A recent mystery has materialized in Portland, Oregon – pink chickens have been spotted wandering around the city.

Many Portlanders have stopped to take pictures with the birds, or at least paused to puzzle the abnormal sights, but until recently, nothing was done to understand these freaks of nature.

To get to the bottom of this, Multnomah County Animal Services sought out the owner, Bruce Whitman. He described the colored chickens to be a prank – he dyed them with food coloring, beet juice and Kool-Aid in hopes of making lucky onlookers smile.

Whitman put the birds out Thursday morning and picked them up that same evening. They gained publicity from their perch in a tree on the waterfront, and in no time caught the eye of countless people.

Although Whitman pulled this prank to catch the eye of the public, he did not expect the chickens to get nearly as much attention as they did.

While only a one time event, Whitman was happy with his success in making people smile, and was glad that pink chickens could cause this unanimous reaction.