10 interesting chicken facts

September is National Chicken Month. In honor of this occasion, here are a few fun facts about chickens that may surprise you.

1. Chickens have great memories and can remember the faces of more than 100 people and animals.

2. Chickens can taste salty, sour, and bitter foods but not sweet.

3. Chickens have a full-color vision and can see violet and ultraviolet light. This is why roosters crow early in the morning; they can see the sunrise and hour before humans can.

4. Chickens experience rapid eye movement sleep, which means they dream like humans and other animals.

5. Chickens have their own unique language and use more than 30 different vocalizations to communicate with each other.

6. The color of a chicken’s egg depends on the color of its earlobes. Chickens with red earlobes lay brown eggs, while chickens with white earlobes lay white eggs.

7. Chickens can run up to nine miles per hour.

8. It only takes about 26 hours for a hen to produce an egg, and 21 days for the egg to incubate and hatch into a chick.

9. A chicken’s heart beats between 220 and 360 times per minute.

10. Chickens outnumber humans, worldwide, by a ratio of three to one.

This year, for National Chicken Month, consider supporting American poultry farmers by making a chicken recipe you’ve never tried before or simply recreating your favorite poultry dish.