New topic indicates a post you have not read yet. If you respond to it, it disappears from your list until someone else posts to it. Then it will show up as as having new posts. I've gotten to where I check in on unread topics. I'm here a couple of times a day and keep up with new stuff that way. If it's one I want to keep up with, I check the watch tab and then check in on my watched topics periodically. If it's one I'm really interested in, I bookmark it. Don't know about the chicken (O: