If any of you have ever driven a motorcycle among chickens, you know why they created the “why did the chicken cross the road” jokes. Chickens are just not like the other farm animals that you may see around you as you drive your motorcycle on any given day!
CATTLE definitely rule the road, but they’re usually on the move. They often take the same path as you on your motorcycle, so you can honk to try to get them to move a bit faster, but ultimately you have to wait for them to get out of your way before you can continue on.
DONKEYS don’t usually move very fast. (It’s true, I’ve been warned about being crushed by stampeding donkeys when sleeping outside, since when they start running like that they don’t pay attention to what’s in front of them and just run, I’ve been told, but that’s very rare.) If the donkey is attached to a cart, the cart driver will generally urge the donkey out of your path. If they’re just on their own, basically you have to go around them since if they don’t want to move out of their way, they won’t.
DOGS are very smart. They usually look both ways before crossing a busy street. (Well, the busiest street I usually see them cross has a median, so they have to mainly only look one way at a time.) And if it’s too busy, they’ll wait. They know to stay out of your way, so you have to be a little alert on your motorcycle when you see a dog in front of you, but not too much.
SHEEP and GOATS, on the other hand, aren’t as smart. They normally just keep doing what they’re doing, but can also dart out. And they don’t pay any attention to traffic. So be careful around them.
But CHICKENS, well, they have a joke about them for a reason. When they see you coming on your motorcycle, it’s true that they often get a sudden urge to cross the road in front of you, for whatever reason. Even if they were happily plucking at whatever they were plucking at before you came by. I’ve even had a chicken who raced me down the path, trying to make sure to cross in front of me. I knew it was a futile race, so I slowed down, she crossed in front of me and happily started plucking at whatever was on the other side of the road, and I continued on. (And no, there was no one coming from the other direction or behind me, so she could have easily waited for me to pass and then cross.)
So why did the chicken cross the road? I think it’s to test and see how awake you are first thing in the morning!