Triumph (and sometimes trouble) at the henhouse
When I wrote about caring for chickens in winter weather, I mentioned the struggles of sweet Snoopy, a California White hen who has combs and wattles to match many roosters and the stiffer feathers that tend not to pack quite as much padding under the primary layers. These physical traits are indicative of breeds more…
Sure, right now we’re savoring autumn in east Tennessee (and many other places), but the balmy temps will soon drop. Maybe your first chicks are big girls now and you’re thinking What do we do when it gets really cold? Maybe, like our first brood, it hasn’t crossed your mind just yet. In either case,…
Chickens are tiny rototillers. Chickens are lightly domesticated velociraptors. Chickens are annihilators of insecta and annelida—annihilators with hyper-focused intensity. Chickens are not gardeners. Gardening with chickens? Before you read more, may I suggest Metallica’s Seek and Destroy. A chicken’s mission is to gobble up every bug, worm, grub, leaf, fruit, and whatever other nourishment it…
Like humans, if you spend time getting to know your chicken girls, you’ll likely find they each have their own unexplainable and entirely lovable special needs. I don’t say this to make light of any being living with challenging disability. I say this because we are each unique and perfectly damaged in some small way…