Why did the chicken cross the road? Or did the chickens even cross the road at all? Is there fowl play afoot? One thing that we know for sure is that the chickens on campus are disappearing.

Just by looking around, it is obvious that the number of chickens on campus is thinning. When was the last time you were awakened in class by the rooster’s crow. When was the last time you saw someone breaking up a cockfight?

Fewer and fewer people have noticed mother hens hiding in the bushes. When was the last time you saw or heard a chicken on campus?

It became clear I should do some investigating of my own.

Talking to students on campus it became clear that I wasn’t alone in my fear for the chickens. Every individual interviewed seems to agree that this campus is losing its chicken population.

People had differing opinions, but the same disgust for what little is being done to investigate our loss.

Some like Mike Dickerson, a sophomore psychology major, said that there are many homeless around Sacramento State and they might be eating them.

It was also argued that perhaps Burger King is the culprit.

Salvador Elizarraz, a senior history major, blames the biology department.

One prevailing theory was that the flightless chickens migrated for the winter.

It seems that no one knows for sure where they have gone too.

I heard several students mention that they saw chickens crossing University Avenue This seemed to be the most likely conclusion. I decided to investigate further.

The notion of migrating chickens was quickly extinguished with a call to Dr. Dudley Burton, chair of the environmental studies department .

Burton made it clear that chickens do not leave their home range. He said that this campus is an ideal place for chickens and once they have found a home they will die before they leave.

“The chickens have found a home,” Burton said.