esrosedotblog

CHICKEN SHIT

When I wrote the thing about cage free chickens I didn't think about the fact that I have raised actual chickens twice in my life.

When I was a kid, during the War—the big one II—we had chickens and they were my responsiblity. Feed and eggs.

When the hens got old, my mother killed them.

Much later, when I tried alternative off-the-land living and had a farm we had chickens.

When it came time to kill the hens, my wife had to do it.

I did learn to do it the bloodless way after a hen I had tried to hatchet to death got away from me.

Messy. Noisy. Upsetting.

But I realize that I managed to be 'out of town' when it was time to have the roosters culled or the non-productive hens winnowed out.

So, I have experience on the up side and not on the down.

Our chickens were cage free in the larger sense. They got to run over a wide area. They were well muscled and lithe.

The other thing that they don't dwell on when you are thinking about going into chickens is that the chickens are almost perfect feeding machines.

They eat constantly and, like all birds, defecate indiscriminately and almost in an ever flowing stream.

I ended up with the cleaning job both times.

I have not considered raising chickens since.

There are chickens in Palm Springs. I hear them on my morning bike ride. The roosters.

Both operating stables have them and if you go to some of the Mesoamerican neighborhoods you will hear them as well.

I think that, for now, I will consider these my chickens.

A nice crow in the morning and I have my chicken fix.

Labels: agriculture