Two (urban) naturalists tend chickens for the first time
Although my gardening companion and I have spent a lot of time in the woods, we've always lived in cities, small towns, or suburbs, with the exception of research summers in Maryland, early in our careers, where our absent artist landlords left "gamecock" chickens, in large numbers.
They were basically wild, and you were lucky to get a few eggs each summer, if one of the hens bothered to return to the garage boxes.
Here in Quebec, the previous owner of our "new" house LOVED his chickens, and even went to the expense a couple of years ago to provide electricity (e.g. heat) and water to his small animal shed, which is essentially a palatial chicken coop.
This year, even though he must have been fairly sure that we would love his house and property, buy it and move in, he still acquired 5 hens and a rooster, from his chicken purveyor, for his 4-5 week stay before we arrived. He told us just to return them to the purveyor when we left.
They're delightful, nothing like the gamecocks. They have personalities, come to us, don't mind Woody (and he's good with them), and they're producing lots of eggs in their lovely hay-lined nest boxes.
We're getting 3-4 eggs a day.
What fun!
After our neighbors told us that Daniel had let them roam around, they're now enjoying spending their days free-range, and nights back in their coop.
They were basically wild, and you were lucky to get a few eggs each summer, if one of the hens bothered to return to the garage boxes.
Here in Quebec, the previous owner of our "new" house LOVED his chickens, and even went to the expense a couple of years ago to provide electricity (e.g. heat) and water to his small animal shed, which is essentially a palatial chicken coop.
This year, even though he must have been fairly sure that we would love his house and property, buy it and move in, he still acquired 5 hens and a rooster, from his chicken purveyor, for his 4-5 week stay before we arrived. He told us just to return them to the purveyor when we left.
They're delightful, nothing like the gamecocks. They have personalities, come to us, don't mind Woody (and he's good with them), and they're producing lots of eggs in their lovely hay-lined nest boxes.
We're getting 3-4 eggs a day.
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| today's collection |
After our neighbors told us that Daniel had let them roam around, they're now enjoying spending their days free-range, and nights back in their coop.
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