I'm a city girl transplanted to the boonies. I have alot of birdfeeders in my yard, and two weeks ago a chicken showed up. She is really dark brown with a bright red thingy on her head. My husband tells me this is called a comb. What is it there for? What function does it serve? I have no idea where this chicken came from as nobody close to us raises chickens. (My country husband of course told me that it came from an egg.)I read on another "Chicken site" that you don't need a rooster to have a hen lay an egg. How does THAT work. Even my husband thought you needed a rooster. It's kind of cool that my birdwatching has turned up a chicken, but needless to say it doesn't say anything in my Audobon book of birds about them. I also think it's cool that she may turn up with babies. I am interested in this.

-- Lynda Nichols (Bootsnich@aol.com), July 23, 2001

Answers

A chicken is a bird, I think

I think a chicken is a bird.

-- Jeffrey T. Guterman (jeffrey@guterman.net), July 23, 2001.

Chicken info

Hi, I have a few answersfor you on the chicken. A mature hen will produce unfertile eggs every day or every other day, depending upon the hen. But, no rooster means no fertilized eggs and of course, no cute baby chicks, just eggs. It's my guess the hen was already on the property somewhere in the background. Could she possibly have belonged to the previous residents? That's what happened to me, and now I'm in "Chicken Haven" lol. There are a couple of really informative message boards that give a wealth of info from people who have had many years' experience. If you're interested, try The Poultry Connection and The Poultry Information Exchange. Happy Birding!

-- Patricia D. Allen (Rstls2k1@yahoo.com), July 15, 2002.