Open Thread – Something’s a-Fowl.
~photo by Heather Aronno
So, what’s the savvy Anchorage dweller into these days? Urban chickens, my friend. Pampered personal poulets. The Municipality of Anchorage has just legalized chickens – up to five of them per household. They’re good for fresh eggs, or … umm… chicken. And since Alaska is pretty cut off from the rest of the nation, should we ever have a national emergency like if the sky was falling, having chickens is a great way to ensure your own food security.
But the most fun about the coverage of this particular pastime is the meeting of three great people to tell the tale. Heather Aronno of Alaska Pulbic Radio Network met up with Peggy Wilcox and Theo Graber, two of Anchorage’s most enthusiastic chicken keepers. They’ve crafted a bungalow for their feathered friends, and yes… they even have a live chicken cam!
You can read or listen to Aronno’s report HERE.
And if you want to take a peek and see what Peggy and Theo’s chickens are up to, you may behold the chicken cam HERE.
My now-grown sons still laugh over my SILs chickens… We were visiting SIL and BIL one summer — they had a huge chicken yard out back. The nesting boxes were in an old 6-horse stable (making one ‘side’ of the yard) and there was an 9′-high fence running out from the structure on either end for 25-30′, and across the ‘front’ of the space. There were 9 really scrawny trees in the yard. And 3-dozen none-too-bright chickens.
One hot August afternoon, the biddies were out pecking away in the dirt and up came a cloud. A big one. The skies opened up and the rain started a’pouring down. 10 hens ran to the stable, but all the other hens gathered up under the trees. Sadly, the trees offered no protection from the downpour, being more limbs and height than leafs. We watched as the girls made mad dashes towards the stable, got half way there, looked up at the sky!, and turned around to go back under the trees. Again and again and again.
Every three or four mad dashes towards shelter, one of the hens would forget to look up, and she’d continue on to the stable; the others, of course, would take a gander at the sky and high-tail it back under the trees. And so it continued, every two minutes or so, for a good twenty minutes — their stubby little chicken legs churning as fast as they could go but their stubby little chicken brains thwarting their efforts to get out of the rain.
The sun came back out before the majority of them ever made it to the stables…they just stood there in the muddy yard, all bedraggled with bright light shining on them, and pretended as if that, scampering back and forth in the rain, had been their intention all along. Leastwise, that’s the haughty vibe they gave off to us, as we sat on the back porch doubled over in laughter at their antics. beth.
AHhh Beth..beautifully told..thank you. 🙂
I’ve met those chickens in real life!
Speaking of chickens….here’s something thought-provoking:
http://scienceblogs.com/casaubonsbook/2011/07/the_high_cost_of_restaurant_cu.php
I used to watch Nigella Lawson cook on tv. Nice bit of fluff and calorie conscious sne was,too. The more cream and butter and lard you could use,the better.
I don’t have any interesting chicken stories (other than helping my sister muck out her chicken coop after a very long and wet western Washington spring…pee-yooo!), but I do have a goose story.
When I was just a wee little girl (about a year and a half), my family took a walk to the local duck pond. It was cold and I was in a snowsuit, toddling around after the ducks. A big goose apparently took offense at my presence (perhaps she didn’t like the color of my outfit?), got a good chunk of the seat of my snowsuit in her beak and started shaking me. She was yanking me back and forth so hard (and I was such a peanut that I weighed next to nothing) that my family had a hard time grabbing me and rescuing me from her evil clutches. I have only very misty memories of that event and I have never been afraid of geese since then so it must have been far less traumatic for me than for my family who thought I was about to be tossed into the pond!
Afternoon thundershowers have past, leaving the forest cooler and refreshed. The frogs are just cranking up the evening chorus.
2 more chicken bits:
Littlebird’s once upon a time favorite movie, Chicken Run.
(Still love the clay-mation, but can’t say the same for Mel Gibson. What a disappointment he is.)
and another great picture book, ~~ Rooster’s Off to See the World by Eric Carle
(I like ANY thing Eric Carle! Hungry caterpillars, anyone?)
When staff members in my school have babies, we have a tradition of contributing to a library for them. We donate books and present the new moms with a beautiful basket that gives them lots of things to read to their new little angels. This past year, three staff members had babies and I donated a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar for each of the baskets. Gotta love a book with that much color!
http://juneauempire.com/state/2011-07-06/state-withdraws-decision-renew-permit-coal-mine-amid-alaska-native-opposition
Breathe a bit easier for a bit but don’t let down your guard, Chickaloon.
Here’s more on Michele “Batsh*t” Bachmann, and her sorta-fake Iowa roots:
http://www.truth-out.org/bachmann-lies-about-her-family-history-sound-more-iowan/1309970045
Wonder how her MN constituents will feel about this!
Thanks for the link, Zyxomma! That made me laugh and hoot as well.
Sure helped wipe the taste of Sen. Hatch’s comment out of my mind.
What a treat that was – footnoted and well-written. I, too, loved the way the article ended. She’d better hope she doesn’t have to face the MN voters again.
And we don’t pump oil for energy,it is just to create high paying jobs for rill Mericans who emigrated from Mexico since the 1980’s. The hospital in Cherokee,Iowa where I was born was torn down yerars ago so I can’t prove I was born.
Love the topic – have lots of memories of our family raising turkeys and leghorn chickens and next door, my aunt raised “bantie” chickens).
Was just listening the afternoon political pundits shows on MSNBC as I settled down to check email after a ride with hubby on his bike to check a kiln where he’s firing a load of crystalline pottery. Won’t know how much comes out until tomorrow (crystalline has a 50 to 60 percent failure rate).
However, what I heard shocked me so much just had to share it. I don’t think I can quite bear the stupidity of it by mself:
Senator Hatch said that “the poor need to bear part of the pain)” of the debt burden
Good freaking grief – how out ot touch is that man? What a creepy, insensitive, and totally insane thing to say. The poor always bear the burden of pain regardless how the economy is doing, but when it is going south, they are devastated. The middle class is slipping away as it is, but at least the middle class understands the pain of those less fortunate. Why can’t the wealthy?
Rethugs don’t seem to think that the wealthy need to share the pain.If they can cut the budget through eliminating spending for the poor and elderly,any savings will be given to the wealthy as more taxcuts,so we won’t gain anything except the wealthy few will be wealthier.
What an interesting topic! Whodda thought the subject of “chickens” would produce so many fun stories!
I got my Cappers magazine today and wouldn’t you know it,there is a story in there on how to protect your flock from predators. My idea of a machine gun nest in the gazebo apparently didn’t meet their approval. They have had several articles on chicken raising in urban areas and they also stated that birthdays are good for you. The more you have,the longer you live. Who knew?
When I was in the Peace Corps in Honduras, I rnted two adjoining rooms in a very large compound owned by a lady who was the town’s most prominent shopkeeper. My rooms faced into a large patio where laundry was washed and hung out, and where the family chickens roamed. The cock of the walk was an incredibly hot-tempered rooster who would peck my ankles (I still have some scars) whenever I ventured outside. He was sort of a chicken rapist – he’d jump the skinny, nervous hens without warning and do his worst. And his clarion crowing started right around three in the morning. Because of the constant heat, I often wouldn’t get to sleep till after midnight, so I think my Peace Corps term was one of prolonged sleep deprivation. I absolutely hated that rooster, and would often lie awake in my hammock, dreaming of ways to kill him. There was no henhouse per se – the poor girls were left on their own, and I’d often come back from a long day in the field to find that they had gotten into my room and were perched on the backs of my chairs. I remember my last day, and that sucker was crowing as I headed out the door and up to the bus. He outlasted me, but it was only because I was never brave enough to put my plans into action.
Easter time (1949) when I was in the 4th grade began my chicken experience. Our local dime store had pretty pastel chicks under lights in the front window for 10 cents each. I proudly counted out my 3 dimes and picked the prettiest ones in the window. I took them home to a horrified mother who told me to go to Dad! We had chickens, pigs and a milk cow during the war when “I was younger”….4 years earlier, so everything was there for my brood. I spent a lot of time watching them grow and turn white before my eyes!
They loved to spend the hours in mom’s garden. They soon discovered the lady 2 doors down had a garden, also, too. However, that lady didn’t appreciate my friends scratching around her garden. It was my job to keep them within the confines of our fence-less yard! One day I was at the house between our homes, visiting with the lady and playing with her small baby, foisted on her hip while we played. When I heard Mrs. Able yelling at my pets, I went running over to retrieve them. They saw me coming and the two little hens went scouring head first to our yard. Now, Mr Rooster was not too keen making a quick exit so I was in hot persuit after him chasing him in that direction. In the “babies” yard, he decided he didn’t want to go home and proceeded to run in a circle! Picture a lightbulb over my…. I decided to cut thru the circle and cut him off at the pass. Much to my surprise, it was he who was now chasing me! He was not a happy chicken and when I stopped, he proceeded to jump on my back in his anger! I lost my footing and down I went…we where in hot pursuit on a slope. I was laughing up to that point and suddenly let out a scream. I laid on the ground in pain emanating from my lower leg! Lady and baby came running to me. She helped me up and I couldn’t stand on my leg. Now she has baby on one hip and me on the other and she takes me home.
A few hours later I was in the hospital with the doctor putting a cast on my leg and foot. I had a green-stick fracture from my ankle to my knee! I was shown how to walk on crutches but spent the next several days in bed in horrible pain. Only using the crutches to go to the bathroom. It was hot Aug and the cast was killing me! School soon started and I had become very proficient maneuvering the crutches up and down the long school steps. After 4 weeks, the doctor added a rubber bumper to the bottom so I could navigate without the crutches…even riding my bike.
Just before the accident happened, I got a pair of red strap shoes for school…no they weren’t red Monkey Pumps! I had dreamed of them from the first day they were on display at our store. The first day of school I wanted to wear them, naturally! Mom suggested I wait, but I just HAD to wear them the first day with my new dress. It was a tradition!
The day came to get the cast off. It felt like I didn’t have a lower leg when the cast came off and like the leg just wanted to float up in the air. I had carried my other shoe to the doctors office with me. The doctor handed me my new shoe to keep my leg from “floating” and handed me my crutches to use for a day or two because the leg hurt to stand on it without my cast. I looked down at my shoes and started to cry….one new shoe and one old shoe, listing to the left and scuffed, looked up at me. Mom was right again!
While laying in bed that first week, I suddenly realized I didn’t hear the chickens clucking in the yard. Mom explained that Dad had taken the chickens down to the hatchery/produce store and sold them. She handed me $3 they paid Dad for them. Now I was 10 and that was the most money I ever had at one time. I was very mad at that rooster for breaking my leg and it was a healing moment for me.
Somewhere in the mix, I didn’t realize the next three Sundays in a row we had very good fried chicken dinner! Years later I realized my 30 cent investment cost my dad $3….1/10th his income that month. Guess my parents tithed in me that month! 🙂
Thus ended my chicken raising crazy days. I still think chicken is my favorite food, but has never been the same quality of those three Sunday feasts years ago. Mom really was the best chicken fryer I ever knew! I’m too old to chase chickens out of neighbors garden now (72) so I will leave the free-range duties to you younger folks. If I’m ever in Anchorage on Sunday, I might pop in for dinner!
When I had chickens on the homestead,we heated the water in the winter,but the birds provided their own heat. The old chicken house was not insulated at all. We put storm windows on in the winter and just used screens in the summer. During the days in spring through first snowfall,the hens had free range,including my garden. They sure loved ripe tomatoes and when those were gone went after green tomatoes. They ate a zillion crickets,grasshoppers,mice and baby birds as well as regular laying mash that we would grind ourselves. Sold eggs to neighbors for years at 50 cents a dozen and some years you couldn’t give them away. Raised broilers for eating and when the layers were two years old we gave them to anyone who wanted to butcher them. Made great chicken and noodles. One year we had an immature red-tail hawk killed five hens in five days and ate just a part of each one. It would sit on the ground and wrap its wings around its prey when we walked by. I got a few pictures with my old polaroid camera.
Years ago an old man told me he was taught by Alaska Natives to raise a crow chick with the flock of chickens.
According to our native peoples, the crow will be a better watch dog than any other to prevent predators.
I let my cocker spaniel help raise my chicks – he is *the best* mother hen!
One of my favorite memories was going to my Aunt’s chicken coop every morning to get the eggs. That was on the southside of Bellingham.
Love the post; and heaven help us, am wondering if our town is going to jump on that bandwagon. We’ll see, I guess.
Have to tell you, I have the “coop cam” open in another window, but didn’t realize there was sound, too! Forgetting about the coop cam, I could not figure out 1) what the noise was, nor 2) where in the heck it was coming from! Felt pretty silly once I noticed that window still open.
Nan
When I lived in Kona, it was fun hearing the neighborhood roosters crow every morning. – Wow. This is going to happen in Anchorage? Looking forward to it. Wonder if any of my downtown neighbors will get chickens? (I live in an apartment). = I use to live on a ranch in WA state, and had all kinds of farm animals, so I enjoy the animal sounds.
Polly- The Chicken Bungalow is not far off from 5th Avenue in downtown Anchorage. Shoot me an e-mail at chickenbungalow(at)gmail.com and I’ll tell you where they are if you would like to come visit the chickens.
Keeping chickens is a fast-growing component of urban farming (along with roof gardens and such). In my neighborhood, long ago, if one heard a rooster greeting the dawn, it was a bird intended for sacrifice in a Santeria ritual. How times have changed! I eat neither eggs nor flesh, so no chickies for me, even if I had the land.
It’s a peaceful morning in the garden for me. I have to work closing shift tonight so I’m saving my energy for that. Yesterday I visited Chadwick Arboretum at OSU. They have a master gardener program I am planning on applying to. After the coursework, students are required to put in 50 hours at the arboretum for certification, so I thought I would scope it out.
I’m off work tomorrow as well. Have a wonderful day all.
I Heart Master Gardeners!
and apprentice gardeners also, too. 🙂
Former President Clinton spoke yesterday about what he says is “one of the most pervasive political movements going on outside Washington today”. He’s referring to all of the new legislation that is being put in place by Republicans to limit access to voting, and he calls them out for deliberately trying to skew elections.
Clearly, the Republicans are worried that the only way they can win elections is to cheat and prevent the ‘wrong kind’ of people from voting. So much for the ‘freedom and liberty’ they’re always crowing about. I suppose they’d love it if we went back to the days when only white male landowners were permitted to vote.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/07/07/262400/clinton-war-on-voting-jim-crow/
Happy Statehood Anniversary Alaska!!
I had an anniversary a few days ago.. Moved to Alaska 7 years ago!! Wow it seems like I’ve been here a lot longer!!
Hugs and loves Ann!
Seven years? Sweeeeeet.
Don’t blink sister, there is alot more to come.
Just remember, when you happen to grin, sometimes a tear squeezes out.
And at the end of the day, its all good.
I grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and now live in rural Oregon (real, real rural!). We got six Araucana hens (they lay blue-green eggs) last Spring. Chickens are very entertaining to watch and there is NOTHING like a fresh egg!
This new law Anchorage has passed is a great opportunity folks!
I’m excited for Anchorage folk who want to have fresh eggs.
I have 4 chickens and have had up to 7. Four is the perfect amount for my little family.
In my home village they keep between 12 to 16, near the community generator.
My chicken coop rests on four old snowgo skis. I make the kids slide it all around the yard in the summer. In the winter we move it strickly around the garden area. The poo is really good stuff for the garden.
Basically the plywood coop, which is painted blue, is the size of a large chest freezer. The fence is separate and basically a 10′ x 10′ box, that is between 5 and 6 feet high. Think of it as a box upside down over the chicken coop. This is a must considering the hawks and owls seem to lick their beaks when they see the chickens.
You know I don’t eat eggs. Never have. I do use them in baking. My family members do like eggs and really enjoys them for breakfast.
I can’t tell you when I last purchased eggs at a store.
We use our chickens for egg production rather than meat production. We have rabbits for meat production. It seems like chickens and rabbits can be protected from birds of prey. I tried to raise ducks and geese but the birds of prey will nab every duckling.
Good for Anchorage!
Hi, Tallimat! Sounds like you have your chickens all under good management! How clever of you to put the coop on sno-go skis! And to move the coop around, but to concentrate in the garden in the winter.
I remember Ann Strongheart telling of her husband bringing her home a Valentine’s present of a dozen eggs that cost $20 in the nearest village (Emmonak, I think). How do you keep them warm? You mentioned that in your home village that chickens were kept near the generator, but it sounds like yours is a moveable one. This is interesting – thanks for the post!
Morning tigerwine,
I don’t think I saw a live chicken till my village got a few chicks. They looked like gull hatchlings!
Back in the village, the generator building has electricity going to the coop. Inside are three heat lamps and four (or five) heated dog watering bowls that draw electricity. It is a pretty nice coop. Set up with two living spaces. While one space is being used, the other left empty for community members to gather the poo and use in their gardens. There used to be a compost pile near the coop, but the last few years there hasn’t been enough poo for the pile to grow. Like the eggs, the poo is in demand.
We live off the grid. So yeah, I’ve a solar panel, purchased at a auto parts store no less… that produces enough juice for 1 heat lamp and a heated dog water bowl.
As embarassing as this may sound, I will add that our chicken coop and rabbit hutch are pretty nice, totally COMPLETED buildings. Both have roofing, metal siding and “plumbing” that is better than our own shelter.
The rabbit hutch, on old ATV wheels, has 3 heat lamps, 3 heated water bowls and a electrical outlet. I can plug in a radio and listen to the Shannyn Moore show (yeah Shannyn, I listen to you with a device plugged into a rabbit hutch… LOL). This year the hutch is over last years garden compost pile. (Ah, I got about 6 different compost piles going on.)
Anyway, like I mentioned, I’m not too fond of eggs. But I will raise chickens for the eggs, cause once you learn how easy it is to raise a healthy coop, its kinda a no brainer.
My sister is allergic to cats. So when she visits, the kids put the house cat in the rabbit hutch. The cat and rabbits sleep together. Then again, my house cat will sleep next to any warm body.
Tigerwine,
I believe it was $20 for 5 dozen 😉 had it been that per dozen I think I would have given up eggs! LOL
ANN! Hi!! I swear I remember $20/per dozen because all of us were aghast. My bad!
Still, $4 ain’t cheap either. They are getting expensive down here, too. Could you have raised chickens where you were?
There are a number of us in the bush, both in Bristol Bay and up north near Barrow, that are raising chickens. Mostly for eggs but a few for meat.
A favorite chicken tale from my days as the traveling story-lady.
Rosie the Hen Went for a Walk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIQDo0n4mLk
I used the book and had the little ones help me with the sound effects. 🙂
Now I’ve got chores and sunshine waiting, but I bet I’ll have more chicken links before the thread is cold.
L’Shalom,
thatcrowwoman
thatcrowwoman…. what a sweet little video, thank you for the tip, I will be sharing it with ggs, he likes our “babychicks”, which gives all of our family hours of entertainment. He introduces himself to the chicks, feeds and waters them, shows compassion for them…(they are all hens).
Speaking of chickens, reminds me when we had chickens. our children were young at the time, and living in town, this is something that we were the only ones in the neighborhood that had them.
Our kids thought it was great to visit them out in our shelter house –where they were kept, and thought it so much fun to collect the eggs.
Our family had a lot of fun having the 3 chickens and a rooster. The rooster would crow early in the morning, and also made a visit to our next-door neighbor’s house and ended up in their basement. That was a scary moment when the woman of the house went to her basement to wash clothes and find Mr Rooster . The kids had to made a trip next-door to get him.
But my husband and I think the most funny thing was when my husband decided to put a dozen eggs in the nest, so that when the kids would collect the eggs, they would be soooooo excited to find a dozen eggs ( we only had three hens)
When we told our friends this story, we couldn’t believe that a few in the crowd , didn’t get the JOKE!
Dahhhhh!
If you sit quietly while the hens are making small talk amongst themselves,you will hear the first name of an American politician,bandied about. Whom do lady chickens speak of? Why none other than-Baraaaaaack,Barrrrack. Its true I tell you.
{{{{{mike}}}}}
and the National Education Association has already endorsed President Obama for re-election in 2012, also, too. ( I have a few bones to pick with him about vouchers and charter schools, but at least he believes in public education…)
Another Chicken Story: When we lived in Bethel, AK, we found out that you could order just about anything through the mail. One day, just before Easter, we heard cheeping at the Post, Office, and, sure enough, there were 200 chicks driving PO personnel nuts. To us, it was a cheerful reminder that Easter was near, but I can understand how it must have been to listed to them all day!
I have to out-do That Crow Woman on her chicken stories!
Several years ago, a friend of ours, a veterinarian, went to drop of some stuff at the local dump, and heard “peeping” coming from a big plastic bag. He opened it up and nearly fainted from the smell)it was summer in FL). But there were lots of chicks still alive, so he cleaned them up and presented them to us. Well, we soon found out that the chicks came from a nearby hatchery, and the reason they were disposed of was because they were males. Roosters!
Well, we fed them, let them get nice and big, and one day when the kids were in school, my husband butchered them. Let me tell you, his hands were so soft from the oil in the feathers I envied him.
We didn’t try to fry them, knowing they were probably to big for that, but they sure did make good
“Rooster and Dumplings”, “Rooster Soup” and ‘Rooster Salad”. My kids still request those traditional family recipes when the come home!
Top that one, Crow Woman! (Welcome back from LA!!)
Rooster and dumplings?!
I can taste it. DH Happy’s mum, of blessed memory, made the best, and my mama makes the best gravy.
Hey, Happy! What’s for dinner?
Rooster-or cockerel chicks-are the poor and middle class chicken substitutes for Americans under Rethuglican rule. They have no value,are given zero consideration and are callously discarded. Some hatcheries send them through a grinder(alive) to make pet food. Others just throw them in the garbage,there is little money in non-broiler cockerels.
Slide monster David Hamburger and the Chicken Blues:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnFF3i63ZBs
I’ve even tried singing these to Mr. Cuddles, as DH Happy calls our rooster.
Mr. Cuddles still attacks. Walk softly and carry a big…rake. It’s our pas de deux.
I call him many things, but mostly bad bad Leroy Brown. This one’s going out to Mr. Cuddles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjPCg5HtH1E
meaner than a junk yard dog!
I am loving your chicken and rooster stories! They are reminding me of my favorite novel: Mama Day by Gloria Naylor. Mama Day had chickens she would threaten with turning them into stew. Now I have to go reread that book again.
I remember a story from back in third or fourth grade where chickens ruled the world because the other critters were led to believe a chicken’s comb was fire and they would get burnt. Anyone else remember that stor?. It may have been a Maguffy primer because we were just learning to read.
Alaska releases emails from Palin’s 1st month in office that were missing from prior release
JUNEAU, Alaska — The state of Alaska on Wednesday released an additional 54 pages of emails from Sarah Palin’s first month as governor.
http://www.washingtonpost.com
The best thing is, nobody seems to care!
R’amen!
I can’t be the only one with an interest in heritage breeds & seeds. Here’s the chicken link!
http://www.albc-usa.org/heritagechicken/cpl_chickenbreeds.html
But I can’t grow anything worth squat. Except for poison ivy and nasty prickly invasive species. They love me, I hate them.
Littlebird got the makings of her second flock from a breeder in the northwest. The box of 30 “mixed” chicks was shipped to our local post office. They called us as soon as the box got in so we could get them home quick and get them water and put them under a warming light.
It was lots of fun watching the grow and trying to figure out what breeds we had. Some had feathery feet. Many colors and patterns. Brown eggs. White eggs. Big and little…
a small flock of hens makes a great parent/child science lesson that just keeps going and growing…
Roosters crowing in the morning is a beautiful sound. Of course, I have just one rooster with my hens so there’s no competition. Love my chickens and my fresh eggs. I have a couple of customers who do as well. My extras go to the Food Pantry in town where I imagine that they love them too. When my grandsons visit from the city, the chicken house is one of their favorite places.
ps….I dooooooooo not eat them.
Chickens, that is. I am on a roll this morning. Better just quit!
I have been known to eat chicken on a roll, myself, as I remind our bad rooster with some frequency.
😉
Here’s the late great Francois and his favorite hen before the great raccoon massacre of 2009.
lovely birds, they were
http://imageshack.us/f/411/francoisfriend.jpg/
They could teach the resident rooster some manners! But then again, he hasn’t lost a hen yet to raccoon nor hawk nor possum nor snake (it did get a couple of eggs before it was relocated across the road), nor dog, nor cat, nor coyote, nor fox, nor bear…nor hungry human, so I suppose he is a paragon of rooster-hood. I just wish he’d leave me alone when I peg out the wash!
Howling Wolf & Yardbirds – Little Red Rooster:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9-gjSUF4PQ
You got me started on the chickens, y’all.
Here we go…Remember these?
**The sky is falling!
**”Who will help me sow the wheat?….thresh the grain?….. bake the bread?….I’ll have to do it myself,” said the little red hen, and she did.
hahahahaha caw caw caw caw
The comment about the “great racoon massacre”..strikes a chord here..for sure. One of our older..little red hens has a lovely ..ziggyity white neck line design..and it ain’t Pearls..good folks! After 4 and a half days..trying to live..after son the first foiled the attack..she survived to this day..now carrying her new name..vet that she is..with wisdom and bravado: Slash! …;)
What fine handsome rooster Francois was!
Francois was a beauty. Great photo.
You’ve never eaten a Grandson?
Not yet, but there is always the first time!
This is interesting because the medium sized city I live in is about to okay chicken
habitation in town. I’m excited. The only thing that gives me pause is a rooster crowing
at five in the morning. Hmmmm.
If you have bright moonlight,a rooster may crow at all hours of the night.
Oh, indeed, Mike, just indeed. Ours ‘go off’ between 3 and 4 am, but I don’t seem to even hear them anymore If I do happen to hear them (sleepless night or bad pain night,) I find them comforting. Chickens. too, can be quite vocal at times, squaking noisily as a group, and then becoming silent.
Sweet poulette eggs coming soon…August, I think, from the new chickens. Can’t wait!
I raised layers from day old chicks and one year they started laying at just over three months,but,usually figure four months. Had Gold Star pullets(iowa spelling) and they laid nice brown eggs. We got quite a few double-yoke,jumbo size eggs from them until they were about a year old and then they laid large eggs.
Hopefully, people will limit themselves to hens. No need for a rooster if you are primarily looking for eggs.
Many municipalities allow chickens, but not roosters. If your pen has a chicken-wire cover, the rooster is superfluous anyway (unless you want to let a broody hen hatch a nest-full). You’ll still get plenty of (non-fertilized) eggs, and the hens aren’t nearly so noisy.
That being said, there are dogs around here that make more noise than our big bad rooster.
And car alarms, also, too. Rooster noise, I’ve grown accustomed to it.
Good thing, because the mockingbirds around here have learned how to crow like our rooster and bark like a yappy dog down the road. The mockingbirds are Singing it, but the Rooster Yells. They all get wound up in call and response, and our rooster just Will have the last word, stubborn old bird. it’s like an echo, or that fade-away at the end of a song on the radio. 🙂
But jump in the way back machine with me. It’s the summer of 1967. We’re sitting on the mountain overlooking the lights of town below. Searching the dial of my little transistor radio…here we go
There’s a Kind of Hush
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gatIk3z9a7Y
(Relax, Mr$. P, it’s not Paul Revere and the Raiders. It’s Herman’s Hermits!)
hahahaha caw Caw CAW CAW CAW!
thatcrowwoman
Mockingbirds will be the death of me, but I thank God the few around me still just sing birdsong!
I was right there in the vision with you, TCW – love that song.
Love my hens, too; I’ve been an Anchorage Hen Outlaw for so many years, I won’t know what to do with my legal self.
[The law said you couldn’t have an animal cage, except for dogs, in a yard with it being less than 100 feet from the fence line. You could have free-range chickens in your yard, so mine had their roost in the garage.]
Good thing for you that Mockingbirds don’t attack you like your rooster.