was
annoyed with me asking and probably
didn’t think it would work out anyway it
might have helped the report cards came
out a few days before though I was so
excited I started looking immediately I
looked up ads for baby chicks for sale
in the area and found one it was from a
guy named Ted which is funny because
without him I wouldn’t be doing this TED
talk in a matter of minutes we were on
our way to Ted’s house in a new chapter
of our lives get a tiny brown mule in a
fenced off area different cages and
coupes were scattered around his yard he
took us inside a little red barn there
was a cage with
chicks peeping inside of it we got two
chickens that day which we named Jack
and Jill they were really tiny when we
got them so small in fact that we kept
them in a hamster cage for the first few
months of their lives in order to take
care of my chickens I have to let them
out of the coup make sure they have
water every day make sure they don’t get
eaten by foxes Hawks or bobcats and give
them scratch their normal food which is
corn grains and seeds and comes in 50
pound bags along with scraps like apples
and vegetables chickens are a lot of
work but there’s so much a part of me
and my life that I wouldn’t be the same
without them according to the national
animal health monitoring system point
eight percent of people in the united
states have backyard chickens that’s not
very many but i’ve never heard of
someone who has chickens and doesn’t
like them Rob Ludlow who has written
several books on raising chickens so his
chickens are a multi-purpose pet they
eat bugs and weeds in your yard generate
fantastic fertilizer and even make you
breakfast this is not all chickens are
good for though in a 25-year study
conducted in 1967 by Marty Reisman about
twenty-eight percent of children have
chores in a 2012 study by domain about
twenty one percent of children get an
allowance based on to our completion
having a reward will make your child
more willing to do chores but chores
like pets don’t require reward because
they are their own reward chickens can
also help children with autism memory
loss patients and elderly people some
nursing homes give their residence
chickens to take care of you may have
heard of therapy dogs but did you know
about therapy chickens chickens make
good therapy animals because they are
less expensive than dogs take less
maintenance and can be very amusing my
chickens have had a profound effect on
my life they’re each a part of the
family and I will never forget them
because of them I’m more responsible and
work harder so shake a tail feather
prepare a child to strut his or her
stuff give them chores so they can find
their place in the pecking order and
rule the roost thank you you