A recent post to tweeters attempted to summarize the world's knowledge
regarding the age-old question "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

I've recently had the opportunity to interview a few more experts
from tweeters, and thought you'd be interested in their responses:

Dennis Paulson:

We only have three specimens of chickens known to have crossed the
road in our collection. Repeated queries as to their intent in
this endeavor have yielded no response, however. I suspect they're
even dumber than those starlings I tried to capture last week, though
it is possible they're simply dead.

Chris Hill:

A much more interesting question is whether or not road-crossing
chickens are genetically distinct from their less ambitious
brethren. If so, they should be considered a separate species.
While we've only been able to analyze DNA from individuals which
have failed to successfully conclude their crossing, I've reached
the tentative conclusion that they are a separate species, as these
DNA samples strongly correlate with that of the rubber tree!

Tom Foote:

This would be an excellent topic for an upcoming "birdtalk". Does
anyone know any chickens that would be willing to appear?

Weldon Clarke (AdHawk):

We just count 'em, we don't wonder why. I think it's probably
weather related, though.

Susan Coldicott:

I don't have a clue, but if I can't find it on the Web, nobody
can!

Ellen Blackstone:

I've always wondered about this, as I'm fascinated by families of
birds. We've got a pair with three chicks right now! Unfortunately,
one chick tried to cross the road and ran into a hubcap on a moving auto
and apparently broke part of its jaw. The other one just won't eat.
Update at eleven!

Mike Waller:

As you know, zoos now see themselves as being educators and
conservationists. We're rehabbing the chick chicken mentioned
by Ellen, thus fullfilling our conservation goal. Education?
We'll teach it not to try to cross the road again!

Me:

There once was a chicken in Frenchglen,
awwww, better not!


<Hopefully I've not offended anyone! Obviously, none of the above
is a true story>

- Don Baccus, Portland OR <donb at rational.com>