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There was a time, at some point during my childhood, when my cousins raised chickens. It wasn’t a big farm production with rows and rows of chicken houses or anything like that. Just a couple of chickens in their yard at their home up in Virginia.

Of course, a couple of chickens turned into quite a few chickens until eventually, I suppose, they decided there were too many to handle. And that was the end of that. But, for a while, it was fun to visit them and chase around the little chicks, listening to the roosters crow every now and then.

Not many people have experience raising chickens these days, but in the past, it wasn’t unusual for families living in the rural countryside to have a flock roaming around their yards or nestled away in a henhouse.

Perhaps that’s why our language has developed quite a few idioms involving chickens.

“Idiom” is basically a literary term for an expression where the meaning isn’t completely derived from its parts. (Like how the phrase “up in the air” just means “undecided” or “riding shotgun” doesn’t involve actual guns.) I always think of it as a phrase that most native speakers just grow up understanding, but it probably wouldn’t make sense to a non-native speaker, who might think about the phrase too literally.

I stumbled across a whole list of chicken-related idioms on the Merriam-Webster website recently, and wanted to share a few for fun. You never realize how many random phrases involve chickens until you start listing them.

“Fly the coop” – When you have chickens, this phrase obviously refers to when they escape and start roaming around. As an idiom, however, the meaning is actually pretty similar. Because if we say “that person flew the coop,” we mean they left suddenly and, perhaps, secretly to make their escape.

People, of course, don’t have to escape from chicken coops specifically (at least, I would hope not). When we use the phrase in conversation, it’s just a metaphor!

“Put all your eggs in one basket” – Have you ever banked everything on one plan of action going right and haven’t planned for any contingencies? Has someone then warned you not to “put all your eggs in one basket” even though you have neither eggs nor a basket in hand?

This idiom is a warning and a suggestion. Have plenty of options or backup plans. Don’t try to do everything at once. Diversify!

Again, the phrase is a metaphor. Imagine gathering a bunch of eggs from your henhouse and then hauling the basket back to your kitchen. But then, maybe you trip over something along the way or you lose your balance trying to get the door open. And then, you drop the basket and all the eggs go splat! It’d be best to simply take a few eggs at a time… just in case!

(As a sidenote: This is just like how you should always cook extra hotdogs because at least one is surely guaranteed to roll off a plate on its way from the grill to the dinner table each time.)

“Walk on eggshells” – As noted with the previous idiom, eggs are easily breakable. Drop one on the floor and you have a mess to clean up. So imagine that walking on eggshells means you would need to be very, very, very careful not to break them.

That’s why this idiom means “exercising extreme caution” and it’s one you use when you have to be careful not to upset someone or set them off. Carefully and quietly walk on eggshells as you fly the coop to get away from someone’s bad mood, right?

Honestly, I can’t stop thinking about this idiom literally, even though I shouldn’t. I don’t think anyone is capable of walking on eggshells and NOT breaking them too. They’re just too fragile. And the crunch, crunch, crunch of eggshells under your feet might just annoy the person you’re trying not to upset.

Also, broken eggshells would hurt your feet! Upon further thought, I’m glad this is an idiom and not something we do in real life.

“Mother hen” – We’ve established that eggs are fragile, so it’s no surprise that hens can be quite protective of them, but even after they hatch, they can still be pretty attached to their chicks. They might follow them around and make sure they don’t get into any trouble. Plenty of animals do this, but we draw this idiom directly from chicken behavior.

I’m sure we all know someone in our lives who can be described as a “mother hen,” who takes care of everyone around them (whether or not they’re her actual children). We are grateful for what they do!

“No spring chicken” – We use this phrase to describe someone who’s been around a while. And, conversely, a “spring chicken” would be a young person. The phrase comes about because chicks tend to hatch most often during the springtime. So spring chickens are the newest additions to the flock.

I wonder who came up with this idiom. Who was the first person who decided to compare people to chickens?

As always, language continues to be strange and interesting, raising more questions than it gives answers. I’m sure I’m going to be thinking about all these idioms next time I sit down to eat some fried chicken!

Holly Taylor is a Staff Writer for Roanoke-Chowan Publications. Contact her at holly.taylor@r-cnews.com or by phone at 252-332-7206.