Spring & Chickens

The first day of Spring here in Vermont is usually still much like winter. We usually have at least a foot of snow and it's extremely cold. April is usually still pretty cold with a lot of snow still scattered here and there, with a possible blizzard in the forecast.

This year, however, it's actually feeling a lot like spring! The sun is out, most of the snow is gone, and we can go out with jackets and sweaters on instead of coats and hats. It's muddy, but that's what mud boots are for, right?

There's just one thing missing......

Our chickens.

We have had chickens since 2004. This is the first year we've been without them. We decided to take a break from them. We kinda got tired of all the chicken poop all over everything....

On the porch, on the deck, between our toes, on our shoes, in the kid's hair (they love to roll down the hill in the grass) and on their clothes.....Yuck! Plus, they like to taste test our vegetables in the garden. Having chickens means we need to fence up the garden.

Oh, and keep the doors closed.

They're great fun to watch and listen to, though. And the eggs!!!

There's nothing better!

But my very favorite was having a rooster! We've only had one aggressive rooster. All the others were very nice and never attacked any of the kids. They're just so majestic looking and....I know this sounds weird, but I love to hear the rooster crowing. I love to hear it in the morning and all day long. Makes me feel like I should be wearing a prairie skirt and a bonnet, and that I should be scrubbing our laundry out on a scrub board or something.

We even hatched our own one year! Not in an incubator, mind you. A broody hen sat on them in her own private quarters and they hatch under the mama!!

Every once in awhile one or two needed some help when the mama wasn't interested in keep them warm while they were hatching, so we used a brooding pen and a heat lamp till they were warm and fluffy, and could be in with their mama again.

That was a lot of fun, and a great homeschool treat. We researched how to choose the eggs, how to candle them and how often to candle them. And when they should hatch. It was an amazing process. We must have hatched 3-4 clutches of eggs.

This was a much better process than buying the day old chicks and raising them in a brooding pen. The mama takes card of them and you never have to do a thing. BUT, the only problem is you end up with a lot of roosters that way. If you're looking to get more layers, this may not be the way to go. If you're looking to just put them in the freezer, it's great.

Now, if summer would just hurry and get here! I'll miss the chickens, but I think I'll survive the summer without them this time. Next year may be a different story.

~Lisa

Chicken Soup

Today was "Take the chickens to the slaughter" Day at the Manchesters. 20 of our older hens (or should I say 19 hens plus one rooster) enjoyed their last moments in the back of the pick-up in a cage driving down windy back roads to the chicken processors farm. I've never been before. I usually stay home and put them in the freezer when it's all done and over with. But today I was brave and made the trip with my wonderful husband. It was very romantic nice to have alone time with my honey. We take any kind of moment we can get.

Anyway, the chicken processing wasn't as bad as I thought it was. My job was to guard the opened cage, making sure the chickens didn't get too anxious to hop into the killing cones. The processors are very organized and only take in a few at a time. "Ladies, wait your turn!" I had to say. I didn't watch the killing. The sounds were bad enough. All the squaking and flapping of wings only lasted a few seconds, and soon turned into the sound of chicken feet scraping up against the metal killing cones. No more squaking. I apologized to a few of the hens as they waited their turn. I'm so glad they have tiny brains and had no idea what I was saying.

So what's for dinner in our shoe tonight? Chicken soup! Mmmmm.....Mmmmmm.....Good!

A Funny Anna Saying....

We have many chickens who produce many eggs for us. We sell them to passers-by for $2 a dozen. This summer we ventured into the world of broody hens hatching their own chicks. We managed to hatch 4 batches of chicks under their mama!
The other day we were discussing how the first batch of pullets were due to start laying sometime this month. Anna, who is 4, was listening in on our conversation. After mulling it all over, she asked with a curious look on her face...

"Mommy, when will Isabelle start laying eggs?"

Isabelle is our 10 year old German Shephard.