Chickentainment

In my neighborhood - the greater Ann Arbor area, keeping chickens has become popular. There is an active group of people who are promoting sustainable living. The new ordinance in town regarding chickens is one result. Several neighboring towns have passed ordinances allowing people to keep chickens in their backyards, too. The idea is that you can raise healthy organic protein right at home and reduce your carbon footprint. You can't keep a rooster because of the noise it makes, and you can't slaughter a chicken either. I always could because I am outside the city limits, but I never did before this. If you want to eat one, you have to take it live to a meat processor and he charges you to dispatch and clean it and put it in a package suitable for freezing. Personally, I would find it difficult to kill one and then eat it. I think I could if I was starving, but absent that motivation, I won'tdo it.

Don't get me wrong - I am not making pets of these chickens. Being an animal lover, I can't help but spend time getting acquainted with them. I've never had chickens or been around them before, so everything is new and entertaining. The things I learned raising horses, dogs and cats seems to apply to chickens, too. If you establish a feeding time and religiously show up with treats, they will all come running every time they see you. They crowd around, and the rooster struts by making a sort of growling sound. I don't know if that's a warning or some sort of greeting. I do notice that when he hears my voice out on my deck, he will crow and crow. He almost never crows when I am in the barn. The hens usually spot me first, and they crowd around, clucking. They literally come flying, running and squawking as they hurry to get to the treats first like Chicken Little in the cartoon. The rooster strolls up to me, head erect. I think he is beautiful. He struts. He is, after all, cock of the walk. I kept the most docile rooster the other four are in the freezer. I have thirteen hens. One is an escape artist. She usually greets me at the door. Now, seven of the hens have figured out that they can fly over the top of their horse stall which is their "coop", and land in the hay pile. I haven't invested in all the chicken wire and posts it takes to build a proper chicken yard. I am still deciding if I want to have chickens this winter or just kill them all and start over next spring. Then there are the eggs. Six or seven of the hens are already laying eggs. They are ahead of the curve. They aren't supposed to start laying for another month it says here in the book. I guess they didn't read the book. I now have four dozen eggs in the refrigerator. I am looking for people to give or sell them to. I already sold two dozen to one of Murphy's friends, and gave a dozen to my son. If I keep the chickens I will need to find customers for all the eggs. I am looking for recipes for custards and such. I saw a recipe for a cheese soufflé in Bon Appetite that looked delicious. I wonder if I can find it again. I bought some ramekins for it.

So far, the chickens have been somewhat of an expense. My son bought them for me for Mother's Day, so start-up costs are somewhat defrayed. Murphy made me a feeder out of a plastic tub and a flower pot tray. We made nests out of milk crates stuffed with straw, and a roost out of a section of old steps from a deck that was replaced long ago. It's been sitting around in the weeds out behind the barn. It found a new purpose in the chicken coop. Murphy put up an electric wire across the doorways to the barn. I let the chickens roam around in there picking at the straw, the manure, the haypile, stray horse feed and catching bugs. Recently, they found out that they can just hop over the white tape and it can't "bite" them. They devastated my bush beans and my Roma tomatoes. I went out there with the horse whip and tried to herd chickens out of the garden and back into the barn. I gave the rooster, the leader of the raiding party, a big smack with the whip and it sent him running for the safety of the barn. The hens eventually followed. Herding chickens isn't easy, but once you figure it out, it goes relativelywell. They like to be together in a flock. When you contain the rooster and most of the hens, the stragglers will follow. They were grounded for two days while I let my temper subside. Lately they have been respecting the white tape barrier that marks their boundaries. I put all snacks and feed in their stall. I make their time outside, with the help of Billy, the dog, uncomfortable. It's the same way I trained the horses to respect the electric tape around their pasture. They have plenty of food and water inside the fence and outside is lots of yelling, running around and getting spanked by Mom's whip. They decide to stay inside. It's a gentleman's agreement we have. Everything is wonderful as long as you stay inside. Go outside, and you will get no rest. It's an easy decision on their part. It's been good for me, too. I am getting lots of exercise and fresh eggs and chicken-tainment.