Chickens Don't Believe in a Hill of Dirt

Once upon a time - no wait, that's been done. There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. No, that's not right either.

There once was a country woman who lived in town. Not downtown, but not the country either. To her it was just town. Not a large city and not a village. Just town. This isn't where she wanted to live, but one day she had said to her husband, "We should own our own home. (They were renting in the country you see.) But we can't afford a place in the country so we should buy a house in town. After we live there for five years, we can build enough equity to sell it and buy a place in the country." It was all a lie, but the woman believed it to be true. So they bought their home in town and nearly twenty years later, they were still there.

The woman gave up on her dream to ever move back to the country and decided to have some of the country in town. Luckily they owned a large lot by modern standards and had room for things like a dove cage,

 a fish pond and a garden. Her husband was happy for her to have all these things, but the woman wanted one thing more. She wanted chickens.

Many years ago when she lived in the country,  she had chickens - lots of chickens. She had bantam breeds and laying hens and meat chickens. She would cross breed her Cochins to see if Black and White made Blue. She enjoyed the fresh eggs. She would even kill some for meat. Why did she like chickens? Who knows, maybe it was because her mother was born in a chicken coop during the depression.

Now the woman knew that her husband loved her very much and would give her anything she wanted. So she told her husband, "I want some chickens." And the husband said, "No, we live in town. You can't have chickens. They are too noisy and the rooster will crow and make the neighbors very unhappy."

The woman replied, "I don't want a rooster. I want hens to lay fresh eggs and create manure for the garden. We will never be without something to eat because we will have eggs." She explained that she only wanted three. One would be lonely. Two would keep each other company. But if one died, she would only have one. No, she wanted three.

And because her husband was a wonderful man, he said yes. So then they needed a coop. At first she was going to just put them in the garden; but as she thought about it, she knew they needed a roost at night; shelter from the heat, cold or wind; and a place to lay their eggs. Oh, they also needed water and feed. This was getting more complicated. She enlisted the help of her husband and her husband being a gracious man agreed to build a coop and fenced run. She would help him of course.

Because it was not early spring, there were no baby chicks to be bought and she would have to order some. She looked at an online free ad page and found some Sexlink pullets (young hens just starting to lay). Sexlinks are chickens that can be easily sexed as chicks because males and females have different coloring. They were $15 each, but she would not have to raise baby chicks and they would start laying right away. So she bought the hens. They were a beautiful red and white color. There was just one problem - the coop was not built yet. So she put them in the dove cage. At which time she encountered another problem - the chickens didn't stay on the ground; they flew up on the doves roosting branches and SCARED THEM ALMOST TO DEATH!

She needed a coop right away. So she and her husband thought hard about the coop and drew plans. Then they went shopping. They came home with an aluminum storage shed that measured 3feet deep, 5 feet high, and 8 feet long. They worked hard all day on that coop. Then they built a run out of EMT and enclosed it with chicken wire.

The woman and her husband were very tired, but she was very, very happy.

Now it was ready for her chickens. The chickens had a new home and all seemed right...

 

A month or two went by and the couple went on vacation. The woman's mother agreed to care for her chickens, the garden, and the cat. The two dogs could take care of themselves.

 

One day while they were on vacation, the woman received a call from her mother. Her mother was very upset. The chickens had escaped! She could only find one and she feared the others were dead. The next day she found one more in the garden, but it was badly injured.

 

The woman came home to face the fact that she only had two chickens now. See it was a good thing that she bought three. Then the day came when the dogs dug under the run fence and got another chicken. They killed it too. The woman was very upset! She wanted to kill the dogs, but she didn't.

  

Time went by and the remaining hen was lonely. Chickens are flock birds and she had no flock. A friend heard of the woman's plight and offered her a Silkie hen and her babies. Silkies are interesting chickens with their black skin and top knot of feathers so she accepted. It turned out that those babies were all grown up and two of them were roosters. They would crow in the middle of the night. Besides, they all stuck together and would not befriend the lone hen so they were not serving their purpose. They had to go. The woman advertised in the free online ads and sold all the Silkies for $30. Now she was back to one hen. She went back to the free online ads and found two pullets for sale. She could tell by the picture that they were good laying hens. They were young Rhode Island Reds. The woman named them Copper and Penny. She could tell them apart because Copper had a wide butt and was larger than Penny. Just like humans, no two chickens are exactly alike. It did not take long and all three hens were friends and all was right.



Penny left - Copper right



Several months went by and the woman received a call from her husband while she was at work. He said the dogs had caught a fighting rooster that was in the back yard. They had torn feathers out of it's back, but he didn't think it was seriously injured. She told him to put the rooster in a small cage to protect it and call his friend who raises chickens because she didn't want any roosters. A short time later, her husband called her back. Apparently the rooster had laid an egg. When the woman came home from work she saw the the chicken was not seriously injured. She was not sure where the hen came from and feared if she just set it free, it would get into another neighbor's yard with dogs and not be so lucky the next time. She decided to put the fighting hen in with her other chickens.

 

That caused a whole new ruckus. Hens don't like strangers too much and they didn't like this one at all. Also, fighting chickens are high-strung, nervous birds and they scare easily. The poor hen spent most of her time on the roost. That was until it was time for the others to roost for the night, then they would run her off. She just was not being accepted. Maybe the woman jinxed her because she just called her The Ugly Chicken since her back feathers never grew in. The woman figured they just needed time to adjust. Now the woman had four chickens.

 

Then one of them became lame. It was her very first hen. The woman named her Lacey because her feathers are red laced with white. The woman nursed her with antibiotics, B-vitamins, joint medicine and fed her scrambled eggs with egg shell mixed in. The hen got better but she still walked like a drunk sailor. She never completely recovered.

 

Now there is one thing that chickens like; it is to roam free, eating green things and hunting for bugs. But because of the dogs, the woman could only throw kitchen scraps to her hens. The woman had a nice garden and eventually it grew to be outside the bounderies. The only problem was the dogs - they loved to dig and poop in her garden. So the woman asked her husband to fence off half the back yard for her garden. This would enclose the chicken coop also. And her husband being the VERY BEST HUSBAND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD agreed and moved the fence that very moment.

 

On a weekend shortly after that, the woman let her chickens roam free all day while she worked in the garden. Those hens were so happy! They ate some of her plants, but she had plenty to share. They scratched in the dirt and ate the bugs as they tried to scurry away. But then they discovered her fresh hills of dirt where she had planted her seeds. You see chickens don't believe in a hill of dirt. They will scratch and scratch until that hill is flat. They may even scratch until they create a hole. They also like to lie in a hole of dirt and scratch it up over their backs and into their feathers.

So the hens lost some of their freedom and are only allowed to roam when the woman can watch them. If they get too close to a new seed bed, she squirts them with a hose. And its a good thing they are locked up at night 'cause those naughty dogs still like to dig under the fence.

Chickens being chickens.