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Did you know? Roosters once wore rose-tinted glasses
The theory was that if chickens couldn’t clearly see the red of blood, they’d be less inclined to go into a frenzy
This image of a Rooster was created using ChatGPT
It might sound like something straight out of a Monty Python sketch, but back in the early 20th century, chicken goggles were very much a thing. Yes—actual, tiny spectacles for chickens. And no, it wasn’t to make them look fashionable on the farm.
The invention of chicken goggles, or “chicken specs,” was all about reducing feather-pecking and cannibalism in flocks. Chickens can be surprisingly aggressive little creatures, and once one starts pecking at another (especially if there’s a bit of blood involved), the rest tend to follow suit. It’s less poultry and more peckish mob.
So, some clever (or possibly eccentric) folks came up with a solution: tinted glasses—often rose-coloured—to obscure the sight of blood and calm the birds down. The theory was that if chickens couldn’t clearly see the red of blood, they’d be less inclined to go into a frenzy. Think of it as early 20th-century chicken psychology meets fashion-forward farmwear.
The designs ranged from wire-framed glasses to full-on clip-on shades. Some were hinged to allow the birds to eat comfortably, while others were fixed in place with teeny rivets.
While they may have looked rather dashing, the practice eventually fell out of favour as more humane, and less fiddly, methods for managing flock behaviour came into play. But for a brief moment in poultry history, chickens strutted about the coop looking like they were headed for a countryside rave.
