One of our cats has the nickname "squeaky" because instead of a proper "meow" she only produces a squeaky sound.

@Elmy Do chickens really suffer without a rooster?

@Sarov I wouldn't call it "suffer", but having a rooster around seems to reduce stress for the hens, probably because they feel safe with their big bad bodyguard. The same is true for female lions and wolves smelling the scent marks of rheir males.

Huh.

Both of my neighbors had chickens for years and the rooster always was either an uncontrollable beast attacking anything that went too close to the fence or a very observant and alert (but calm) guard who let his hens have the first peck at any tasty greens

BTW did the font change again? I have the feeling every time I open SE it has a different font... Not that it makes SE impossible to use, but it's honestly confusing

@Elmy I can't tell. Honestly most non-monospace fonts are hard for me to read, at this point.

@Sarov That's the thing... the answer editor does have a monospace font and it's almost double the size of the non-mono font of the question. Really confusing

@Elmy I have a friend who had a handful of pet hens and roosters, but eventually had to give away the roosters because they were fighting (first each other, then her). Was just wondering if that affected the hens at all.

Well, monospace kinda has to be large by definition.

@Sarov As with any animal, roosters have a personality. My neighbors only ever had one adult rooster for the entire flock (I guess 10 - 20 hens). The one time they had several, the ones with the worst manners ended up in the oven. But I remember that they had to slaughter they rooster one year because he wouldn't stop pecking and injuring his hens.

@Elmy I dunno, do you consider humans animals? I do, so given some I've met, I might disagree with your first sentence...

@Sarov Lol, yes I do consider humans animals living in complex social structures. Many thrive in these structures and live happily, some fail and others have nothing better to do than make the lives of those around them miserable...

I find chickens interesting in that people often see them as "They are food, why would you keep them as pets, they're loud and gross and food." or "Oh my god how could you eat chicken they're pets would you also eat a dog?" or "These chickens are my pets. The rest are tasty."

My friend tries to hide the fact that she orders/eats chicken from her pet chickens. I assume jokingly.