I have chickens and saw myself in much of the book. It was a well written and informative and a book I will be sharing with anyone interested in raising chickens. It's not always fun and games when it comes to chickens.

Thanks to Netgalley and Atria Books for the ARC of this!

I’ve liked previous books by this author and am definitely trying to read more non-fiction, so this called to me. The chickens were described in detail without being anthropomorphized; their personalities, behavior and relationships laid out in lovely anecdotes. It was nice and concise to read in one sitting.

Short, but sweet and informative. I always enjoy Montgomery’s writings about animals. This made me both want and not want chickens, because they seem like fascinating creatures with the bonus of fresh eggs, but they’re also so very vulnerable to predators.

I first encountered Sy Montgomery's work through her book A Soul of an Octopus which I absolutely loved. What the Chicken Knows was equally captivating, enchanting, and informative. Her work makes me fall deeper in love with these animals and makes me glad to share a planet with them.

I requested this for consideration for Book Riot's All the Books podcast for its release date. After sampling several books out this week, I decided to go with a different book for my review.

5 chickie stars! I have been a fan of Sy Montgomery for years now, after reading her book, The Soul of an Octopus in 2015. Her writing inspires others to develop a deeper appreciation for the natural world and our place in it.

The Chicken Knows is a charming and eye-opening exploration of the special relationship between humans and chickens. The book delves into the fascinating world of chicken behavior, social structures, and intelligence. Her observations and stories in the book reveal the complexity and charm of these often underappreciated birds.

If you are interested in nature or animals or want to learn something new, this book might be perfect for you. I highly recommend it! Thank you, NetGalley, Sy Montgomery, and the publisher for a digital edition to read for review—one of my favorites for 2024. I also bought the audio edition once it came out bc I love a good book narrated by the author. I enjoyed every moment of listening to it,

Great author of nonfiction books about animals. Informative and fun book about chickens. I miss my backyard gals. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

Nonfiction • Birds • Nature • Science
Pub Date • 5 November 2024

🥚🍳 Thank you to @atriabooks for the free finished copy!

🐣 A quick and quirky foray into the strange and wonderful world of domesticated birds. Of the poultry variety.

“𝙲𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚛𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚌𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚎. 𝙵𝚘𝚕𝚔𝚜 𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 ‘𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐’ 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚛𝚒𝚋𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚙𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚛𝚢.”

I intended to read this one for “Nonfiction November” but December works too. At <100 pages, it’s the shortest book I have read this year & consumable in one sitting. I recommend this one to anyone who has an interest in... well, chickens.

🐔 Chicken Trivia
• way smarter than usually caricatured
• can even be charming 🤗🤭
• can live for months after decapitation(!)
• much prettier (at least some exotic breeds) than I remembered

I will say there are lessons to be learned from those of the male variety, the so-to-speak ‘cocks of the flock’. You’ll have to read it to find out about these fowls!

the hardest part of a sy montgomery book is not being able to exactly recall all the interesting things you learn. have a new favorite animal in addition to turtles and octopi

👉🏻 For my friends who love chickens, have chickens, or want chickens but are DENIED by city ordinance.

WHAT THE CHICKEN KNOWS by Sy Montgomery

Thanks, @Atriabooks, for the advanced review copy via #NetGalley. (Available now)

We had chickens when I was a child, but they certainly didn’t have names. Honestly, their reptilian ways and hive mind creeped me out more than a little. Then, there was the time the rooster attacked me…Anyway. They weren’t pets; they were products.

The goats, on the other hand, were pets. Probably because there were only two (Naomi and Ginger), so this is my theory: I need a flock of chickens. But only a small flock. Like five. When I bring this up with Hubby, he replies, “Are you reading Sy Montgomery again?” (The last time we had a similar conversation it was about an octopus. Couldn’t we convert one of the bedrooms to an aquarium? Just a small one?)

Montgomery’s blend of science and sentimentality, head and heart, and academic approach, mixed with a dollop of anthropomorphism, is my catnip. This small, lovely book is a love letter to her flock of chickens (known as The Ladies) and other beloved chickens they have known.

This book would be a lovely gift for your chicken-loving friend (we all have at least one). That, and a gift card to Tractor Supply.

I absolutely loved this short little book about chickens - it was simultaneously general and very personal in tone, which I enjoyed.

Blog post goes live November 26th
Imgur link goes to Instagram photo scheduled for November 22
Will be covered in upcoming Youtube video as well

**TL;DR**: Sy Montgomery is a go-to nature writer for me. This was fantastic.
**Source**: Netgalley, thank you so much to the publisher!

**Plot**: Our author talks about chickens, facts and her life with them. It’s short and sweet, an easy one sitting read.
**Sources**: For a short book Sy Montgomery had quite a few sources listed as well as plenty of personal stories.
**Readability:** This is part of the appeal of this author. Her writing and style is very welcoming to casual readers.

**Thoughts**:

I’m probably a stereotype, a white person in the south who loves chickens. I’ll own that. I’d like to own chickens but the husband needs to be convinced (a work in progress), and this short little book goes even further to bolster that for me. If you loved chickens before reading this you’re only going to love them more after, and if you were on the fence this will likely swing you into chicken fandom.

Sy Montgomery has kept chickens for years. Telling us stories about her chickens as she gives us facts makes this a super easy and accessible book for just about anyone to read. There is also a lot of new things in here I hadn’t actually heard, which surprised me. Things such as chickens giving people names, something other birds do evidently! And stories of the different sounds that they make as they communicate. You’d think this would be understood, that animals speak, but unfortunately humanity as a species just doesn’t quite make that connection and research is scarce. These facts and stories are slipped in naturally to the narratives that Sy is giving us and it makes for a fast and flawless read.

I really loved this and I recommend it for other animal, especially chicken, lovers. If you want a hopeful and sweet animal book this is a great pickup as well. I’ll likely try to get my own copy one day and highly encourage others to do so.

Five stars

I will read anything Sy Montgomery writes. I've previously got to read about the Ladies in her books "The Good Good Pig" and "How to be a Good Creature". I loved getting more insight into her experience raising and caring for chickens. As always, Sy's huge heart for animals and compassion for every creature underlines this entire book. It is a short read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!
I would recommend this title to anyone who has previously read Sy Montgomery or is looking to learn a little more about chickens from someone who clearly loves them.

I will read ANYTHING Montgomery likes and I've become enamored with her meditations-- these short novellas about an animal because they become more poignant because they are short and focused. It leaves room for personal reflection for a reader and juxtaposed with Montgomery's experience with the animal. In this case: chickens!

Living in rural New Hampshire, she touches on her farmstead with animals previously written about and then her hens. As she shares, everyone who owns chickens has a nickname for the flock-- Rangers, The Girls, My Ladies. And then most also have individual names for each because they have distinct personalities and attributes including the dozens of types of domestic chickens.

Montgomery shares details about how she ordered them and how they shift from the fluffiness to their feathers. Roosters. Their nesting habits. Their predators. Their daily habits. Food. She shares her one "slow" chicken, Pickles, and the last survivor of the flock. Details are sprinkled in that teach about chickens like them being fierce to one another if they see red (like pecking each other or themselves if they're bleeding/injured), what kind of noises they make from happiness to making the flock aware of a predator, and studies about how they recognize their images and generally "see" the faces and recognize other hens.

The book is a delightful reflection that appreciates a chicken- the animal, not the food. Montgomery is an animal lover with a heart for connection and brain for science. I love her perspective and will seek it out always.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this e-arc! 3.5/5 stars rounded up, a delightful little read!

this was mostly anecdotal stories about the author's experience with chickens, but it was still a delight to read. I think books learning more about animals that we often overlook are always a worthwhile read, and this one really brought to life a relatively overlooked, underappreciated animal that most of us with only ever interact with in the kitchen. I loved seeing all the chickens' individual personalities and their quirks, and montgomery obviously loves all the chickens she cares for. it was a bit shorter than I expected, though I think for most readers that don't ever really interact with chickens, it's not a bad length - filled with enough to get people interested but not so long that it reads like a research article - but I think there's definitely something to be said about the cost of print books today considering this is $22 and it's barely 100 pages. overall, a fun and enjoyable little read!

This wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. It was more of an essay/personal account than a book full of facts about chickens. That being said, it took me on a reminiscent journey of a time where I had chickens. I couldn’t help but chuckle at some of the chickenisms that I too experienced.

This book is such a beautiful love letter to backyard hens; I love Sy and how she shares meaningful stories of special animals in her life. I always want to read whatever she writes and this is the perfect intro to her prose as it’s short and sweet.
I did notice this one was lighter on the science and factual information regarding chickens as a whole; and was more focused on Sy’s specific hens. But it didn’t make me enjoy this book any less.

Thank you so much to Atria Books and NetGalley for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review!

What the Chicken Knows is a fun and informative book that shares interesting ideas about chickens. It's easy to read, with personal stories from the author's experience raising chickens (for eggs, not food). It's expensive, with just 96 pages. Perhaps you can find this one at your local library. I've seen reviewers comment that this same information was published in another book by Sy Montgomery called Birdology. I'm not quite sure why the publisher put out this book. This read wasn't my cup of tea. I recommend this book to people who want to learn more about chickens or chicken owners.

I loved this book! It definitely left me wanting chickens. I loved learning about how intelligent they are and how different different flocks can be. I do truly want chickens after reading this.

As a chicken owner, this book was a fantastically fun and insightful read! I adored all the funny stories and all the wonderful illustrations. While not a long read, the author packed the book full of personal experiences in raising her flock along with everything you've ever wanted to know about chicken behavior. Being a 4-H family and having two sons with annual poultry projects this is one we will be adding to our bookshelves.

Thank you to the publisher for the opportunity to read this book. My family and I greatly enjoyed it!