The Greatest is Love
By Christy Lowman
Burke County
Do you have any idea what the most popular bird in the whole wide world is? There are more of this bird than any other, more than 50 billion are born a year. This is more than the entire population of people that live on the earth. Do you know what this bird is?
It’s a chicken!
Chickens are pretty smart animals. Did you know that a chicken can remember more than 100 faces of animals and people? They also have their own unique language made up of over 30 different sounds! Chickens were domesticated in South China around 6000BC. The tropical Red Jungle fowl is believed to be the direct ancestor of the domestic chicken. Originally, they were domesticated for cockfighting. Now they are bred for meat and raised for eggs. Approximately 97 chickens are killed every .05 seconds in the world for food. Humans consume more chicken a year than beef. Domesticated chickens also cannot fly far.
A chicken’s life span is 5-10 years, or less if it’s raised for meat. The oldest living chicken recorded was named Matilda who lived 16 years!
Chickens are omnivores they can taste salty foods but not sweet food. They will also eat their eggs if they are not happy with or lacking something in their diet. They have 3 eyelids and can run up to 9 mph! Their hearts beat 220- 360 beats per sec. while the human heart beats anywhere between 1-2 beats per second. The color of their ear lobe tells you what color their eggs will be: Red-brown eggs, white- white eggs, and gray- colored eggs. The Americana and Araucana, and Easter eggers, lay green, blue, or pink eggs.
Eggs have the same nutritional value no matter what the color they are. You can trick a hen into thinking the day is 28 hours long with special lights. The result in this is bigger and stronger eggs!
An average hen lays more than 300 eggs a year. She will turn each egg around 50 times a day. Seven eggs are the record number of eggs laid by a single chicken in a day. Three hundred, seventy-one holds the record for the most eggs laid by a hen in a year! A hen must eat at least 4 lbs. of food to be able to make a dozen eggs. Mothers can talk with their babies while they are still in the egg. The largest chicken egg weighed 12 oz. and had 2 yolks inside. The record for the most yolks found inside a single egg has been 9.
We think of chickens as a common and pretty reasonable animal to purchase. However, in Indonesia, there is a rare breed that is sold for over $2500.00 each! Due to hyperpigmentation, these birds are completely black including their internal organs!
I want to touch base today about racism. Do you know what that means? Racism is where you don’t like a person because of the color of their skin. It also includes treating a person differently or making fun of them because of the difference in their skin. You might be wondering what in the world does this have to do with chickens! Well, several years ago my children and I raised some chicks from the time they were two days old. We had one Americana and eleven Barred Rock pullets (female chicks). The Americana had golden-brown feathers while the Barred Rocks had black and white feathers. They grew up together but when they got older, I noticed that all of the black and white chickens started being mean and picking on the only golden-brown chicken. She wasn’t allowed to eat any of the grain until after everyone else was finished if she tried before this happened, she was pecked and chased back into the chicken coop. We had to build another chicken coop to put her in where she would be safe and free of being picked on. She was allowed to eat what she wanted to, not just the leftovers.
Did you know that God deemed it that there is only one race of people? We are all direct descendants of Noah, we all have the same color of blood, and Jesus came here and died for all of us, no matter what color our skin is. Not only that, but there also is not a pure bloodline left in any person. For example, I consider myself a Heinz 57, meaning my ancestors came from all over the world even though my skin is white.
Did you know that God mentions loving others many times in the Bible? It is so important that He commands us to do so.
Dear Lord please help us be kind and to love one another. Help us see past the color of other people’s skin and look at what is inside. True beauty is inside not on the outside. Help us remember that Jesus even loved those that killed Him, and He died for us all. In Jesus’s name, I pray AMEN.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34 NIV
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. 1Corintians 13:13 NLT
Bibliography
Interesting Facts about CHICKENS ***
https://www.thefactsite.com/chicken-facts/
You can read more from Christy HERE.
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Christy Lowman is a Christian author and illustrator that lives in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains with her husband and two children. She enjoys writing and illustrating books for all ages. Some of her short stories are published with Guideposts and HCI. Christy gives all the glory to God in everything she does. A portion of every book sold from the Small Bible Character Series will be donated to battle human trafficking. If you enjoy her books, “like’ her author page on Faceook and let her know! You can buy her books at //www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AChristy+Lowman&s=relevancerank&text=Christy+Lowman&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1. You can reach her at //www.facebook.com/authorChristyLowman/
or christyssoaps@yahoo.com
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