My west coast brother informed me that today is "International Respect for Chickens Day" and he and his family celebrated by having chicken as the guest of honor at their church potluck. I celebrated by having a chicken salad sandwich. However I do have a great respect for chickens. They were part of our family's income for some years. There was one chicken in particular that I had respect for. She was one of the free range banty hens that roamed our yard and provided us with occasional eggs. Chickens, in my experience, can't fly high, but they can get five or six feet off the ground, and that's all it took for this particular hen to get up to the crotch of the catalpa tree in our front yard. She laid six eggs there and my mother decided that these eggs should be allowed to hatch. We were all watching as the chicks hatched. We were country kids and easily entertained. Then we started wondering, how will the hen get the chicks down out of the tree? Little chicks don't fly. We got our answer when they were two days old, little fluffy yellow balls. Mamma hen literally kicked them out of the tree. They bounced as they hit the grass, then picked themselves up and started running around. Yay! Six more chickens for our little free range flock.
No comments:
Post a Comment