Chicken Therapy

 

I don’t know if it’s just the time of year, but I’m feeling kind of down in the dumps and in a funk. I’ve been beating myself up and doing quite a bit of deep thinking. There’s a lot of stuff on my mind right now. Nothing I can really talk about, at least not right now.

My thoughts are too jumbled up to make any sense of anything. If I wrote it all out I think it would just seem disjointed and confusing. And quite honestly I’m just too sensitive and raw right now to deal with any potential critical comments or judgmental attitudes by going public. So, at least for now, I’ll just have to keep my thoughts to myself, although I did confide in my dear husband who, after 23 years together, seems to always get me and understand what I’m going through, because he understands where I’ve been.

What did help get my mind off of things, was some time spent with my animals. I scratched my goats, enjoyed some llama kisses, and hugged my horse. And everyone received treats.

 

They were all very sweet, but it was my chickens that seemed to be the best at lifting my spirits that day.

Just sitting among them listening to their comforting clucking while they peck for insects and grain helped get my mind off of my troubles for a while. I’m always surprised with how much personality and character chickens have when they are just considered livestock, or dumb birds.

They make me smile when some of them hop into my lap to cuddle and coo while I stroke their neck feathers.

(Wowza. Those are some blindingly white knees!)

 

They make me laugh when they get a wild hair and take off waddling and flip-flop flying across the yard and they make me giggle when they beg for a treat or some attention.

Phyllis Diller, my Golden Laced Polish Hen never fails to make me smile with her frou frou mannerisms.

“Hello Dahling!”

“Yoohooo!”

“Oh my! I think I see a feather out of place!”

“Make way for the Queen!”

Faith, the Ameracauna is doing really well and is very friendly. She walks normally now and if you didn’t look at her foot, you’d never know she had to learn how to walk on two broken toes when she was just a 2 day old chick.

We have reason to believe that one of our Summer Chicks is a rooster.

This Blue Wyandotte is growing the hackle tail feathers like roosters have, and he’s bigger than most of the other chickens and has very thick legs.

He’s always watching me, too.

It’s really creepy.

I must say, he makes me a little nervous and reminds me of Sid Vicious. Sid, for those who don’t remember, was our Bad Boy Polish Rooster that buried a spur in my arm last year when he attacked me from behind while I was petting one of the hens.

I’ll have to keep an eye on this fellow, in case he goes the bad boy route, too.

One of our Speckled Sussex Summer Chicks has a favorite napping place during the day.

Napping on the top of a 42” tall sharp metal t-post doesn’t sounds very comfy. But she seems to like it.

If I were her I think I’d be much more comfy being held and cuddled in Jen’s arms. Just sayin’

The 5 Silver-Laced Cochins have become the coop snobs and prove that cliques don’t just occur in high school, but also in chicken coops. These girls are always together and exclude any other chicken that tries to join them.

 

 

Well, soon their little snobby group will be disbanded because we listed our chickens for sale this weekend and have a couple groups of people coming by this week to possibly purchase some of our 18 week old Summer Chicks, so their new owners can enjoy some fresh farm raised eggs for their holiday baking.

It’s a good thing, too. Because the coop is feeling a little too crowded now and feeding 38 chickens is getting quite expensive. We’re hoping to sell 10-15 chickens, but will keep our favorites and enough hens to be sure we have plenty of eggs for our family and perhaps a few dozen to sell each week.

Between baking, cooking and feeding the dogs(they always get one egg on their kibble every night), we go through 2-3 dozen eggs per week for our family of 5. And that may seem like a lot, but not when you consider it takes a dozen eggs for me just to make green chile breakfast burritos for my family.

And our older hens, even though we keep a light on in their coop 24/7 all year round, are only giving us 2-3 eggs per day. But sometimes they still surprise us.

Last week we got one tiny yolkless egg and one x-large triple yolk egg.