One thing that I’ve noticed about chickens is that people who keep them absolutely love them. I’m not even kidding. Ask someone who has chickens. They’ll gush about their different personalities, about how they all have senses of humor, and about how they’re just like any other person except they are a chicken.

I find this startling because I don’t think that our society gives chickens as animals enough esteem. Humans eat chickens and we eat their eggs too. We keep them in horrible cages where they can’t even open up their wings. And, yet, chickens have distinctive and flamboyant personalities. Can you imagine being so fantastic and live cooped up in some small cage?

I have interacted with a chicken here and there and I can attest to their sheer attitude. It isn’t just that every chicken has its own distinctive and beautiful coat of feathers. They do. They also have wild personalities. Chickens can and will play practical jokes on people. They will mimic you. They’re extremely chatty. They are never still.

Chicken people, too, are known for their fabulousness. We call this sign the chicken and usually translate it to either rooster or cock but the sign isn’t actually just represented by poultry style birds. The chicken zodiac sign is actually the phoenix. Some people call it the sign of the phoenix and other people call it the sign of the chicken or rooster. I like chicken because I think that chicken has style. Chicken or phoenix people are known for their styles, for their artistry, and for their display.

Think about a peacock spreading out its feathers. That’s what phoenixes do too. They swoop and they swoon. They make you swoon. A lot of pop stars are chicken or phoenix people. They dress up in vivid colors and they put on a show.

In the story about the animals racing along the Jade river, the chicken worked together with the goat and monkey to build a raft. When the group got to the finish line, they held a mini election about who would go first. The chicken was the one to volunteer itself last. During the journey on the river, the chicken was also the leader of the group. It sat on the back of the raft so that it could watch and see where the group should go next.

If phoenix seems like an ancient and mythological symbol, that’s because it is. Birds are dinosaurs. They are ancient and mythological creatures. The chicken isn’t just any bird but a predator type bird. Chickens walk around and eat bugs.

This means that chickens have extremely precise eyes. A chicken is able to see a tiny gnat buzzing around in a mess of grass. Flying birds are able to see tiny rodents scurrying around in the bushes from miles on up in the air. The chicken zodiac sign is cardinal which is why it is a leader. It is represented by yin metal. Yin metal is the metal of scissors, of razors, and of needles. Chickens have razor or needle-like vision.

Basically, chickens are known for their precision. They are perfectionists. They have an exacting stare. Not only can they see things that other people don’t see, they can see them from very high up. Birds have both perspective and precision. That’s why they have vision.

But that’s just one part of the chicken personality. Remember—people who have relationships with chickens have strong relationships with these birds. You don’t get there with just style and flair. Chickens have something else going on for them.

There’s something that chickens do when they face danger. They protect their young. A mother hen will lay down her life in an effort to protect her eggs or her chicks.

The old saying is that rabbits feel but chickens marry. In the zodiac, rabbits and chickens are oppositional. They clash. This means that they are interested in the same things but come at it from opposite angles. Rabbits carry the energy of spring which is about sex. Chickens carry the energy of fall which is about marriage. Chickens are loyal and they like to ritualize relationships.

Chickens are flirts! They like to dress up and they like to seduce. They like to collect pretty objects and decorate their bodies with them. They like bright colors. The phoenix is the partner of the dragon. Chickens, too, understand partnership. In astrology, the chicken and dragon zodiac signs come together to form Venus. The two beings are often seen together in old paintings as a husband and wife couple.

As a relationship oriented sign, chickens are in charge of both duty and mercy. Both duty and mercy have to do what we owe to others. Chickens are especially interested in matters of justice for this reason. They have strong moral compasses. Remember how the chicken sat on the back of the raft and guided the group along? That’s a compass. The chicken is also a compass. It uses relationships as a compass.

A mother hen will lay her life down for her children. Chickens marry and they are the dragon’s consort. Together, they create metal or Venus. The chicken is really the sign of ethics. All forms of beauty and all forms of politics, in the end, are ethical considerations.

This is why the chicken has such a precise eye and sharp gaze. It considers each and every detail. Chickens don’t make blanket statements. Their morality isn’t black and white but neither is it in shades of gray. Chickens give precision to the work of moral clarity. They describe things as they are. They understand that, because important things are at stake when it comes to ethics, that precision is necessary. Chickens see the world not in shades but as it is.

So, chickens are social leaders. They have vision. There’s a third trait of chicken people that I want to discuss.

Remember how the chicken or phoenix is the partner of the dragon? This partnership creates Venus or metal and symbolizes marriage. Marriage blankets usually have dragons and phoenixes on them. In this relationship, the phoenix is the one to organize the household and distribute resources. If the dragon and phoenix are heterosexual, then the dragon is the man and the phoenix is the woman. In a Chinese household, and we are talking about Chinese astrology here, the woman is the one who controls the money.

Chicken people are really good with money. They are good at managing a convoluted project. They are good at figuring out how to use money and how to feed people. They are organizers.

Chicken is yin metal. Yin metal is small tools but it is also jewelry and coins. Chickens are good at creating beautiful objects but also valuable objects. You can think of them as jewelers or you can think of them as organizers. Organizers are just the jewelers of relationships. Chickens bend and press relationships into different shapes just as one might artfully poise metal. They create systems for leverage, will connections into being, and do all of this without disturbing the integrity of a strand. Simply put, chicken are good at managing currency.

Chickens are fabulous and beautiful. They have maybe have a little lao ban niang energy. In a family business, the lao ban niang is the person who is in control behind the scenes and understands the people. Chickens are incredible organizers. They are both dutiful and merciful. They know almost everyone and everything.