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It was not long ago that Chris Cunningham -- Georgia resident, president of Wife Saver, Inc., and lover of all things poultry -- decided to launch a campaign to "flip" the Georgia state bird from the brown thrasher to the humble chicken, but his cause has already attracted considerable support.

To hear Chris tell it, the entire endeavor began as a lark (sorry!): "It started as kind of a joke," he said. "I was just sitting on my porch having a couple of cocktails and watching some thrashers in my yard. We laughed about it. But the more we talked about it, the more it seemed to make sense."

Chris took his cock-amamy (yeeesh) scheme to the Wierhouse advertising agency and soon after a brilliant grassroots movement was born.

After the break, get the lowdown on Chris's egg-tremely egg-cellent (ugh) (ugh) idea.

Right off the bat, you deserve to know the truth about the brown thrasher: it sucks. Not only was the brown thrasher not the state bird until 1970, it is just an obnoxious animal:


Not convinced that the brown thresher is a huge jerk? Check out this insightful video:


Now do you get the picture? The brown thrasher is basically the Mel Gibson of the bird world.

Luckily, the case for making the chicken the Georgia state bird is incredibly compelling. I mean, just look at these chicken fun facts:

  • Georgia is the largest poultry-producing state in the country.
  • Georgia trails only the rest of the United States, China and Brazil in chicken production.
  • The poultry industry contributes more than $15 billion to the state's economy annually.
  • Georgia chicken production accounts for 16 percent of the United States' total.
  • More than 47,000 Georgia residents are directly employed by the poultry industry. More than 77,000 are indirectly employed.

Aaaaand they're delicious?!?! Oh man, is there any way for the chicken to get any better? Yup!


Just try and tell me that that doesn't fill you with pride, Georgians! Do the right thing: head on over to flipthebirds.com to sign the petition to elect the chicken as state bird.


Thanks to Matt R. for the tip!