Saturday, February 6, 2016

It's All About the Chickens!



Dear Friends,

I never really saw myself as wanting a chicken farm, but it seems one has found me, anyway! We have our own three girls to take care of, and now in addition we have almost three dozen Malay/Naked/other Asian chickens that we are raising up for a man we gave some roosters to last year. He's paying us five dollars each for them, but with all the feed they're going through, we'll be lucky if we make a few pennies off each!

A mix of Malay and Half-Nakeds (mixed with another breed, but missing lots of feathers)


It has been a fun thing for the children to help out, though, and we've learned a lot about Asian-style chickens that we never knew before.

This is the biggest Malay rooster, whom we call "Gentle Ben." 




This is a Malay hen, half-grown. 

They start out so cute and fluffy!




These are our own two hens, Madeleine (Duckwing Bantam) and Hickey Pickety (Black
Australorp). Taking care of them is nothing now, after having all the others!



And here is our silly Polish Crested Phyllis Polly Peacock, who is helping us see if our new raccoon trap works right!


Tune in next time for more homestead adventures!

Love,

Marqueta

"Last Night I Dreamed of Chickens"


Jack Prelutsky, 1940

Last night I dreamed of chickens,
there were chickens everywhere,
they were standing on my stomach,
they were nesting in my hair,
they were pecking at my pillow,
they were hopping on my head,
they were ruffling up their feathers
as they raced about my bed.

They were on the chairs and tables,
they were on the chandeliers,
they were roosting in the corners,
they were clucking in my ears,
there were chickens, chickens, chickens
for as far as I could see...
when I woke today, I noticed
there were eggs on top of me.


4 comments:

  1. Love the poem! Reminds me of the summer (many moons ago). We were sleeping outside in sleeping bags (with our daughters). Gertrude, our pet goose, saddled over to us in the middle of the night and started nuzzling and softly "talking" to my husband and running her bill through his hair. She would waddle all around his bedroll and back to his head to nuzzle some more. He finally got up to go the the house and when he came back, she was nicely settled on his pillow! Silly goose!
    Hope the man you are raising the chickens for likes chicken necks as they seem to be mostly necks! Bet they are going to be HUGE before you're done! I have just started feeding my hens fermented feed (I've heard they should only have it 2-3 Times a week). It seems to fill them up better than the plain feed, so wonder if it would slow down the consumption of feed a bit for you? Just a thought!
    Have a great day!

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  2. Those are some big chickens! No wonder they are eating you out of house and home. I think I prefer other more common breeds, lookwise. The poem was funny. Hoping you make more than a few pennies from you "chicken farm"!

    Hugs
    Jane

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  3. Naked chickens, who would believe it?! They are going through that awkward stage, and it is all the more awkward without feathers! How funny. I can relate to that very funny poem, my world is full of chickens too. But I am ever grateful for the eggs. Have fun with your new endeavor.

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