Monday 9 March 2015

Backyard Chickens

When I lived in the country I had chickens. Giving the chickens fresh water, collecting eggs, topping up the feeders. Just great. It NEVER, ever seemed like work.  Didn't matter what the weather was like, going out to the chicken coop was always a pleasure. Well, except for the night a raccoon came by and killed and partially ate 5 chickens. (If they want a chicken, while I won't be happy about it, just take one and go.)

Other than that I loved having chickens. They know you're a source of food and they also always knew when I had found a bug or had something that was going to be thrown out that they could have. They'd be waiting at the fence for you to throw today's treat in the run. They were especially good at cleaning off bones. The end of the day you just had to go and pick up the bare bones.

But there were two excellent reasons to have chickens. One, they are very soothing to watch and listen to. Better than fish in an aquarium. (The eggs are bigger.)

And two, for me there was nothing so relaxing as looking after chickens. I would come home from work and do my chores. I always put a date in pencil, on the top end of the egg so I knew when they were collected. Customers really enjoyed that.

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I think with Mental Health Awareness so much in the forefront now, that having chickens can be a solution for some people. I don't know how many of you remember the 'old days' when most dentist's offices, and some doctor's offices, had an aquarium in the waiting room. We used to sit and watch the fish just go back and forth and it sort of kept your mind off the real reason you were there.

One of the complaints is that chickens are noisy. A rooster crowing first thing in the morning, and some times even in the middle of the night, is just not everyone's cup of tea. BUT, they have now developed sex-link chicks. That means that the male and female chicks are a different colour when hatched.  

"Avoid ordering Barred Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, and Colombian Rock X, which are more difficult to sex as chicks. In sex-link birds the sexes have distinctive colour or marking patterns, which will greatly reduce the chance you’ll get unwanted males." this is a rough quote from Frey's Hatchery in St. Jacob's, Ontario.

There is one type that you can get where the males are yellow, and have grey markings down their back like a chipmunk. The females, however, are the same colour as chipmunks!

And you haven't seen cute until you've seen a day old chick.

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