What the Chicken Knows

October 1, 2024
Montgomery and her husband began keeping chickens on their New Hampshire property in the 1980s and the always sparkling nature writer has been in love with these underestimated birds ever since. In this account of her adventures in the "Chicken Universe," she recounts many sweet moments, including how she raised chicks in her office, writing at her desk with little ones cuddling on her lap. The tales she tells about her flock, the Ladies, and her friends' chickens, reveal the wondrous extent of chicken intelligence and affection, from their sharp sense of place to gift for language, love of play, and sense of humor. Nearly everything people "know" about chickens, she writes, is wrong. As always, Montgomery is spellbinding and informative in her accounts of human interactions with other species, seamlessly covering natural history and up-to-date science. From learning to live with rogue roosters and Pickles, a "special needs" chicken, to how the free-roaming Ladies, who loved to be caressed, spent their contented days, until the "recovering ecosystem" led to the return of predators, Montgomery's not-to-be-missed chicken chronicle is enlightening and enlivening.

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October 15, 2024
Setting the record straight about the humble chicken. Montgomery's portrayal of what she terms the "Chicken Universe" is packed with colorful characters, ranging from variously feathered chickens to variously informed neighbors, friends, and other interlopers who offer advice and provide delightful anecdotes. In turns laugh-out-loud funny and tear-jerking, Montgomery's account is consistently thought-provoking and informative. The author reframes the assumptions that many laypeople carry about chickens, debunking stereotypes about their lack of intelligence with support from specific scientific studies and stories from her own experiences with her "Ladies," as she affectionately refers to her flock of hens. From the outset, Montgomery states that "almost everything people 'know' about chickens is wrong," and goes on to prove as much throughout her account. The author acknowledges these misunderstandings without much judgment, instead setting the record straight and sharing the vibrant and varied lives of these birds. As she says, "[Chickens] have a great deal of wisdom to share with us, as well as comfort and joy." Montgomery does not shy away from the more unsavory, less palatable truths of these animals, at times criticizing the human tendency toward anthropomorphism and at other times wryly questioning if she too is falling victim to the very same. With a subject matter that could easily lend itself to sanctimonious sentimentality, Montgomery maintains a degree of discernment, insisting that chickens do not deserve our respect because of the ways in which they are similar to humans, but instead for the simple fact that they are living things, with their own lives. An unflinching and surprisingly heartfelt account of a complex ecosystem.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2025

Author of the bestselling Of Time and Turtles, Montgomery focuses on chickens in her latest. She's kept a flock of chickens in her backyard for years, and in this short book, with a mix of narrative and science, she shares what makes these birds so remarkable. Prepub Alert.

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