Not Wimps, Chickens!
I have always loved them.
If you have the space, it is nice to get fresh egg, and we have often had chickens. When I was young I would sit in the barn and sing with them, watching them scratch and peck. They were such good company.
When I was 15 I worked long hours to prepare a room of our barn for 12 heritage breed chickens. I scraped, hammered, insulated and painted. My mom was worried that I would damage my knees. I chose Barred Rocks, Araucanas (they lay blue and green eggs) and Silkys. As they grew I spent a lot of time with them. One of the Araucanas was named Agnes, and I would hold her sing “O Agnes won’t you go with me” a song I learned from my mother, and she would close her eyes and ruffle her feathers.
I never got any eggs from them. A not so neighborly neighbor reported us to the County and they gave me 30 days to get rid of them. I suspect it was the rooster I was keeping with the hens that triggered the complaint, I was not very attached him and would have gladly given him away if only they had said something. Now it was too late, and I sadly shipped them off to a friend who took very good care of them.
The four chickens we have now were purchased for $1.25 each from an egg farm. They sure looked scruffy when they came, never having been outside a cage in their lives, but they are doing better now. I taught them to take a worm from my hand this afternoon, as I was moving soil out of their yard.
It is nice to be viewed as a bringer of good things.
