10 Surprising Facts About Chickens

Here are 10 surprising facts about chickens:

Well-intentioned consumers are being duped by pictures of hens in open green fields into taking home the very products of crowding and misery that they paid higher prices to avoid.

1. Chickens can distinguish between more than 100 faces of their own species. Looks like elephants aren’t the only ones who have a great memory.

Flock of Chickens

1. Chickens know who’s boss—they form complex social structures known as “pecking orders,” and every chicken knows his or her place on the social ladder.

Chickens and Rooster Flock in Grassy Field

1. Chickens have full-color vision—no color-blindness here!

Red chicken in a cage

1. Who likes to sunbathe? Apparently everyone—humans, cats, dogs, and chickens too! You can’t blame them, and they don’t even need sunscreen.

Chicken Sunbathing in Grassy Field

1. Chickens are real sleeping beauties—they experience rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which means they dream just like we do.

Chicks Falling Asleep

1. Chickens have pain receptors that give them the ability to feel pain and distress. Put yourself in the shoes (or the feathers) of a battery hen—or 452 million of them, which is how many are used for their eggs each year.
2. Hens defend their young from predators. Looks like calling someone a “chicken” is actually a compliment!

help chickens used for food

1. Who needs pepper spray? Chickens have more than 30 types of vocalizations to distinguish between threats.
2. Chickens are just like human mothers who talk to their babies in the womb—a mother hen begins to teach calls to her chicks before they even hatch.

Baby Chicks in Grass

1. Last but not least, chickens are adorable—take a look for yourself!

Baby Chick in Grass

Help us spread the word about how interesting chickens are by sharing with your family and friends on Facebook and Twitter. If you haven’t already, be sure to join our Action Team to find out how to do more for chickens (and for all animals!).

Do we need to bring beach towels?

I’ve pared down our packing list to the bare bones, but I realize that beach towels are not provided in the self-serve apartment we are renting in Lake Garda. I checked with the hotel that is hosting the apartment, and they said no one on the beach rents towels, either. It seems we have no choice but to pack our own beach towels. I searched this topic before I posted this, and the only suggestions I saw were to either use a travel towel, or a sarong. Neither of those are good options for me, because the XX Large travel towel is $45 per towel and there are five in our family. And the sarongs, well, the three guys in my family won’t want to use a sarong as a towel. And they aren’t particularly absorbent.

I also considered just buying towels while at the lake, and leaving them, but again, even at, say, 10 euros a pop, that’s 50 euros for towels and seems far too pricey. And they might be more than that.

Is there something I’m missing here, or does everyone pack their own beach to