They are rather smart, they get playful and they can be affectionate. They have people they like and people they don't like.

Cruelty of factory farmed animals? There is so much suffering.

Beyond Beef products. If lab grown meat were made available I would buy it. We went to a restaurant last week and the granddaughter got her grandpa to try tofu. He liked it.

One of my first gigs (around age 8) was tending a couple dozen chickens. I even operated a crank-driven corn husker to prepare their meal. Even found a market for the corn cobs, which hunters valued as impromptu TP. But I digress.

With chores finished, I took time to observe and interact. I found the one putting up the least resistance to being held and calmed it down, stroking the feathers as I would a cat’s or dog’s fur. Every day afterward, I could scoop up the chicken into my arms without encountering the slightest resistance. I bonded in some small way with that bird, and in my imagination it was sad to see me leave every day.

I’m pretty sure I ate chicken before, during, and after that gig, and, yes, it does bother me if I think about it too much. I say this with a Cajun-spiced chicken breast in the fridge. Thing is, I didn’t know that chicken personally. If that’s a moral shortcoming on my part, I do try to do better.