Chicken Talk

     As we brought the chicks home from Cal-Ranch last week, a question arose: Do all chicken varieties understand one another? Do they all speak the same Chicken Language? Do the different varieties have "dialects"?
     Yes, Virginia. All chickens do speak the same chicken language. Or so I am told on good authority. I'll have to read up on the latest research to discover if they cheep and cluck in dialects, but if they do, I suppose it is no worse than a room filled with one American, one Brit, one Canadian, and one Aussie all conversing with one another. They all have accents, but everyone can understand the other. Unless chickens are one species separated by a common clucking, to use a little artistic license on a phrase coined by the Irish writer George Bernard Shaw.
     Ever since I saw the movie Doctor Dolittle starting Rex Harrison at the drive-in movies when I was a child, I always thought it would be wonderful to "talk to the animals". While I have been cheeping at them from the start, this week I decided that I would mimic each chick as I held  her and she cheeped or "Tribbled" at me. (They actually make a trill noise that sounds like one those Star Trek Tribbles.)
     They looked at me, and I'm not quite sure yet, but my best efforts to "Tribble" back seems to come across to them more like Chicken Klingon. They were unimpressed. Otherwise, I think I'm making great progress in the Chicken Language lessons. I have no idea what I'm saying to them, mind you, but I certainly have been receiving positive looks of recognition in return. Except for Chicken Klingon. I'm pretty sure I have "Needs Improvement" marks on my Chicken Language report card.
     Back to the language lab for me!

I still have the record soundtrack from one of my favorite childhood movies. It has been a long time since I have played it, but that may change tonight. There are some things you just never outgrow.