spondylosaurus 20 hours ago | next |

So a brain stem is clearly enough to keep a chicken alive, but do you think Mike was really conscious at all (by the normal standards of chicken consciousness)? Or was he essentially a chicken zombie?

bediger4000 18 hours ago | root | parent |

That's a tough one. I raised chickens (laying hens) for several years in my teens. I'm not sure that chickens have distinct personalities, although I'm sure these urban backyard crunchy chicken people would disagree. They will eat each other given half a chance - if one hen got a scratch or cut, the others would peck it to death in a day or so.

Even given that, I'd go with the chicken zombie.

klysm 13 hours ago | root | parent |

I also grew up around chickens. I would say there is definitely some aspect of personality, but they are also exceedingly dumb compared to similar farm animals