Good morning! Today I’d like to talk about the colors of chicken feathers.
Not just white and yellow
For many Japanese people, “chicken” means a white bird like this one (a Leghorn mix), and chicks are yellow. But our birds are truly colorful — a yellow chick is almost rare here! When I take our chicks out, people sometimes ask, “What kind of bird is that?”
Bonbori has beautiful black-and-white feathers like lace. Japan has long had pet chickens kept for their looks, but somewhere along the way chickens came to mean eggs and meat. Living with them, you see how individual they are — and how lovely their feathers are.
Wild birds, surprising colors
Many of our birds are Hawaii’s wild chickens. I think the original chickens mixed with escaped pet chickens, which is why they come in so many colors. Ichigo looks like Bonbori in a different color, and Pachita’s feathers look just like Glico’s, only darker brown. Sonatine is wild too, but her neck pattern looks like an Easter Egger’s. Chobi was a pure black chick, crying in the rain in a parking lot when we found her. As she grew, white markings appeared, and lately some brown on her neck. Chickens’ colors really do change!
Fancy birds and five-dollar beauties
Glico is a European show-type bantam (a small chicken) with feathered feet like boots. Her three-color pattern is called “mille fleur” — a thousand flowers. She looks sweet but is strict with lower-ranked birds. Ivory isn’t dirty — she’s just beige with a grey tail, and full-grown at this tiny size. She was in a store for only five dollars after someone gave her away.
Fujiko also cost five dollars: a real beauty, with feathered legs and a neat rose comb. In Hawaii, people who don’t want chickens around can catch them and take them to stores that accept them, which is probably how she ended up for sale. Okki-chan, one of our very first members, has rare blue feathers.
Roosters and guardians
Hare-chan was a plain brown chick with chipmunk-like stripes and grew into a gorgeous white-necked rooster. Roosters are loud, so people avoid them as pets, but hand-raised ones are sweet and friendly. His brother Cheese looks just like him. Shizuku got his name from a little mark under his eye that looked like a teardrop. Out in the yard, Donut and Ishiko raise their chicks freely. Hawaii has mongooses, and often only a half or a third of chicks survive, but our cats — Natsu, her sister Hanabi and the others — patrol by day, and catch rats at night.
With all these colors, faces and personalities, I wonder why chickens aren’t more popular as pets. Thanks for watching!