The critter count at Eegeebeegee, capital of the Tallahatchie Free State, increased significantly this past Easter weekend.
It has long been the intention of the Colonel to add domesticated fauna raising to the extant flora raising activities aboard his vast holdings here at the northern end of southern nowhere. The Colonel would occasionally point to the spot on the grounds adjacent to the Man Toy Storage and Sawdust Production Facility upon which a future chicken coop and hen house would someday rise in simple and functional elegance.
The future is now.
While on a shopping trip to the "big city" (Tupelo) last Saturday, the comely and kind-hearted Miss Brenda and the Colonel were stimulating the economy in our favorite frilly, fanciful hobby and manly, practical tractor supply stores (separately and respectively) when they were overcome by the overwhelming urge to buy chicks for the Hope of 21st Century Civilization (H21CC, dash 1 and 2).
There is something sinisterly irresistible about a feeding trough full of fuzzy yellow and brown chicks.
A downy little chick just has to be picked up.
A downy little chick just has to be taken home to H21CC-1, -2.
The store required a minimum purchase of six chicks. Who needs six chicks? There are only two grandchildren, at present, gracing the grounds of the Big House at Eegeebeegee. Two chicks would be plenty.
The Colonel bought eight.
The comely and kind-hearted Miss Brenda's mother hen instincts went immediately into hyper-drive. Ever driven for an hour with a chick peeping in your ear? Oh, and the chickens were making a lot of noise, as well.
The large cardboard box in which the Colonel intended to raise the chicks for the next several weeks lasted two days. The Colonel dutifully disappeared into the sawdust production side of the Man Toy Storage and Sawdust Production Facility and emerged several hours and approximately three-quarters of a ton of sawdust later with the Eegeebeegee Chick Raising Box (patent pending). Ostensibly man-portable, the Eegeebeegee Chick Raising Box (patent pending) required the aid of the Colonel's trusty red tractor--Semper Field--to transport from the sawdust production side of the Man Toy Storage and Sawdust Production Facility to the spot in the garage at which the comely and kind-hearted Miss Brenda insisted was close enough to the door to the Big House to allow her to communicate with her new peeps.
Yesterday, H21CC-1 and the Colonel measured off and staked out the site on which Eegeebeegee's next edifice will rise. The Colonel will keep the three of you who regularly waste precious rod and cone time perusing posts hereon appropriately apprised of the chicken coop and hen house construction activities as they unfold.
Can anyone tell the Colonel whether chickens lay eggs, or do they give live birth?
1 comment:
Chickens lay eggs.
If said eggs were fertilized by a rooster then the hen will sit on those eggs until they hatch. YEA!! More peepers.
When you build that "Hen House/Coop" make sure you use a small gauge wire so snakes can't crawl through the holes. Be sure to bury the wire for the fencing at least 12 inches in the ground so the foxes{and other types} aren't able to dig under the wooden bottom cross ties. Gate...Try to make it slightly wider than the entrance with a latch both center and bottom. Dig a ditch going full with of gate and about a foot wide and deep and fill with gravel should help with the digging efforts of afore mentioned preditors.
Make certain that you build it tall enough that both you and the comely and kind-hearted Miss Brenda can walk around in an up-right position and then cover it with small gaged hole wire cloth in order to keep the hawk and other such from getting a free lunch.
If you are really, really smart {which everyone one already knows that the Colonel is exceptional in that area} you will make the "Hen House" big enough to walk into and still be in an up-right position for easy removal of "Clucking-Hen Fruit".
You will also need to have electricity for a light and a heater for winter so the "Peepers/Cluckers" won't freeze or get "u-moan-ya" ... {I look in both of my dictionaries with no luck on finding that word-{deep breath, big sigh}-So-{another deep breath, big sigh}-snicker away while shaking your head. If you print the correct spellin I will write it on the cover page of those 2 books for future use.}
Yep, I've had chickens...3 Bantem Hens with one Rooster as a kid growin up in Southern Swamp-Lands of Bayou Lafouche Louisiana.
Dad built a small "Hen-Fruit House" that was off the ground but it only had a small single door that opened on one end of the coop instead of a double door in the middle for easy access. No electric light to check on noise in the middle of the night or heater for winter. After 3 years...no more chickens.
They were the last 4 gifts from my Great Aunt and Uncle{both were full blooded Okla. Cherokee}. I was a very up-set child when the last one died because I felt that I had failed those two important people in my life.
AND BTW fresh "Hen-Fruit" are the best eating you can get.
Make sure that they get lots of greens and insects along with grains
...cracked corn, oats, and other types of grains...
all of which makes for deep colored yolks and a better taste.
Good Luck. and ENJOY THE "HEN-FRUIT"
Miss Em
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