Excited kids sit cross-legged on the floor of the Imaginarium as volunteers bring out the main attraction: chicks. A few animated ounces of fluffy, puffy, peeping, oddly personable baby birds inextricably associated with the Easter season.
The Imaginarium, which has the mission of raising scientific curiosity and wonder among young people, incubates eggs and lets guests handle them during the months of March and April. In a few weeks, these charming chickens will grow beaks and claws that can do real damage, they'll be able to outrun a fast puppy and only the boldest of fowl handlers will have the skill or courage to nab one that doesn't want to be nabbed. By then, however, they'll have been shipped to the Lower 48 to undertake their adult roles in the great world -- laying eggs or becoming dinner.
But for right now, their sharp parts are so tiny that they can't hurt. And their little legs are so wobbly that they can't run. And whatever passes for thoughts in their chicken brains tend to flow in the direction of trust, innocence and, at least to human observers, something like joy.
Today, throughout America, people will open cards adorned with the little critters' image. They'll pop marshmallowy candies made in the form of the birds. And some will even receive real, live chickens as gifts.
So what is a chicken, anyway? What the heck does poultry have to do with the religious holiday of Easter? And are they a good idea for a present?
CHICKEN BASICS
Gallus domesticus, to use it's scientific name, has been raised by humans for 8,000 years. The fact that it is incapable of sustained flight may have assisted in domestication.
Hens can keep laying eggs -- with shells that range from white and brown to pink and blue -- for their whole lives, which may run 16 or even 20 years. (Five to seven years is more like it, unless raised for food. The whole fryers in the grocery store are between 5 and 8 weeks old.)
The world record for egg production is held by a White Leghorn that laid 371 eggs in 365 days.
Americans eat 8 billion chickens each year.
There was a great stir recently when DNA ex tracted from a Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton was shown to more closely match the DNA of a modern chicken than any reptile or amphibian. Some later suspected that the fossil may have been contaminated, however. There's a replica T. Rex skeleton at the Imaginarium that you can examine and draw your own conclusions.
BIRD OF THE RISING SUN
Chicken expert Scott Shilala (shilala.homestead.com, source of much of the information above) says the chicken was once considered a sacred symbol of the sun. Maybe because roosters crow at dawn (and any other time they want to). Ancient Egyptians and Persians drew parallels between eggs -- apparently lifeless until they hatch -- with concepts of resurrection. Jews had a ceremonial hard-boiled egg in the Passover feast. There likely would have been one on the table in front of Jesus at the Last Supper.
But neither eggs nor chickens were widely associated with the resurrection of Jesus until about A.D. 600, when Pope Gregory I instructed missionaries to adopt and adapt pagan customs and festivals whenever possible.
The Saxons honored their dawn goddess, Eastre, at Vernal Equinox with hares and eggs symbolizing the rebirth of the land. Gregory's men in Britain appropriated as much of the trappings as they could, including Eastre's name. The eggs hatched into chicks scurrying underfoot for a month after Eastertide.
CHICKS: THUMBS DOWN
The Centers for Disease Control warns that young birds can carry life-threatening salmonella bacteria. Each spring, some children become infected with the life-threatening bug after receiving a baby chick.
"Children can be exposed to the bacteria by simply holding, cuddling or kissing the birds," says the CDC. "Children are most susceptible to infection because they are more likely than others to put their fingers into their mouths."
People aren't the only ones at risk. The American Humane Association says most Easter chicks die within a few days or weeks due to rough handling or disease.
"Young children squeeze and cuddle baby animals, resulting in broken bones, internal injuries and death for these delicate creatures," notes a pet care Web site, petplace.com. "Many are killed and injured by dogs and cats" or neglected in backyard pens or dumped off to die.
Then there's the cost. Petplace.com notes that chicks require a brooder (a warm place to run around), then a coop or pen (heated if overwintering in Alaska), a special diet and daily watering for as long as they live, which can be as long as a dog or cat.
World Vision (www.world vision.org), a Seattle-based Christian charity, suggests you take the money you might spend on baby birds for your kids and donate it to them instead. For $25 World Vision will give two chickens to an impoverished family overseas where a couple of eggs a day will make a big difference.
Other groups, like Heifer International (heifer.org), do similar work. Check around.
CHICK: THUMBS UP
Not everyone is down on pet poultry. Television producer Allison MacLeod believes every home should have a hen -- even in the city.
"Chickens are a great pet for an apartment," she says. "They're soothing to watch. Like fish. And they become affectionate if they're handled."
MacLeod, who sells a chicken instructional video at her Web site, www.chicken video.com, notes that raising Easter chicks to adulthood is becoming a national hobby among those interested in better eating.
"Raising your own eggs means you get a healthier, fresher food," she says. Furthermore, "A hen gets to live its life the way chickens always have, as a pet in the company of humans instead of being caged in a 5,000-chicken factory barn where it never sees the light of day."
Lifestyle guru Martha Stewart is another celebrity who promotes suburban chicken keeping. The interest in close-to-home, organic eating has caused backyard poultry to become something of a rage in Seattle and other environmentally conscious cities.
What about here?
Can you keep a chicken in Anchorage? In most cases no. Not yet. But the law is expected to change in a few months when a new zoning code goes into effect. At this time the Title 21 Rewrite, section 21.05.070D.14.a.ii(B) contains the following provisions:
• Up to five animals, including chickens and rabbits, may be kept on lots of 6,000 square feet or less, with an additional one animal per additional 1,000 square feet of lot area.
• Pens, coops and other structures for keeping the animals outdoors have to conform to setbacks and be at least 10 feet from any lot line.
• You can't let your animals make "chronic animal noise." That's defined in municipal code section 17.05.010.
• For that reason, keeping noisy roosters, turkeys, guinea fowl, peacocks and geese is specifically prohibited.
By MIKE DUNHAM
mdunham@adn.com