Chicken Group-Think

Last week there was a new brood of chicks down by the office. I knew it was a new one, because there were still nine babies. The hen was one I don't remember seeing before, an interesting blond color. One of the chicks was a runt. Mom would strut along for a few feet, then stop and wait. All the other chicks clustered around her while the poor little runt struggled to negotiate the blades of grass. The little guy sparked a memory of some book or something in my childhood, but I can't quite dig the memory out and put my finger on what it was.

Image by George Eastman House via Flickr

Mother hen led the babies to a board fence and hopped through. This particular spot of fence spanned a hump in the ground so that the bottom board rested right on the ground. The perplexed babies tried and tried to hop over the board, but it was so high. They all waited their turn as one finally made it after several attempts. But what's this? One chick broke out of group-think and realized that three feet away the ground sloped down and there was space under the board. He ran down the fence and scooted under with the rest of the brood racing along behind. Mom promptly crossed back over the fence. Was she just trying to see who was the smartest and most likely to survive, and therefore, the one to protect most carefully?