Living the Home Life

My Chicken Story, a Cautionary Tale

For those of you who have read my profile, you will see that one of the things that I occupy my time with is chasing feral poultry.  What is feral poultry, you may ask?  They are chickens and ducks that have gone semi-wild. 

When ds was younger and we first started homeschooling, I got the bright idea that we would do an embryology project and hatch eggs, so I dutifully called the 4H office (they know me there, I'm a leader and train dogs for them), got the name of the person to get fertilized eggs from, and went to fetch the incubator. To make a long story short, we did hatch chicks, and they were murdered by my beloved cat, Patches, when he threw the incubator on the floor, chicks and all.

Ds was crushed.  He wanted to show chickens in 4H, and now they were all gone, so, out we go again to the chicken breeder, along with my friend, Lana, and her kids, to by chicks.  This was the beginning of the end of being able to walk around the yard without watching where you step.

Life with the chicks spun out of control very quickly, because, lo and behold, chickens DO fly.  They all escaped from their pen and started multiplying like rats!  Those little banties are the broodiest bunch I ever saw, and would easily hatch out two clutches a season.  They'd disappear for awhile, and you'd think, AHA! down a chicken, and then she'd come back with a dozen more.  One year we must have had 100 chicks.

Did I learn from this experience? NO! I then went out and bought ducks.  They also rapidly reproduce.  Mrs. Ducky churns out three clutches of eggs a season.  These critters fly, too, right on to the roof.

Two years ago, we had what will be forever known as the great chicken round-up.  Not necessarily great because of all the chickens we caught, but because it was the most ludictous sight I've ever seen. Dh Mark's sister and husband came over with a fishing net, and we herded, chased, grabbed, and tripped over chickens all evening, and the worst of it is, for every chicken you tried to put in the cage, you'd lose one.

Now, we do have a coop full of chickens, and we still probably have a good dozen running around, which will turn into about ten dozen over the course of the summer if we can't catch them soon, and there are six ducks roaming the yard and sliming up the driveway.  One big goal we have here is to catch everyone that's loose, and pen it or sell it.  Some of the little beasts I'd like to put in the freezer, but, as ds says,"You don't eat your pets!"

So, what is the moral of this cautionary tale?  Don't count your chickens before they're hatched, because I guarantee, you'll UNDERESTIMATE.

Chickens

{ 10:28, 2006-Mar-15 } { Posted by Greenberry }

That's the best description of chicken wrangling I ever saw!