Micro-Season: “The Chicken Lays Her First Eggs”

We have entered the micro-season of “The Chicken Lays Her First Eggs”. This is the third micro-season of the mini-season Major Cold.  All the micro-seasons within Major Cold are:

• The Giant Butterbur Flowers (Jan. 21 – Jan 24)
• The Mountain Stream Freezes Over (Jan 25 – Jan 29)
• The Chicken Lays Her First Eggs (Jan 30 – Feb 03)

These seasons were established in 1685 by Japanese astronomer Shibukawa Shunkai and are specific to Japan. However, just because the calendar focuses on Japan doesn’t mean it isn’t applicable to others.  No matter where you live you can use these seasons as a starting point for your personal exploration of the world around you. 

To celebrate this season, we will learn about the connection between the chicken and the sun.  Then we will read some seasonal haiku by Issa, Basho, Shiki, and Reichhold.

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Chickens And The Sun

A chicken’s life is greatly influenced by the amount of available daylight. For example, in autumn, when the days begin to get shorter, chickens begin to molt and egg production slows downs, or even stops, as the hens prepare for the winter.  Consequently, when the days get longer in spring, the hens begin to lay eggs again.  

The micro-season of“The Chicken Lays Her First Eggs” is then a reminder that we have made it through the darkest days of winter and are heading toward spring.

The Chicken, the Egg, and the Sun

There is a common belief that a chicken’s egg production is linked to the outside temperature.  That is false. Egg production is actually linked to the length of the day.

The connection between the chicken and daylight is because of the pineal gland. The pineal gland is responsible for sending hormones to the hen’s ovaries which triggers the production of eggs. This gland, which is located behind the hen’s eye, is activated by light.⁽¹⁾

Hens usually start laying eggs when there are about 14 hours of daylight.  However, the optimal conditions for egg laying are 16 hours of light and 8 hours of darkness.  It is possible to manipulate a hen’s seasonal egg production with artificial light.  If this is something that you would like to do, Katie Ockert at the University of Michigan provides these tips. 

“Supplemental lighting should be at a low intensity level, just bright enough to be able to read a newspaper at bird level, and applied in the morning hours so that birds naturally roost. Lights should be placed above feeders and waterers and there should be few areas in the hen house that are shaded from the light.”⁽²⁾

The supplemental lighting should also be placed on a timer so that it can come on early in the morning to simulate an early sunrise and then go out again after the desired amount of time.  A light sensor can be used to shut off the supplemental light when there is an adequate amount of natural sunlight.

Amaterasu, The Chicken, and The Cave of Heaven

In the Shinto tradition the chicken, or perhaps more specifically the rooster, plays a prominent role in the tale of Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun.  In one part of Amaterasu’s story, she hid away in a rock cave, or the Cave of Heaven, and sealed it shut with a giant boulder.  When she did this the world plunged into darkness and evil emerged.  

Seeing the chaos that resulted in the world without Amaterasu, Omoikane, the god of wisdom, and the “eight-million gods”⁽⁴⁾ created a plan to lure Amaterasu out of the cave.  This plan started with gathering the long-crying birds of Tokoyo outside the cave and making them crow to each other.  The long-crying birds of Tokoyo are also known as the chickens “of eternal world that tells the end of the night”, or the arrival of daybreak.⁽⁴⁾ 

After the chickens were summoned and began crowing, the gods began to partake in many other godly shenanigans.  Eventually, Amaterasu became so curious about all the commotion outside of the cave she peaked her head out from behind the boulder.  As she leaned out to see what was happening, the other gods quickly pulled her the rest of the way out of the cave. The gods then sealed up the Cave of Heaven and restored light to the world. 

Today, many Shinto shrines honor this relationship between the chickens and Amaterasu by having free-range chickens on their temple grounds.  

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Seasonal Haiku

January 22, 2023, marked the start of the Lunar New Year. Traditional Lunar New Year celebrations last for about 15 days. According to the World Kigo Database, there are several chicken-related kigo for this time period.  Hatsutori, or first chicken, is a reference to chickens in the new year. Keitan, or the” day when the cock craws” is associated with the first day of the New Year, and keijistu, or the day of the chicken, is the 6th day of the New Year.  

The World Kigo Database also has a sajiki of New Year Animals that also includes the “first raven”, the “first sparrow”, and the “first mouse” as other animal references for this time of year.  

With all this in mind, let’s read some haiku about the New Year’s firsts. 

Issa

on the cat's grave
in First Month...
dried sardines
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

rising into
the year's first sky...
tea smoke
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

in the year's first dream
my home village...
tears
(translated by David G. Lanoue)

Basho

seeing the new year’s 
first flowers, I’ll live seventy- 
five years longer
(translated by  Sam Hamill) 

the new year’s first snow - 
how lucky to remain alone
at my hermitage 
(translated by  Sam Hamill) 

first day of the year
I think longingly of the sun
on those paddy waters 
(translated by Makoto Ueda) 

it’s a beginning poem
the name of the renga master
at home on New Year’s 
(translated by Jane Reichhold)

Shiki

it licks the oil
of the standing lamp -
our first house mouse
(retrieved from World Kigo Database)

Jane Reichhold

New Year's morning
the first day begins
in the same dream
(from Reichhold’s A Dictionary of Haiku)

Haiku Invitation

“The Chicken Lays Her First Egg” is all about the transition out of winter and into spring. It is at this time of year when we welcome and recognize all the first things. Therefore, this week’s haiku invitation is to write a haiku or senryu that focuses on a first of the year.   

Share your haiku in the comments below, or post on your own page and link back to this post. I can’t wait to read what you write!  

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Resources

1. “Why do chickens need sunlight?”. TheGoodLifeBackyard.com.au
2. Ockert, Katie. “Decreasing daylight and its effect on laying hens”. Michigan State University
3. “Amaterasu”; Wikipedia
4. “Ama no Iwato (Cave of Heaven)”; Japanese-wiki-corpus.org
5. “Jidori Local Chicken”. WASHOKU – Japanese Food Culture and Cuisine
6. “Saijiki New Year Animals”. World Kigo Database

Issa’s haiku were retrieved from David G. Lanoue’s Haiku Guy. Basho’s haiku were retrieved from “Matsuo Bashō’s haiku poems in romanized Japanese with English translations” Editor: Gábor Terebess. Shiki’s haiku was retrieved from the World Kigo Database.  Jane Reichhold’s haiku was retrieved from A Dictionary of Haiku Classified by Season Words with Traditional and Modern Methods