My chicken’s got chic specs
QUESTION Were chicken spectacles used as an alternative to beak trimming?
Pecking behaviour can lead to major damage to the plumage of laying hens and, if they see blood, cannibalism. To prevent this, in 1903, Andrew Jackson Jr of Tennessee patented an ‘eye protector for chickens — chicken spectacles’.
An advert from 1911 boasted a flock so equipped would ‘present a very intellectual appearance’.
There was more than one style of glasses. Some were made to strap onto the chicken’s head; others had plastic lenses to stop the chicken seeing blood and were held in the nostrils with a pin.
A later version made of moulded plastic was designed as blinders. These are still sold, but can affect the chicken’s ability to forage.
‘Anti-Pix’ glasses were a clever solution: they obscured the hen’s vision when the head was erect, but swung forward when they bent over, allowing them to forage.
in 1955, Sam nadler of the national Farm equipment company of Brooklyn was a contestant on the game show What’s My Line?
The panellists failed to guess his occupation: a salesman of eyeglasses for chickens. He claimed to sell up to three million pairs a year. The preferred modern treatment is beak trimming, using an infra-red beam to remove the sharp tip.
However, this can cause pain and difficulty in feeding.
Albert C. Carter, Smethwick, W. Mids.
QUESTION How did our forebears try to predict a baby’s sex in pregnancy?
BEFORE scans, there were many theories about how to predict a child’s sex.
De Secretis Mulierum (The Secrets Of Women) was a widely disseminated natural philosophical text from the late 13th century.
it contained a collection of methods for determining sex. The child will be male if the mother’s face has a reddish complexion: if there is heat in the womb there is sufficient power for a male.
The mother’s abdomen is rounded and protrudes to the right: A male child is carried on the right side because it is the stronger and hotter side.
Likewise, if the right breast is bigger, the child is male.
if the mother walks with her right foot first, it will be a male, the reason is that you always place the heavier foot first.
The treatise also provides a test to reveal the sex: ‘Take clear water from a pure fountain and place in this water a drop of blood or milk from the right side of the woman. if the drop sinks, this is the sign for a male; if it remains on the top, the child is female.’
greek physician galen suggested parsley be placed on the woman’s head without her knowledge. if she speaks to a man first, it means she will have a son.
Byzantine physician Aetius of Amida stated that if the woman’s pulse was stronger in the right wrist she was carrying a boy.
in Russia, if the expectant mother dreamed of a fountain or spring, she would have a girl; if she dreamed of a knife or hatchet, it would be a boy.
in Albania, the nocturnal crowing of a rooster presaged a boy, while the cry of an owl signified a girl.
A test from england was to offer a pregnant woman a lily or a rose. Picking the lily foretold a boy, the rose indicated a girl. in France and Hungary, a delayed delivery indicated a boy.