Once Tina started to raise them, I began to learn quite a bit about them, from seeing them in the yard free ranging, seeing them in the coops as I stood at the doors chatting with Tina, or listening to her sides of the conversations when others called her for advice or opinions. Like everything else she gets involved in, she does her research, takes classes, and knows what she is doing and does it well. She took classes from the State Vet to become certified to administer blood testing for NPIP testing. I was surprised by the things I saw, and learned. The main thing?
If chickens were six feet tall, we might not be the dominate species on the planet.
Think Velociraptors. 
The other thing, I began to understand where all the common sayings in our daily speech came from:
Pecking Order:
There is a hierarchy in the coop. The more senior the hens are, the higher (literally) they sit on the roosts at night, and they are in CHARGE in the runs and in the yards when free ranging. For example: a younger hen tries to move up a rung on the angled ladder like roost at night. The hen on the 2nd rung pecks her, knocking her off the 2nd tier and she falls to the ground and has to fly back up to her position on the first rung. She hasn't earned her position any higher up the roost. As older hens pass, or younger hens age and gain seniority, they move higher up the roost. New hens are nesting on the lower rungs. If young hens get too close to older hens with chicks, they get... pecked to learn their place. Pecking Order.
Cock of the Walk.
Roosters, called Cocks, have a pecking order as well. Cocks have their hens they breed. The Cock of the Walk rules the roost... the other roosters steer clear of him and he walks with his head held high and yields to no one. Younger roosters in descending order of seniority lay claim to the remaining hens. If a rooster mistreats his hens or isn't taking care of his group, another senior rooster will discipline HIM and take his hens. I once saw a younger rooster chasing a hen and as he came around the corner of the coop, the hen ran past the Cock of the Walk and stopped. The younger rooster turned on a dime as if he was never chasing the hen and ran behind a shrub and started scratching as if looking for grubs. You don't mess with the "Cock of the Walk."
Mean ol' Biddy
Biddy hens are the older hens and they can get testy. Miss Tina went out of town and ALL I had to do was take the eggs out of the coop for the five days she was gone. She had auto waterers, and automatic feeders. I'd go out in the afternoons and pick up the eggs from the nest boxes. There were SIX nest boxes in the coop... the hens fought over two. One hen would be sitting in the favorite box laying an egg, and two would be standing in front of the box clucking and pacing waiting for that box so they could go. (Reminding me of the women in line at the bathrooms at any event I've ever attended.) Mind you there are four or five EMPTY nest boxes... unused. The two favorite boxes would have ten to fifteen eggs in each at the end of the day. The Mean old biddy would sometimes be in the box when I went out. If it was another hen you could reach under them and pull out the eggs already there... they would sit there, eyes glazed, and let you do what you wanted... they didn't care. The biddy would HISS and scream at you like a pterodactyl. If you didn't heed the warning, she would peck the crap out of your hand, wrist and / or arm, drawing blood. The eggs could wait, I always chose to come back later.
There are many more sayings that have basis in the coops and actions of the flock, I just can't think of them now... Anyone?
