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16th Mar '13 2:58:58 AM SeptimusHeap

Send SeptimusHeap a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Everythings Better With Chickens is now Clucking Funny

Changed line(s) 1,307 (click to see context) from:

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hen-beak.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[Literature/SwordOfTruth Evil Manifest.]]]]

->''[[BlatantLies There ain't nobody here but us chickens]].\\
[[FridgeLogic There ain't nobody here at all]]!''
-->-- Louis Jordan

Chickens -- small flight-inhibited birds with a tendency to break out in screeching panics over the smallest things -- are inherently funny, like [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins penguins]] and [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys monkeys]], maybe because they're being ComicallySerious. Unlike penguins and monkeys, they're also regularly eaten (they [[ShapedLikeItself taste like chicken]]). And that's pretty much it. This isn't really a family of tropes that has a whole heck of a lot of logic behind them.

Some useful notes on chickens. The domesticated chicken is known scientifically as ''Gallus gallus domesticus''. They are the most common bird on the planet, some 24 billion strong- more common even than humans.

Recently, palaeontologists extracted fragmentary DNA from preserved ''T. rex'' collagen. The surprising result? ''T. rex shared more than ninety pecent of its DNA with the common farm fowl.''

Repeat: '''THE CLOSEST LIVING RELATIVE OF THE {{TYRANNOSAURUS REX}} IS THE CHICKEN.'''
Chickens deserve more respect due to this.

Not to be confused with WhatsAHenway.

----

!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* Ayanoi Gakuen in ''GAGeijutsukaArtDesignClass'' apparently has chickens in their courtyard worth tens of millions of yen each and everyone calls them the very respectful name of "oniwatori-sama," or Lord Chickens.
* In the dark fantasy manga ''[[Manga/DGrayman D.Gray-man]]'', Jasdevi's hunt for General Cross ends at one point with the General leaving his hat (and a bill for $20,000) on a chicken for them to find. They don't take it well.
* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' features a chicken demon who first appears to be ridiculous, fat rooster, then transforms into a scary giant-chicken-thingy.
* Kasugano-sensei from ''{{Sketchbook}}'' has a pet chicken, which she endearingly calls "P-chan". She also takes that bird everywhere--including to ''school''.
* One episode of ''LostUniverse'' involves the cast taking a flight that is hijacked by religious fanatics in chicken suits. They were apparently trying to force a dignitary in first class to publicly state that chickens were more inherently holy than cows (Don't ask).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Card Games]]
* The ''MagicTheGathering'' joke set Unglued had a chicken subtheme, with cards such as Poultrygeist, Free-Range Chicken, and, of course, Chicken Ã la King. There's also an aura called Fowl Play, that turns creatures into chickens.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In the "Transfer of Power" arc of ''TheAuthority'' after a year of hell at the hands of the G7 nations and some of the richest people in the world, as well as having "The Twenty Billion Dollar Bastard" Seth beating everyone on the team, including virtually killing the Midnighter (only a combination of the Doctor's magics and Engineer's surgical skills saved him), Swift (a nominal pacifist) has the Doctor turn Seth into a coop of chickens and dumps them on the doorstep of his own hillbilly family. His future was short.
* Filipino comic book artist Gerry Alanguilan (who inked Superman: Birthright) has a self-published work called [[http://www.alanguilan.com/sanpablo/elmer/ Elmer]], about what happens when chickens achieve sentience and fight for their rights.
* Chickens are SeriousBusiness in the world of ''{{Chew}}'', because of their tasty-but-illegal-due-to-bird-flu-meat. That or their superior cock-fighting skills in the case of Poyo!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/HotShots Part Deux'', Topper Harley runs out of arrows for his bow and [[ImprovisedWeapon decides to use a chicken instead]]. It turns out to be more effective than an arrow.
* Chicken Joe from ''SurfsUp'' is clearly there just for the humor. Doubles as TheStoner.
* In ''Film/{{Sleeper}}'', Creator/WoodyAllen's character encountered a giant chicken.
* The movie ''WesternAnimation/ChickenRun''. Pretty much ''TheGreatEscape'' [[AC:[[RecycledInSpace with chickens]]]]!
* As a twofer, [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins the penguin]] in the WallaceAndGromit short "WesternAnimation/TheWrongTrousers" disguises himself as a chicken by wearing a rubber glove on his head.
* Several chickens can be seen running around the background of ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}''. They've become a meme within the fan community, spawning chicken-centric fics, art, and more.
** All hail Rosalinda, dread chicken of destiny. Viva la revolution!
* "Baby" Brent's rebirth as Chicken Brent in ''CloudyWithAChanceOfMeatballs''.
* Probably the reason the chicken that is chased in ''CityOfGod'' (leading to a confrontation between drug dealers) got in the poster.
* ''Film/{{Stroszek}}''. Just... ''Stroszek''.
-->We have a 10-80 out here, a truck on fire, we have a man on the lift, we are unable to find the switch to turn the lift off, we [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking can't stop the dancing chickens]].
* ''Film/{{Borat}}'' carried a chicken with him (in a suitcase) for a large portion of the film.
* In ''Film/OSS117CairoNestOfSpies'', Agent 117 goes undercover as the owner of a poultry business. At some point he fights a bad guy by ''hurling chickens at each other''.
* At the beginning of ''USMarshals'', we see Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard staking out the suspected residence of a fugitive disguised as a the mascot of a chicken-based food chain giving away free samples. Making Creator/TommyLeeJones possibly the only person in film history capable of looking badass in a chicken suit.
** Ironically, originally the scene was supposed to have Gerard disguised as a priest.
* Juli, the lead female character in ''{{Flipped}}'', oversees the birth of five baby chickens for a science project and raises them on her own after they hatch. The chickens end up playing a role in one of the film's subplots.
* Both Lady Kluck and Alan-A-Dale from ''Disney/RobinHood''.
* One of the animals Mad Madam Mim turns into during the WizardDuel from ''Disney/TheSwordInTheStone'' is a red chicken. ItMakesSenseInContext because Merlin had just escaped an attack by turning into a caterpillar.
* At the very beginning of ''Disney/{{Mulan}}'', the title heroine ties a bag of chicken feed to her dog Little Brother to feed the chickens. Little Brother then leads the chickens all around the Fa Family residence and into the Ancestors' shrine.
* An ''epic'' case of GettingCrapPastTheRadar in the ''Film/TheMuppets'' when Camilla and her fellow hens cluck out Music/CeeLoGreen's "[[ClusterFBomb F**k You]]"
** Although, you can tell from the amount of syllables, that they were actually clucking the censored version of that song "Forget You".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/TheLastContinent'', a carnivorous dinosaur spontaneously "evolves" into a chicken, in an effort to make itself useful enough for the Unseen University faculty not to blast it with fireballs. They end up roasting and eating it instead of just roasting it.
** Earlier, ''Discworld/MovingPictures'' in its parodies of movie tropes included a wheelchair crashing into a barn and emerging surrounded by clucking chickens... much to the farmers' surprise, since the last time they looked it was full of cabbages.
** And in ''Discworld/{{Wintersmith}}'', a mishap with a cornucopia leads to Nanny Ogg's house being filled with hundreds of live chickens. ''Werk...''
*** Not a bad thing, as Rincewind in ''The Science Of Discworld II'' has accurately observed that the chicken is Lancre's standard unit of currency.
** Methodia Rascal, the MadArtist appearing in flashbacks in ''Discworld/{{Thud}}!'' thought he was being stalked by a giant chicken. And that he was the giant chicken himself. He was found dead, mouth full of chicken feathers, with the paint of his greatest work, "Battle Of Koom Valley" still wet.
** Quetzovercoatl, the Feathered Boa, is, or rather ''was'', a demon worshiped by the Tezumen, described by Rincewind as half man, [[MurderArsonAndJaywalking half chicken]], half jaguar, half serpent, half scorpion and half mad.
** ''Discworld/{{Reaper Man}}'' has an unforgettable ''[[CrowningMomentofFunny dyslexic rooster]]''.
* In later ''Literature/HarryPotter'' novels, the Weasleys create fake wands that turn into other objects when you try to use them. Among the alternatives: rubber chickens.
** And let's not forget that in addition to the gnomes, the Weasleys have chickens in their garden. It's a pretty funny coexistence.
* In the grim darkness of ''ASongOfIceAndFire'', there is ''not'' only war. They can appreciate a good joke, such as those told by trained Fools. One of them is named Butterbumps, an enormously fat man who tends to wear a chicken suit.
* Unintentional example: the ''Chicken That Was Not A Chicken'' in the SwordOfTruth series. Supposed to be scary, ended up as NightmareRetardant. ''"This was no chicken... This was evil manifest!"'' Worst ultimate incarnation of evil ''ever''.
** It's more an example of failure to get across the unnerving nature of a humble domestic animal behaving strangely. People who have never dealt with animals, especially farm animals, have no idea how nightmarishly creepy it can be. And city folk especially tend to overrate their own competence in a situation like that. This troper has seen people who have never experienced the rural lifestyle get scared absolutely spitless by cows, sheep, squirrels.... Plus, it's easy to laugh at the protagonist being scared by a chicken, till you consider that, comedy tropes about flightless fowl to the contrary, it was still a large, angry bird with sharp claws, a beak, and that was ''possessed by a demon'' a few feet from her face...
*** As someone else put it elsewhere on the wiki, the problem was that Goodkind presents it as a ''rational'' fear, while from a rational point of view, ''it's a '''chicken.'''''
** There may be a purpose to using the evil chicken, but that still doesn't mean the scene doesn't fall flat on its face. The fact that everyone except the SwordOfTruth's most ardent fans mock the device speaks to its utter and complete failure. It's Narm, plain and simple.
*** Worth noting, at first it's only The Bird Man who notices anything wrong, and everyone else just laughs it off as him having gotten a little too into the wedding celebrations. It's only once the heroine wakes up in the dead of night with said chicken staring at her that she starts to freak out.
* A chicken plays an important role in GordonKorman's ''The Chicken Doesn't Skate''.
* Three guesses what the main characters become in [[{{Goosebumps}} Chicken Chicken]].
* In ''[[Literature/HisDarkMaterials The Golden Compass]]'', there's a brief reference to a maid running out of a house (that's just been attacked by a [[EverythingsWorseWithBears polar bear looking for his armor]]) with her chicken daemon squawking alongside her.
* In the first ''Literature/HankTheCowdog'' book, chickens are described as being so dumb that they only have six words in their own language, three of which are just different cries for help. J.T. Cluck, the head rooster, is shown speaking fluently on other occasions, so he may be smarter than your average hen. Of course, it's Hank describing the Chickens, an UnreliableNarrator who affects a jaundiced viewpoint.
* In ''[[Literature/LandOfOz Ozma of Oz]]'', Dorothy is accompanied by a talking yellow hen called Billina.
* In Creator/JohnMoore's ''Bad Prince Charlie'', one running gag is a discussion of how a wizard tried to banish all the snakes from the kingdom, but botched the spell and banished all the chickens instead (And since he never figured out why the spell went wrong, he couldn't reverse it). As a result, it is impossible to get any kind of food that involves chicken or eggs, except on an annual festival where they import the meat and eggs from a neighboring country.
* In one chapter of ''I'll Mature When I'm Dead'', DaveBarry tells that when he and his friend Gene Weingarten felt they wanted to write a movie, they wanted to write something really original, and so came up with the concept of evil mutant superhuman chickens wreaking havoc on Iowa during the caucuses. One of the notes they wrote down was "METHANE--chickenshit raining down on Wolf Blitzer in Des Moines," though Dave Barry couldn't recall why; "maybe we were just responding to the universal human longing to see Wolf Blitzer inundated by chickenshit." Eventually they realized that their movie would actually be better ''without'' chickens, so they wrote them out.
* Jimpy the cock from ''Literature/EscapeFromWarsaw''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* When the characters meddle with a DNA-altering machine in ''Series/RedDwarf'', they briefly turn Lister into a chicken.
-->'''Cat:''' What was it like, being a hamster?\\
'''Lister:''' Better than being a chicken. You've seen an egg. You've seen the size of a chicken's bum. I was trying to say, in chicken, "For god's sakes give me an epidural!"
* The Series/ICarly episode ''iHatch Chicks''; and in ''iPsycho'' and its sequel ''iStill Psycho'' the antagonist Nora had a pet chicken named Maurice.
* [[MorkAndMindy Orkans]] are implied to have evolved from some sort of space chicken. This explains the constant egg motif, but not the fact that they sit on their face, or drink with their fingers, or anything else about them.
* [[MyNameIsEarl Earl Hickey]] inadvertently developed a bad and costly gambling habit trying to "man up" his gay pal Kenny that he ended up in a dirty back room spending his last dollar on chicken bingo--which apparently involves putting a live chicken on a giant gameboard and betting on which number the bird will take a dook on.
* In ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' season 1, Creator/TerryGilliam's Knight would march into scenes and hit someone with the (real, deceased) chicken he carries, generally [[DropTheCow when they couldn't think of another way to end a sketch]]. He was also shown slinging it over his shoulder when told he wouldn't be necessary for an episode.
* As a child, [[Series/{{Lost}} Sayid]] stepped in and killed a chicken when his brother Omer couldn't bring himself to do it, thus starting a lifelong pattern.
* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' [[Recap/DoctorWhoTVMTheTVMovie Made For TV Movie]] has a truck full of chickens in the traffic jam scene.
** The principle of [[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E2CityOfDeath Scaroth's time altering machine]] makes use of a chicken regressing into an egg and back again, making light of the "chicken or the egg" question.
** The Eleventh Doctor, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E06TheVampiresOfVenice while in Venice]] apparently makes note that he owes Casanova a chicken.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS3E10Blink Blink]]: It's not pretty when they blow.
* ''{{Mongrels}}'' has a song and dance routine [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppCM2Ey9YYE explaining]] why everything isn't better with chickens
* Often on ''HeeHaw'', if someone would tell an especially lame joke, someone else on the cast (or offstage) would hit them with a rubber chicken.
** There was also a regular animated segment on the show, with a chicken mistaking anything and everything for an egg. The chicken would sit on items, such as a ringside bell, a man's bald head, a billiard ball, a football, a golf ball, and even a bomb, with various disastrous results.
* The DVD commentary for the ''{{Firefly}}'' episode ''Serenity'' features JossWhedon and NathanFillion going into an entertainingly irrelevant digression about the chickens pecking around the marketplace on Persephone.
* Series/{{Merlin}}'s (technically Arthur's) [[Recap/MerlinS02E10SweetDreams "It's destiny, my love. Destiny and chicken, what a lovely combination."]]
* At the end of ''TheAquabatsSuperShow'' episode "Mysterious Egg!", Jimmy the Robot entrusts Jimmy Jr. to a random chicken he found on a nearby farm.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Machinima]]
* ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K8KQlZJcv8 100 Ways to Die in Skyrim, Part 1]]'' starts with the execution scene in Solitude, only the condemned has been modded out in favor of a rather confused-looking chicken. Also, somewhere around Way to Die #45 is "trampled by giant chicken".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ7KQAw4hQE Chicken Reel]]". In fact, it is a StandardSnippet whenever chickens appear in old cartoons.
* The solo guitarist {{Buckethead}} has named many song related to chickens, such as "Chicken for Lunch" "Chicken" and "I can only carry 50 chickens at a time".
** He also wears a KFC bucket on his head.
* Many a child of the 90's could tell you about that era's favorite embarrassing dance, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_MPCUyuqJ8&feature=related the Chicken Dance]].
* Music/RayStevens has done plenty of chicken songs, including "Teenage Mutant Kung Fu Chickens" and renditions of "''Music/AlsoSprachZarathustra''" and "In the Mood" entirely in chicken clucks.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
* Gary Larson's ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' comics sometimes involved chickens, usually portraying them as farm animals with an attitude. One collection, titled ''The Chickens Are Restless'', has a cover of a chicken mob wielding TorchesAndPitchforks and throwing eggs at a cow.
* A chicken is how ''{{Popeye}}'' comes to be. In a ''Thimble Theater'' arc, Castor Oyl comes upon a breed of poultry called a Whffle Hen, which, on top of being unkillable (Something he learns over the course of several strips), can also bring good luck to those who rub its three hairs. Deciding to get rich by taking advantage of this, Castor decides to sail to Dice Island, location of a deluxe casino. After buying a boat, he hires a crew of one...
--->'''Castor''': Hey, you there! Are you a sailor?
--->'''Who Do You Think?''': Ja think I'm a cowboy?!
* One of the recurring characters in the comic ''{{Pluggers}}'' is a hen named Henrietta Beak.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* A staple of "comedy" is the rubber chicken.
** As in the ''Series/{{CSI}}'' episode "Two and A Half Dead", where one is found stuffed inside a corpse and the assistant coroner wants Grissom to use "I suspect ''fowl'' play" or "This is ''poultry'' evidence" as a QuipToBlack. He goes for "Dying is easy. Comedy is hard".
** {{Garfield}} also once had a rubber chicken.
** Many episodes of ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' feature a man in a suit of armor hitting people with a rubber chicken.
*** TheOtherWiki claims it was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python%27s_Flying_Circus an actual chicken.]]
* Say what you will about LeeroyJenkins, but at least he has chicken.
* Having volunteers [[HypnoFool cluck like a chicken]] during stage-hypnosis acts is practically a TruthInTelevision trope of its own.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
* While training to face [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin "Stone Cold" Steve Austin]], [[Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon Shane [=McMahon=]]] urged his father [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon Vince [=McMahon=]]] to chase a chicken around a pen. Exactly what this was supposed to accomplish, neither seemed to know, but it resulted in wrestling fans everywhere getting to watch the 50-year-old CEO of the company hunched over, running through snow and mud after an uncooperative chicken.
* [[http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/profiles/c/chicken-neck.html Chicken Neck!]]
* [[Characters/{{ECW}} ECW's "The Angry Amish Warrior" Roadkill]]'s CatchPhrase, said at the end of every promo with his TagTeam partner "Dastardly" Danny Doring, was "'''CHICKENS!'''"[[note]]This was the only word he would say.[[/note]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* There's lots of chickens in ''TheMuppetShow'':
** The Great Gonzo (who may himself be some sort of bird, although probably not a chicken) is in love with Camilla the Chicken, and has chased other chickens romantically (namely out of confusion). [[MST3KMantra Don't think about it too hard]].
** While Gonzo is a Whatever (or an alien, if you take ''Film/MuppetsFromSpace'' as canon), his interest in chickens actually comes from an improvised joke. Originally they were trying to use dancing chickens, but none of the so-called "trained chickens" could dance, so it just showed Gonzo auditioning them. The line that established his chicken fetish was "Nice legs, though."
-->'''Statler''': How come chickens are so big on this show?
-->'''Waldorf''': Well, chickens thrive on corn!
** This trope is taken to its natural extreme when, during one episode, EVERYBODY turns into a chicken, so that all the skits and acts have to be done as chickens.
*** Well, Creator/JimHenson thought chickens were the funniest animals in the world, so naturally, an episode devoted to chickens makes sense.
* [[TheFundayPawpetShow BAWK!]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* ''DungeonsAndDragons'' has a commoner-only flaw: "chicken infested". A character with this flaw must roll whenever he reaches for something, and on a failure, pulls out a chicken. It is possibly the silliest rule in D&D, [[http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103915 which has not stopped optimizers]] [[LethalJokeCharacter from doing terrifying things]] with this unlimited conjuration power.
** [[{{sourcebook}} Where]] in the Nine Hells is it?
*** Dragon Magazine #330, page 87.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* There was a rather excellent modification to ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' that gave you a chicken launcher (complete with feathers, clucks and screams). Nothing quite like rounding a corner and eating a high-velocity chicken.
** There was also a somewhat less excellent, but still very funny, mod for the original Doom that turned the rocket launcher into a chook launcher.
* ''SpaceQuest III'' featured an arcade minigame called "Astro Chicken," the purpose of which was to land a chicken on a trampoline. The soundtrack was the aforementioned "Chicken Reel." The sequel game, "Ms. Astro Chicken," appeared in ''SpaceQuest IV''.
* Live chickens form the base of your dungeon's food chain in ''DungeonKeeper''. You can also just swat or possess them [[RuleOfFunny for fun]], though there's generally not much point to it.
* The PlatformGame ''Flood'' featured an awesomely destructive flamethrower, but after drawing it a few times, your character Quiffy would pull out a rubber chicken instead, which clucked loudly to Quiffy's shock. (Then you pull out the flamethrower again.)
* ''RuneScape'''s ultimate RandomEncounter is the Evil Chicken. [[LargeHam It plays its role well.]]
** It gets better then that! One quest has you infiltrate the chickens lair to which you are greeted by [[TheDragon Black Dragons]] some of the most feared creatures in the game.
** There was also a chicken sword given out for an event at some point.
* Typing [[VideoGame/{{Doom}} "idkfa"]] as a cheat code in ''{{Heretic}}'', instead of giving all weapons, full ammo, and max armor, turns the player into a chicken. There also exists an item called the Morph Ovum that does this to all monsters but the bosses.
* The [=MMORPG=] ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Online'' solves the problem of [[{{Griefer}} ganking]] in an innovative way: if a player tries to enter a [[PlayerVersusPlayer PvP]] zone that he or she is too high a level for, a powerful debuff hits them that, among other things, turns them into a chicken.
* The ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' video game allows you to use a chicken as a ''sniper rifle''. (It fires eggs with deadly accuracy.)
** For some reason a bunch of turkeys were led by one murderous cock.
* The cross-platform computer game ''Tribal Trouble'' pits Vikings against natives, with three tiers of raw material for building increasingly powerful weapons: wood, iron, and... chickens.
* In ''FinalFantasyTactics'', if your persistent Brave stat (measured on a scale of 0-100) drops too low during a battle, you literally chicken out and become a fowl. The AI takes over your character and makes him or her run to a corner of the battlefield to escape the conflict, and about 1/4 of all changes to Brave remain after the battle. (Click [[http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps/197339-final-fantasy-tactics/faqs/15053 here]] for an explanation of the mechanics.) There is a spell, "Chicken," designed to make someone's Brave score plummet. It's on your side, and it's awesome.
* The otherwise-forgotten FightingGame ''MaceTheDarkAge'' gave us the ''fire-breathing'' chicken Pojo. In his ending, he acquires the titular artifact, grows gigantic, and is said to inspire the legends of dragons. In ''{{Gauntlet}} Legends'' and its UpdatedRerelease ''Dark Legacy'', grabbing an Egg power-up briefly turns you into Pojo.
** Entering "EGG" as your initials in ''Gauntlet Legends'' makes you Pojo for the entire duration of the game.
* The FinalFantasy franchise gives us Chocobos, giant adorable (mostly) flightless birds used as mounts.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has a few chicken-related things:
** There is an easter egg to acquire a chicken pet. It involves the /chicken taunt.
** Engineers can make a Gnomish Battle Chicken. It usually hits for pitiful amounts of damage but occasionally enrages. It may also buff its owner with extra attack power. A non-combat version is also available from a series of quests
** Engineers can also build a Gnomish Poultryfier, which will temporarily turn the target into a chicken, making it unable to attack. It has a chance to malfunction and turn the user into a chicken or turn the target into a giant chicken, increasing it's attack power.
** A warlock quest chain involves a gnome trying to summon a mighty demon... but the result is a giant chicken aptly named El Pollo Grande.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda''. [[CallARabbitASmeerp Cucco]] blitz: Best. Video game death. ''Ever''.
** Not to mention the trading quests and minigames involving cuccos, and the fact that you can use them as gliders.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', you [[KarmicTransformation turn into a Cucco instead.]] Also insanely awesome.
** In [[Manga/TheLegendOfZelda the manga]] based on ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle of Seasons]]'', Link has a pet Cucco chick named Piyoko.
* ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'': [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E28WrhpTzQA "Madre de Dios! Es el Pollo Diablo!"]]
** Not to mention the rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle from [[TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland the first game]].
* A SillinessSwitch power of ''VideoGame/AgeOfMythology'' is a rain of [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot meteor chickens]]. [[MadeOfExplodium That explode]]. Into [[CoveredInGunge purple slime]].
* The campaign "Valley of the Mad" in ''RiseOfLegends'' features Chicken Hallucinations - which are dwarfs in gas masks riding armored chickens and carrying spears. Giacomo, your mind is a dark and scary place...
* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'', there's a shop that's overrun with deranged, violent chickens, and you can summon the swarm with a cheat code. (The code? [[ShoutOut "thegreatgonzo"]].)
** Further, in one area of the game you can come across a talking chicken, who claims to be a mage who tried out a new spell that went awry. If you bring him back to his master (as the mage is a mere apprentice), there's a chance he can be turned back via a spell called "antichickenator". The [[PlayerCharacter PC]] can be a {{Jerkass}} and make several unkind puns about the situation.
--->'''Protagonist:''' This bird is possessed! This chicken is FOWL!
** Also, if you click many times a chicken, its joke quote reads "Nobody here but us chickens."
* The Morph-O-Ray in the first ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank'' game turned enemies into chickens. In the second game, someone apparently got the idea to turn all the resulting chickens into killer robots.
** In later games this evolved into [[MorallyAmbiguousDucktorate phoenix ducks from hell]].
* You know what would've improved ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'' a lot? If it had been more like [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oxH6LVX8Wc this]].
* The ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}'' series embraces this trope. In each game, there are plenty of chickens in rural areas that you can violently punt to relieve boredom/laugh at the pain of helpless animals. There are achievements for chicken-kicking, and there is one Demon Door that can be opened by kicking a chicken into it. Each game also has at least one sidequest involving chickens, and each game has some kind of wearable chicken suit. A chicken is also featured as the protagonist of ''VideoGame/FableIII'''s opening FMV.
** WANT ... MEAT!
* ''TheBardsTale'' has chickens running around the first town, which can be killed for meat. If you kill too many, though, you get to fight a rather peeved boss chicken.
* Everything's better with... [[BackyardSports the Rowdy Roosters]]!
* The Torchic family of ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}''. Although they are based on the {{badass}} blood-sport chickens from Thailand, rather than the silly aspects of chickens.
* ''Total Overdose'' has many, many chickens running around, which of course can be shot. The nice twist is ammo is rare so you have to balance blasting bad guys to destroying fowl.
* Everything is not better with General [[ThatOneBoss Tsao]] in ''SlyCooper'', despite being a chicken. Instead he's an armored warlord who abducts women and [[KickTheDog kicked a puppy]]. ''Twice''.
** There's a level in the first game where you have to kill a large number of chickens in a fixed time period in order to get one of the treasure keys to the third boss. The roosters carried explosives.
* In ''Redneck Rampage'', an old FPS, first you would find dynamite, a standard grenade type weapon. Then, you find a crossbow, and tie the dynamite to its ammunition. Redneck Rocketlauncher, a la ''DukesOfHazzard''. ''Then''... you find a chicken. You tie the chicken to the arrow and jam a stick of dynamite into the then-obvious place. ''Guided'' Redneck Rocketlauncher.
* ''VideoGame/{{Darkstone}}'' has chickens in the player character's hometown, from which a Thief character has the option of stealing eggs. One of the dungeons includes a room populated by nothing but chickens which prove to be inexplicably hostile. Possibly a ShoutOut to ''The Legend Of Zelda'' and its deadly cuccos, but this is unconfirmed.
* If [[DeepFriedWhatever a roasted kind]] counts, then ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} 3's Tekken Force'' heath powerup ''had'' to be mentioned.
** [[MostWonderfulSound * gulp* CHICKENN]]
* ForeignLegionBucketsOfBlood has chickens hidden in each of the levels. Finding all the chickens in a single level nets you an achievement.
* ''{{Drakan}}: The Ancients' Gates'' had, as a semi-hidden mini-BonusBoss, a ten-foot tall man-eating chicken with glowing red eyes. It was actually a bit NightmareFuel-ish, as its cave was littered with blood and dead bodies, and it was perfectly possible to run into it in the beginning of the game without knowing about it.
* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty ModernWarfare 2'' has a map which includes, amongst other things, many caged chickens. Of course, there is an achievement you can get for [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential killing a certain number of chickens in so many seconds.]]
* In the first PoliceQuest game, a prankster known as "The Gremlin" leaves a live chicken on Sgt. Dooley's desk while he's gone. It flaps around and shits all over the place. This does not make Dooley happy.
* ''DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' has a boss called 'Feather Fiend', which is a chicken controlling some kind of giant mecha, which also happens to shoot enemy robot chickens. As you can see [[http://uk.ign.com/videos/2010/11/20/donkey-kong-country-returns-world-7-b-feather-fiend?objectid=14354707 in this IGN video]], the sheer concept looks absolutely hilarious.
* Some of the enemies found in Level 2 of ''VideoGame/Stinkoman20X6'' are robotic chickens known as Terrells (the ones that resemble bouncing, disembodied chicken heads), Grundies (the ones that run back and forth), and Stobats (the ones that spit bones at you). The level's boss is even a giant chicken robot called Brody, who actually tries to stomp Stinkoman with his feet!
* ''BillyHatcherAndTheGiantEgg''.
* [[http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=25395 Mort the Chicken]], a low-budget platformer released near the end of the PS1's lifespan (in America), was about a chicken who has to rescue the farm's chicks from evil cubes. [[WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs Seriously]].
* ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar 3'':
** The multiplayer map "Old Town" has chickens wandering around aimlessly. You can shoot them, kick them, and even ''grenade tag'' them to make them explode in a puff of red mist.
** The single-player campaign has a chicken on the first level that, if you shoot it, will transform into a giant golden chicken that chases you around the level and ''breathes fire''. If you manage to kill it, it explodes into confetti. Later, in Act IV, if you're playing on the highest difficulty there's storeroom containing a chicken wearing a pirate hat. This one skips the fire-breathing golden chicken phase and goes straight to confetti.
* Burn Rooster of ''VideoGame/MegaManX 8'' gives the term "[[PlayingWithFire fried chicken]]" a new meaning.
* A bug in early versions of ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' caused chickens to report crimes if they happened to be in the area when it was committed. Though it's since been removed, amused players resolved to mod it back in once the game is released.
* ''SuperMarioGalaxy'' featured chicken-like enemies found in various desert levels that threw bombs at the player instead of eggs.
* A RandomEncounter in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2: Storm of Zehir'' had you run across a flock of chickens, one of which carried a note in its beak. Turns out it was an adventuring party that had been [[BalefulPolymorph turned into chickens]].
* ''MondayNightCombat'' introduced an arena-specific boss: a big mechanical chicken named Chickey Cantor (a play on the announcer's name Mickey). While a pretty serious thing gamewise, the whole presentation plays the RuleOfFunny.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* [[http://www.mezzacotta.net/owls/?comic=8 This]] ''[[{{Mezzacotta}} Lightning Made of Owls]]'' strip renders two of the main characters as chickens.
* One ''The Parking Lot Is Full'' comic involves a linguist regretting her creation, a one-word language which had become universally accepted. The word? Well, it's in this trope, so guess.
* In ''Webcomic/EmergencyExit'', [[CloudCuckooLander Eddie]] believes the chickens are evil and eventually fights a giant chicken.
* [[http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/mi/mi-21/mi-21.html This]] Morning Improv comic by Scott [=McCloud=] mentions Chicken Pepsi.
* ''VenusEnvy'' has a chicken teaching hard science.
* ''BeyondTheCanopy''. The Chez Cluck-Off employs chicken chefs. Said chickens turn out to also be full partners in Greliz's confidence schemes. This leads to sight gags with chickens in aprons and chef hats, or ties and fedoras.
* [[http://www.savagechickens.com/ Savage Chickens]], naturally.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''WebGame/DragonCave'' includes, amongst well, dragons, the occasional chicken egg at the front of the cave, which always grows into a hen. There are, similarly, chubby and cartoonish [[EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs dinosaurs]] that are just as comically out of place. The source of both is unknown, but one wonders what fate has befallen the chickens' parents, living so close to a cave full of dragons and all...
* [[http://www.everytopicintheuniverseexceptchickens.com/ Every Topic In The Universe Except Chickens]]. Basically, Ryan North (author of ''Webcomic/DinosaurComics'') thinks that the problem of vandalism on {{Wikipedia}} can be solved if all {{Wiki Vandal}}s agree to focus their vandalism exclusively on the article about chickens. Because "Dudes already know about chickens."
* [[http://www.technochicken.com Techno Chicken]]
* The almighty Clucky from ''NarutoTheAbridgedSeries''. It's Naruto's ultimate weapon after all.
* {{Mortasheen}}, of course, gives us its own gruesome take on this trope, the two-headed [[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/cockatross.htm Cockatross.]]
** And more recently, the [[IncrediblyLamePun Buc]][[RaptorAttack buc]][[http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/bucbuclaw.htm law.]]
* Blog/ChickenMaker runs on this.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'' combines this trope with EverythingsBetterWithCows
* Ed from ''EdEddNEddy'' loves chickens more than anything else in the world (with the possible exception of buttered toast and gravy), and given that one of his neighbours is FunnyForeigner and suburban farmer Rolf, chickens appear in many episodes.
** Eddy, on the other hand, is terrified of them.
* Chicken Boo from ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', who wears a PaperThinDisguise to look like human guys, but he's not a man he's a Chicken I tell you! A giant Chicken!
* Ernie The Giant Chicken from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''.
* There is also a giant chicken from ''DoraTheExplorer'' and his feathers are red.
** His name is Big Red Chicken
* ''GarfieldAndFriends'' had some instances of people dressed in chicken suits.
** One episode had a bit analyzing the humor content of certain words. "Chicken" came up as "extremely funny."
** There's also Roy, a chicken who featured prominently in the US Acres segments. Booker was also a young chicken, as presumably was Sheldon (though he never fully hatches).
* ''TheRealGhostbusters'' had at least two episodes based on this trope: one where Egon becomes a "werechicken," and one where an eccentric man makes a magical wish that causes all the chickens in the world to disappear.
** Writer Creator/JMichaelStraczynski's bosses were very worried about him when he turned that one in....
* Dib from ''InvaderZim'' encountered "Chickenfoot". He's not a freak, he's just stupid.
** Zim once put a pair of chickens into a centrifuge and fired one into the sun, for no readily apparent reason.
*** [[LargeHam "Hmmmmmmm, CHICKEN!!!"]]
* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' of course. The intro features a MadScientist finding a dead chicken [[StealthPun who failed to cross the road]], turns it into a cyborg, and forces it to watch a bunch of random crap.
** There was also one skit which featured anthropomorphic chickens acting out a ''Series/LawAndOrder'' episode. The humor comes from the fact that all dialogue is "buk buk bagok!" and the story can only be told through the title cards and context.
* ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'': Arise, chicken!
** Also, Chicken Biddle in TheMovie. A humanoid chicken nugget shaped like a chicken, voiced by BruceCampbell.
* Foghorn Leghorn, the blowhard rooster from ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' (not to mention Miss Prissy, Egghead, and his other fowl adversaries).
** For completeness' sake, we should also add Fowlmouth from ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures''.
* ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'': "Dave and the Giant Pickle": Bob, giving the [[AnAesop aesop]], explains that "with God, all things are possible." Larry promptly asks if God can turn him into a chicken.
* There is a chicken hidden somewhere in every episode of ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks''.
* A minor recurring character on ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' is a [[SimpleCountryLawyer simple Hyperchicken from a backwoods asteroid]]
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Homer accuses a chicken of hustling him at checkers. Also, in one of the Halloween episodes, Homer becomes part-chicken. In yet another episode, Cletus faces the classic FoxChickenGrainPuzzle.
** In "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", a chicken replaced Homer at the power plant.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill,'' Peggy entered a Boggle tournament and performed miserably. Still, she did better than "Boggle-Playing Chicken."
* On ''{{Jimmy Two-Shoes}}'', a chicken was one of many animals seen in [[BigBad Lucius']] animal prison.
* How about Poultra from ''TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutron''?
* Creator/DonBluth's ''RockaDoodle''.
* AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog: Scratch.
* An episode of ''SpongeBobSquarePants'' ended with a live action baby chick hatching out of an animated egg.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' demonstrated that the most logical way to get someone else to read is to make love to chickens.
* Spot, the neurotic chicken who thinks she's a dog from ''[[Disney/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians 101 Dalmatians: The Series]]''
* Fluttershy from ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' has a chicken coup at her house. [[FeatheredFiend The cockatrice]] from the Everfree Forest on the other hand is an inversion since [[TakenForGranite it can petrify anyone that looks into its eyes]].
** And [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E17StareMaster of course]], Scootaloo's FanNickname.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Chicken: The Poor Man's turkey.
* Creator/WernerHerzog has a crippling fear of chickens and includes them in several symbolic scenes in his movies.
* There is at least one scientific paper consisting entirely of the word chicken, [[http://isotropic.org/papers/chicken.pdf "Chicken Chicken Chicken: Chicken Chicken"]] by University of Washington's Doug Zonker. (The paper also been [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL_-1d9OSdk presented]] at AAAS.) It emulates much of the structure of a real computer science paper (right down to citing sources, or in this case, appearing to), and at a distance might even be mistaken for one, but upon careful review, [[DontExplainTheJoke it does not advance any novel research, and the programming flowchart isn't particularly useful for software development]] (read: chicken chicken chicken, chicken chickens chicken).
* Sue Lowden made headlines by suggesting that, instead of progressive health care reform, America should revert to the good old days when people paid for health care by bartering with chickens, although it could be argued that this is in fact a subversion of the Trope.
* [[OlderThanFeudalism When]] {{Plato}} gave Creator/{{Socrates}}' definition of man as "featherless bipeds" and was much praised for the definition, [[TheGadfly Diogenes]] [[ExactWords plucked a chicken and brought it into Plato's Academy, saying, "Behold! I've brought you a man."]] After this incident, [[MovingTheGoalposts "with broad flat nails"]] was added to Plato's definition.
* [[http://www.miketheheadlesschicken.org/index.php Mike the Headless Chicken.]]
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockfight Cockfighting]]. A very brutal sport where two roosters [[DuelToTheDeath fight to the death.]] Two enter a pit or arena where they precede to kick, scratch and peck each other. In communities where cockfighting is a pastime, spurs are attached. This allows for [[CleanCut quick kills]] instead of long drawn out [[DeathOfAThousandCuts disfigurement.]] Abhorrent to the modern person but a very quick source of entertainment in parts where cows outnumber people.
* How numerous are chickens? When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast in 2005, over a ''million'' chickens were lost as a result of damage to chicken farms in that part of the country. How much effect did this have on the cost of chicken in grocery stores due to this loss of supply? None whatsoever, as a [[AMillionIsAStatistic million chickens wasn't even a statistic]], as far as supply and demand went.
[[/folder]]
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[[HehHehYouSaidX Heh heh,]] [[DoubleEntendre Cock]].

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