The Natural History of the Chicken

[ Editor’s Note: For the curious I answer that no, this is not an April Fool’s post. I don’t have the energy for that sort of thing right now. Want great April Fool’s antics? Go check out Bob’s blog post for today. We are, all of us, truly blessed that he does not use his Bob Powers for evil. ]

Last week the PBS documentary The Natural History of the Chicken arrived from Netflix. When I opened the envelope and saw the title I thought, “Great! The chicken is an ancient animal, likely with a complex historical relationship with humans. I’m looking forward to learning more about how it came to have the role it does in our food chain.”

Um, yeah. This was not the movie to watch to fulfill that desire.

The Natural History of the Chicken is not about the history of the beast so much as our current relationship to it. No, it’s not even that. It primarily is an examination of some highly non-standard relationships which particular humans have formed with chickendom.

Through watching this documentary I learned nothing about the glorious past of this important critter. And, in truth, I didn’t even learn anything about just how bizarre some people can be. That I knew already. All I received was further evidence that the world is a very strange place indeed and there truly is never a dull moment.

This is not to say that it was not a good movie. It was a very engaging documentary and most of the people I know would likely not feel they’d wasted an hour if they were to watch it. However, if you’re looking for any actual history then please leave those expectations at the door lest said expectations end up as mine: unfulfilled.