Today's Free-Write: Chickens in history

Chickens are under-rated. Sure, we're prized for our eggs and meat, but we're much more than agricultural commodities. We have minds.

We live very balanced lives. I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who coined the phrase:

Early to bed, and early to rise
Makes a man healthy, and wealthy, and wise.

Just where do you suppose he got the inspiriation for that much-quoted dictum? That's right, from watchnig Colonial chickens. Afterall, we've long turned in for the night at the disappearance of the sun. And we start the day in the dawn's early light.

Which reminds me ... Who do you think Francis Scott Key had in mind when he wrote the opening lines of the "Star Spangled Banner?" Here's the text. Let's see if anyone comes to mind:

Oh say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?

He's obviously talking with fellow early-risers, to those who proudly hailed the sight of the Stars and Stripes still visible in the twilight's last gleam. Who was it? I believe it was, again, chickens. Chickens would have been up at the dawn's early light. Chickens would have hailed their beloved flag at the twilight's last gleam just before going to roost for the night. And chickens were often kept on ships at that time to provide fresh eggs for the troops.

Are there other events in American History where chickens have played a pivotal role? Undoubtedly! Why do you think there's an entire breed of chickens named after Plymouth Rock? Those egg-laying girls were at it again!