Over 1,000 people attend the coronation of 'Buffy the chicken' in England: 'This is crazy'

May 6 was a special day for Britain as the nation saw the coronation ceremony of King Charles III. However, it was also an important day for people in Gloucestershire town for another reason. About 1000 people attended the crowning of its "Coronation Chicken," named Buffy, at Cinderford's Triangle on Saturday, reports BBC. The Mayor of Cindeford Cllr Roger Sterry said that he found it hard to choose a winner from the 34 chickens that had applied for the role. Cinderford Town Crier Jermy Holland announced Buffy's victory in the race to be crowned the Coronation Chicken. 

According to Buffy's owner, Anne Lameraft, she is a Buff-Orpington Sussex cross and is "a bit of a show-off and a bit of a poser." She is reportedly one of the eight chickens Lameraft has in her small flock. Lameraft told GloucestershireLive: “It’s really exciting. I can’t believe it. I’m grinning from ear to ear. All this excitement over a little chicken."

Zoe Ball, the British radio presenter, said that her BBC2 Breakfast Show listeners had become "obsessed" with Cinderford's plan to crown a chicken. People had been reportedly contacting them ever since the news came out last week.

Buffy was crowned Queen while the big screen behind her was projecting King Charles III's Coronation ceremony and showing him leaving Westminster Abbey. Talking about the crowning of the coronation chicken, Holland, the town crier, said: "This is crazy, as soon as we have a celebrity chicken in the Triangle, we attract a crowd like this. Only in Cinderford could this happen."

He shouted while making the announcement: "Oyez, oyez, good people of Cinderford and all across our great nation, we gather here today for this moment of elation. For as in our capital, we crown King Charles III, right here in Cinderford, we too crown our bird. Hip hip hooray, hip hip hooray, hip hip hooray, well done Queen Buffy." The crowd responded with three big cheers and a clap for the crowned chicken.

In other similarly exciting news surrounding birds, recently researchers found that virtual communication could have positive effects on the well-being of parrots, according to Smithsonian Magazine. Video calls and messaging could enable parrots to connect with other birds that are geographically distant. 

A team of researchers from Northeastern University, the University of Glasgow and MIT have found that domesticated parrots that learned to engage in video chats with other parrots experienced a range of positive outcomes, including the acquisition of new skills. The researchers taught the parrots how to use tablets and smartphones to initiate video chats or calls using Facebook Messenger.

They then analyzed how the parrots used their new ability for three months. They wanted to see if the birds would connect with each other and the answer was yes. "Some strong social dynamics started appearing," said Rebecca Kleinberger, an assistant professor at Northeastern University. Not only did the birds make the call, but they apparently understood that there was a real parrot on the other side and had positive experiences.