Sentence:  This little book, with its meticulous pencil drawings of <WSD>chooks</WSD> in mechanical contraptions and photos to show the machine in operation with a white leghorn called Gregory Peck, is evidence of both the sadism inspired by the <WSD>chook</WSD>′s comparatively flightless fate and the laughter we use to defend ourselves against the knowledge of that sadism. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A chicken, especially a hen.