I just found this post I never published from 2015. It made me miss my chickens. A LOT. I don’t miss the 5:00 a.m. crowing. I don’t miss late night bumblefoot operations. I don’t miss giant chicken snakes (or small chicken snakes for that matter). I don’t miss chicken poop. I don’t miss panic attacks whenever I saw a stray dog, soaring hawk or prowling bobcat. I don’t miss nasty chicken waterers. I don’t miss unexpected funerals. Raccoon attacks. Rooster fights.
Remember those adorable chicks I introduced y’all to last month? Well they have been growing like crazy and were REALLY ready to bust out of their little crate alongside their mother. So I let them out to explore the world they hatched into and while doing so discovered something. Baby chickens are the most difficult thing…
I don’t think this has ever happened to me. Today, when Addie and I went to collect the eggs, we noticed there were more than usual. A LOT more. Lo and behold we began to count….1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, …….12, 13, 14, 15………21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28! Every single, chicken…
I have one little girl. Down the road there are four. And Sunday they all came over to play, I sent them to check the eggs and let the chickens out for their evening stroll. Almost immediately there were shrieks of terror and thundering footsteps. I knew before I heard a word the first snake…
I have a pecker. At least one that I know of, anyone who keeps chickens has had a pecker too. It is so maddening. My advice to people with peckers is simple. Identify the guilty party and remove them from the flock before they teach their bad habits to others. My advice is easier to…
Over a year and a half ago my flock was hit with repeated raccoon attacks resulting in multiple homicides. The crime scenes continued to grow in frequency and brutality until I was reduced to less than half the flock I once enjoyed. Then one night I awoke with a funny feeling in my chest, I…
So most walks I have all day and I’m in fabulous humor. Then there are day’s like February 18th. I was not only in a somewhat ill mood, I had to be gone from the house by 9:00 in the morning, on my day off. Which should make anyone ill in my opinion. Anyway, here…
There are roosters and there are roosters. Roosters are a lot like men. Some are tall and some are short. Some are loud, others quiet. Many are bold, others meek. Some are colorful, some dull. Some protective, some just plain…chicken. Roosters can be adorable or aggressive. Some are fluffy, others are missing a few feathers. …
Passing by the coop recently I saw some gals in the boxes performing their daily egg duties. The first hen attempted to hide behind some wisps of hay. “If I can’t see her then she can’t see me” The second hen chose the ‘pretend the lady with the camera doesn’t exist’ approach. Maybe. Its hard…
The last day of 2014 was cold, wet and just plain miserable for all intents and purposes. Except for reading on the sofa, which is how I spent most of the day. I read “Water for Elephants” for the second time. Then I started “All Creatures Great and Small” for the fourth time. James Herriot…
The Wicked Chicken 