Cluck: From Jungle Fowl to City Chicks

by Susan Troller, S.V. Medaris (Illustrator), Jane Hamilton, Michael Perry, Ben Logan

Overview

From barnyard to backyard, lowly hens have flown the country coop and joined the city chicken movement. A new generation of small-acreage farmers raising heritage breeds has inspired urbanites and suburbanites across America to install some poultry out back for eggs, meat, fertilizer, and cockeyed companionship. Whether the breed is Jersey Giant, Wyandotte, Buff Orpington, or Silver Frizzle Polish—chickens are now chic.
    This is not a how-to book on raising chickens but rather a wry, fascinating, sometimes startling appreciation of them, conveyed in compelling accounts by Susan Troller and striking prints and paintings by S.V. Medaris. A bonus: chicken stories from three of Wisconsin’s most celebrated writers—Jane Hamilton (The Book of Ruth, A Map of the World), Michael Perry (Coop, Population 485), and Ben Logan (The Land Remembers)—round out the collection.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780981516134
Publisher:	Flying Fish Graphics
Publication date:	09/05/2012
Edition description:	1
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Susan Troller took an interest in chickens when she met Consuela, miraculous survivor of a mass gassing of laying hens at a factory farm. Susan lives on a farm near New Glarus, Wisconsin, with her chickens, dogs, cats, horses, and husband. She retired from a long career as a reporter on local food movements and K-12 education for the Capital Times newspaper to open her own specialty store for chicken aficionados in Paoli, Wisconsin. S.V. Medaris is a keen observer of her art subjects—the livestock and pets on her farm in the Driftless Area of southwest Wisconsin where she lives with her husband. Her art is included in collections in Holland, Japan, Spain, United Arab Emirates, USA, and in juried and invitational exhibitions in California, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, New York, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Read an Excerpt

BIG TINY

Rest his feathered soul, Big Tiny was a ladies' man. Big Tiny, or Big Boy, as he may have been known in particularly tender or intimate moments, was an exemplary Buff Orpington. Like most Orpington roosters, he was a large, blond, handsome fellow, imposing and attractive. Surprisingly, for a rooster, he was neither vain nor arrogant, when he could have been both.

Big Tiny had the confidence of a born leader, and, as a result, he never seemed to be in a hurry. He had a calm, capable demeanor in all kinds of company. As other, lesser roosters squabbled, fluffed, and fought, Big Tiny strolled on by, magisterial and measured. "Let them sort it out. I have more important things to do, like find some bugs for these fine hens," he seemed to say.

Naturally, as Sue tells it, the girls couldn't get enough of him. "When Big Tiny came out of the coop, there was always this kind of a thrill, and it just looked like the hens were swooning, you know?" Sue recalled. "It was always like, 'Ooooooooh, Big Tiny, here he comes. He's soooooooo cool.'"

So Big Tiny was kind of like a chicken rock star, among a certain set anyway. Clearly, he had no intentions of taking his show on the road. But here's the thing: He never let his superiority go to his head, and he didn't take the affection of his flock for granted, either.

Big Tiny was inherently generous, and it was perhaps this as much as his sturdy good looks and cool unflappable demeanor that recommended him to every hen on the place.

According to Sue, he had a habit of finding tasty tidbits, or being the first one at breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

As he checked out the menu, he made little chortling, tuk-tuk-tuk murmurs to signal, "Chow looks good . . . all is well in our world."

So the hens, assured of safety and something delicious to eat, would come running. And gallant Big Tiny would step back until everyone had eaten her fill.

Clearly, this food and safety signal that brings hens running is a useful thing to know, if you're a rooster. Suffice it to say that Big Tiny saw lots of enthusiastic action.

But not all roosters are created equal, or equally good. Sue says some roosters make this distinctive food vocalization, and when the hungry girls come running it's all too clear these guys aren't advertising a nice caterpillar or some corn. "Forget the food, I've got something else in mind for you, my pretty," they say.

The hens, because they're chickens, and not given to much logical thinking, rise to the bait every time. Nonetheless, it doesn't make them like or trust a deceitful rooster.

"I have a friend who won't let a rooster on her place," Sue continues. "She says all they want to do is rape her hens and cause trouble for everybody else. But she never met Big Tiny."

Interviews & Essays

From barnyard to backyard, lowly hens have fluffed up their feathers and flown the country coop. A new generation of small acreage, back-to-the-land young farmers has stirred growing interest in sturdy, practical heritage chicken breeds our great-grandparents might have known and loved. For keepers of small backyard flocks, disposition matters. Anyone keeping chickens primarily as egg-laying pets will choose a winning personality over a speedy conversion from chick to fried chicken.

But keeping chickens isn't just about being virtuous or nostalgic; it's also surprisingly fun. With their variety of vocalizations, their fundamentally whimsical behavior, and their interesting interactions with each other and the natural world—bugs, breezes, anything that looks like food, or a real or imagined enemy—chickens are undeniably entertaining.

And although they've been part of human life and civilization for almost ten thousand years, part of the charm of chickens is that they remain essentially and relentlessly themselves, little affected by human rules of fair play, morality, or etiquette. As we raise fragile little chicks, gather eggs, clean the coop, feed and water our flock, protect our birds from predators, and even butcher our chickens, we become both actors and observers in their chicken-ish lives.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Why . . . Chickens?
The Joy of Chix
Wicked Roosters This Way Come
Tastes Like Chicken
In the Matter of Cats and Chickens, Jane Hamilton
Plucky
Creative Coops and Poultry Palaces
Which Came First?
Which Came First? Ben Logan
The Name Game
Chick Chat
Scrambled Eggs for Easter, Ben Logan
What a Turkey
How to Hypnotize a Chicken, Michael Perry
Rooster Redux
Birds of a Feather
The Zen of Hens
About the Author; About the Artist

Editorial Reviews

A loving paean to the surprisingly complex world of chickens. . . . If you own chickens, are considering bringing them into your life, or simply find them fascinating, you’ll crow over Cluck.”—Judy Ettenhoffer, Capital Times



“Medaris is an extraordinary painter and printmaker who has a way of capturing chickens in all their absurdity and charm. . . . The art is reason enough to get the book. But you’ll also get a lovely collection of personal essays that cover Susan Troller’s experiences with chickens.”—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

The trend of raising chickens in urban backyards has brought many of us closer to fowl, and Cluck cleverly celebrates the humble hen. While not pets, chickens do have personalities; the barnyard and the coop are their society. Susan Troller and guest essay writers Jane Hamilton, Michael Perry and Ben Logan tell small stories of the various chicks in their flocks. S.V. Medaris provides the compelling but unsentimental art of barns, coops, dogs, cats, hens, roosters and friends.
— Linda Falkenstein

Isthmus

Primarily intended as entertainment rather than an agricultural how-to, Cluck: From Jungle Fowl to City Chicks is an anthology of true stories about the trials, travails, and joys of raising chickens in one's backyard. Colorful artwork by S.V. Medaris illustrates tales about protecting chickens from diseases and predators; raising them from tiny chicks; even how to hypnotize a chicken. Anyone who has ever raised a chicken, or might be contemplating the prospect, will enjoy reading Cluck from cover to cover!
— James Cox

Midwest Book Review

Troller has a small farm for the express purpose of having as many animals as she can stand. "Chickens have a lot of personality," she says. "They interact with the natural world, each other and people. They are very entertaining." She is downright smitten by chickens and has written her love stories into "Cluck."

The Gazette (Janesville Wisconsin)

"Cluck" contains essays from several beloved Wisconsin authors (and chicken fanciers): Ben Logan, Michael Perry and Jane Hamilton. Their often-humorous musing on the relationship between fowl and humans add a sparkle to Troller's essay on topics including chicken predators (beware the raccoon!), dogs' love/hate interactions with the strutting feathered creatures, and rooster lust (it's a dangerous world out there, ladies).

The Capital Times