(Side note: I thought this was going to be an easy one, but boy was I wrong! There’s a lot of conflicting information out there!)
The modern “chicken,” or Hens, Roosters, chicks, pullets, and cockerels as they are known in their age groups, are a wide variety of different fowl birds, descended from many more ground foraging fowl, ranging from India to Southeast Asia, and Africa! Records of the “bird that gives birth every day” go back to the 18th Dynasty in Egypt, where we first here of the birds being kept for their egg-laying abilities. That’s quite a history!
That brings us to the first representation for chickens – fertility. Eggs of all species have long been associated with fertility, but chickens are a rarebreed that will lay constantly throughout the years for most of their lives. This gives them an especially fertile reputation! In fact, the Chicken will lay a nest of 12 eggs at a time before she begins to brood (incubate) the eggs, laying one or two eggs a day for up to two weeks. We’ll get back to more on that later. Chicken feathers were also commonly used in homes to insulate and pad the marriage bed, if not also the other beds in the home, and so, too, are their feathers associated with fertility. If Chicken wanders into your yard, it is highly likely that you are heading for a fertile period – whether literally or metaphorically. Get out your crafts and paints – or your bed! – and get ready to bring new creations into the world through direct action.
If the Chicken that appears seems moody or sullen, this especially signifies that you are feeling stymied and need to get back to being creative. This is most likely caused by unfulfilled plans our ideals or a sense of rejection or admonishment. If so, try your hand at something new. If you write, try painting. If you paint, try fabric arts. If you knit, try sculpting, on and on and so forth.
Once incubation begins (after the hen has finished laying her nests and actively begins the brooding process) it takes about 21 days for all the eggs to hatch. Even though it can take about 2 weeks for the hen to lay all her eggs, the incubation process is such that the earlier eggs lay “dormant” until brooding begins. Expect your creative processes to work in cycles of about 21 days – or 3 weeks. Certainly within one moon cycle. As the chicks go through several different growth stages before they reach maturation, also expect for there to be several stages of growth for your project.
Another message of Chicken is one of working in your community. Most chickens (though not all!) are very community oriented and can live in large flocks. Every hen and rooster knows his or her place in the “pecking order” of the flock and all the Chickens work together when it comes to laying eggs, raising chicks, and finding food for the flock. In fact, it is common for Roosters, especially, to find food and call to young adults of the flock to make sure they are well fed. The rooster (and the hens with their chicks) issues a low, throaty cluck to call to others to eat.
Even more remarkably, a flock only likes to lay eggs in certain prime locations – it is unnatural for each hen to have her own individual nest (although some hens can be like that). It is common for hens to lay eggs in nests that already have eggs – even when another hen is already laying on that nest! They will also move eggs out of neighboring nests and into their own in order to keep the eggs well distributed. As such, it’s pretty normal for a hen’s chicks to not be all hers – she shares the chick raising duties with her fellow hens. She is quite dutiful to the chicks that she hatches, though the entire flock looks out for the baby chicks, and will stay with them exclusively for several weeks, after which they become full members of the flock and the hen returns to her egg-laying and brooding duties, though the chicks are not considered adults until they are a year old.
If Yardbird (Chicken) has appeared to you, she may be asking you to re-evaluate your place in the “pecking order” of your Tribe. Are you fulfilling your community duties? Are you being reliable? Are you tending to others projects (“nests”) while they are away? Or are you “peckish” and prefer being a lone bird? Are you helping the younger members of your flock to grow and flourish? How can you be “of service” at this time?
Chicken may seem a rather pedestrian bird, but watch them for a few days and you’ll see a highly dynamic, well evolved community of birds that can teach us many lessons. When you see (and certainly if you eat) their eggs, remember to give thanks for the small miracles that saved our ancestors and the gift of creativity that comes with them.
