Chicken Town

Last fall I visited central Florida, a region of the Sunshine State known for its tourist attractions. Interstate 95 leads to Interstate 4 which leads to the Most Magical Place on Earth, not to mention a bevy of mini-golf courses and outlet malls. Should you find yourself on Alafaya Trail instead of International Drive, as I did one fine day, you may find yourself face-to-comb with the chickens of Oviedo.

Menacing creatures, huh

They strut their stuff in the center of town, clucking and running amok. How did they get there? Not being an exotic bird (of which Florida has plenty) it's likely they just flew the coop back in those pastoral days of yore and kept breeding ever since. They have retained the fascination and adoration of locals for years, spawning a sort of cult following - fortunately not a cult that hurts chickens! It's not uncommon to find a car parked at the local Publix with an "I brake for chickens!" bumper sticker. The local bank has a page detailing the history of the chickens. Someone on YouTube even created a short documentary on the chickens.

In my experience, chickens are not only tasty but amusing and lovable as well.
I was a huge fan of Chicken Boo from Animaniacs, and I am glad to see that his cousins can freely live in Oviedo without needing the aid of fake mustaches.

But you're not a man . . .

I don't live in a rural area, and while Oviedo may have qualified as rural even a few decades ago it is nearly all suburbia now, with malls everywhere and UCF down the road, not to mention the influx of snowbirds (the human kind). The chickens are not only a quaint attraction but also something that holds Oviedo to its rural past.