Monday, August 16, 2010

Why Chickens? Not enough room for a camel!

I think that I shall one day own a camel if the opportunity (and finances) presents itself. I think they are beautiful and I would love to have one as a friend. But since we don't have the room or the $30,000.00 to buy one (there is a licensed breeder in Franklinton, one of only two in the US- there's my sign!) chickens seemed the next best choice.

I grew up on the stories my mom told about her pet chickens, especially a rooster who never grew all his adult feathers and her cousin Bobby named "Double Ugly". Despite her propensity for violence and  willingness to fight anyone who called him that, the name stuck. My grandparents failed to realize just how attached to him little Linda was until he met his maker and found his way to the dinner table. No dummy she, little Linda put 2 and 2 together and raised such a fuss and cried so hard that Double Ugly got buried rather than eaten. Another senseless death....don't worry, our girls are safe!

Fast forward many decades and I became enamored with the idea of having chickens. I've always liked birds and except for a few years here and there have always had birds- parakeets, cockatiels, finches. Our last bird, Rudy, died about 4 years ago. Will was willing to talk about it and soon could be found searching the Internet for different breeds of chickens, looking at houses, runs and chicken tractors. We planned on getting chicks in April, but our plans were derailed by two separate events.

Our friends and neighbors decided to put their house on the market and we felt that having a chicken coop (which is the house and the run) next door might discourage prospective buyers. So we put off getting chicks for a few months. In April my mom died and life as I knew it ended. Then in early May there was an article in the N&O about the annual "Henside the Beltline Tour de Coop" and I remembered how much I was looking forward to having my own coop before the world went pear-shaped. So Will and I went on the tour and by the end of the afternoon we were hooked and making plans.

By June 5th we had 6 chicks and here we are in August, only a week or two away from the comets laying eggs. We can't wait!

1 comment:

  1. I know where there is a pen with stable just waiting for a quadruped.....

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