This short documentary is full of interesting characters.A Maine farmer says she found a chicken frozen stiff, but was able to resuscitate it. Colorado natives tell a story of the chicken who lost its head -- and went on living. A Virginia farmer tells about (and demonstrates) the benefits of raising chickens for his own consumption. Perhaps most surprising is the case of the Florida woman: she bathes her pet bird, and takes it both swimming and shopping.The unfortunate part of this show is that it really seems to have no central narrative other than to be a few stories about chickens. One, the headless chicken named Mike, was rather fascinating and probably deserved more time. The film as a whole disappointed me, though, in part because the title is misleading: rather than a history of how chickens became domesticated and such a crucial part of modern humanity, such things are not even vaguely alluded to.

I wouldn't have expected such a strong, consistent and enticing show from a chicken documentary, just like most people here. Watching the tender tales of chicken love was a fun and, to some degree, beautiful experience. The connections that can be made between human beings and animal usually have this loving and innocent quality to them that eludes most relationships in life. To find these chicken stories and portray them in such a skillful way is surely a feat worth praising.Yet, while it is consistent with the world-view of this film, I resent the fact that industrially bred chicken - and their owners - are deemed to be inferior in passion and devotion. While the comments (or lack thereof) in presenting the larger chicken business do not go into blatantly manipulative affirmations against chicken products, they still spell out a very negative view of what is outlined to be exploitative behavior. I'm sure you can find interesting tales of care from farmers who happen to own large chicken housing establishments, because it's not easy at all to look after tens of thousands of chickens and ensure they live a healthy life. And while there is certainly a level of detachment involved in "the industrial chicken", it's necessity for basic and essential food products cannot be denied and should not be denigrated. To my mind, restricting the film to what it does best - establish the beauty of life - would've done it more good and would've conferred it a higher consistency and integrity, in a purely structural sense.Beyond this though, which is truly only a slight part of this documentary, I think it's worth a recommendation for its ability to encapsulate the specialness in this absolutely unique relationship people have with animals.

This was actually a great little project to work on and I had a great time doing it. I was contacted by the Sound Designer Paul Ottoson because he knew that I had done voice over recording in the past, as well as worked as an ADR recordist and Editor on several films. I spent many hours trying desperately to mimic the "feelings" of each chicken portrayed in this documentary. (Which by the way is no small task even for veteran voice over talents). Needless to say, I was very disappointed to finally get my own copy of this DVD only to find out that after 3 HOURS of ADR recording, I did NOT receive my credit for voicing ALL THESE CHICKENS! I know it's silly, but it meant something to me. Too bad , Mark.Kim Beltran (formerly Kim Bartlein) Voice Over

A pal with a sense of humour sent me a tape of this documentary, without a label to indicate the contents. Well, I popped the tape in the player and sat there, totally entranced by the sights and sounds! Brilliantly photographed and directed, full of good humour, captivating people and chooks, it literally kept me sitting on the edge of my seat until the credits appeared. Without a doubt, this is the best animal documentary I've seen in the past 20 years. Seemingly chooks are more difficult to train than any other member of the animal kingdom. The feathered actors in this documentary seemed far more intelligent than many human actors I've seen in the current crop of big name movies.Great fun for all the family.