Hen Tattoos

Knowing my interest in farming and self-reliance*, Sarah sent me some photos of her hen tattoos — a pair of silver and gold Sebright Bantams to be specific. She explains that not only are chickens super-cute (“unless they’re pecking your eyes out”), but they’re also a great symbol of homesteading and independence. The tattoos were done by Tim “Timmy Tats” Sellers of Tattoo Marks Studio II in State College, PA.

* And that’s not just “my” interest — Ryan and Corrie from BMEshop have a great personal blog that you may want to add to your reading, and I can’t skip mentioning Twwly, who’s documented her own chicken raising farm life as well. It’s been my experience that at least in the earlier generation of the body modification movement, there’s a strong DIY ethic that extends into all aspects of life.

28 thoughts on “Hen Tattoos

  1. 😮 That’s exactly the placement in which I’m getting my pair of Cardinals, haha. Birds on the thighs must be popular! 😛 I like them a lot.

  2. Re “homesteading” and independence: sometimes you don’t even have to be far out of town to raise your own livestock. In Asia even in suburban areas it’s not horribly uncommon for people to raise a couple of chickens (for meat generally) in their backyards. These free-range chickens are something of a delicacy ’cause the meat tastes better than caged.

    A UK-based company called Omlet that makes cute plastic henhouses is trying to get the more squeamish/soft-hearted Westerners to do the same thing, but just for eggs, at least according to their website. (US and UK site links.) And there’s also a magazine called Backyard Poultry.

    But yeah, chickens are cute! Unfortunately the only live ones I can interact with are the White Leghorn chicks in my laboratory…

  3. oh man, and the “I’ve got two cocks in my pants!” joke will be fantastic for her! though i suppose they aren’t… but their close enough for comedy.

  4. I don’t know why, but the thought of heavily modded people collecting eggs, milking cows, making butter, or nursing babies just gives me a warm feeling that this world is not irretrievably fucked up.

    Very funny #6!

  5. this is a really lovely set of tattoos. hens can be quite cute, and these hens definitely are.

  6. You know why? Chicken thigh.
    You know what? Chicken butt!

    Sorry, that was something my friends and I shouted all the time. I love these tattoos.

  7. I love these… they bring me back to my younger years when my folks kept some chickens around for fresh eggs 🙂 They look great!

  8. I used to have two pairs of those kinds of chickens. They’re headstrong little shits XD Great eggs *mmm*

  9. “If you couldn’t kill it, you shouldn’t eat it.” this sentence contains so much truth, I wonder if there would be more vegetarians or vegans out there if people had to kill and produce the meat on their tables themselves. but the mass-production of anmials really made people forget that their sausage was once a living, feeling animal.

  10. lol @ 14. I know, why bacon, why? But anyway, gotta love the chickens, they are really sweet and funny sometimes. Thus far we havent made it to actually eating a chicken (our chicken-”protecting” dogs have saved us the bother) and just have them as funny pets that help make breakfast *if* we can find the eggs. Anyone who has kept chickens knows where the idea of the Easter egg hunt came from. I have one very small black hen who lays tiny eggs but never in the coop… Cute tattoos. I wonder how many egg related tattoos are out there? Eggs potentially representing so much…

  11. I was proud of myself for identifying the breeds of these chickens before I was told– yay for farming!

  12. Wow, love these tattoos. I’m big on bird motifs and growing your own food. The chickens look so cute!

  13. you know, if i saw her walking around with those on her legs the first thing i would tell whomever i was with is, “see that chick? she loves the cock.” and then i would giggle like a little bitch…..
    hey, im immature. thats just how i roll….
    Speedo

  14. Those are two roosters, and where are their legs?
    The sebright hens do not have the combs and wattles as pronounced as that.
    SO, go ahead and say “cock” all you want.
    Incidentely, the u.s. is the only country that calls them roosters instead of cocks.
    goes back to our puritanical days.

  15. Damn, at first my eyes told my brain i was looking at buttocks, until i realized it was a lap. ghhh. that string was wedged way up there for a couple of seconds.

  16. Since nobody had said it yet; She certainly has some “chicken legs”. I meant no harm to anyone by that comment, it just had to be said.

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