I guess Spring is really here. Aunt Betty called. She just checked out eight hens and one rooster from the chicken library where she lives up in Kansas. The rooster hangs out with his favorite hen, so Aunt Betty named them Bonnie and Clyde. I guess it’s not really a chicken library, but that’s how it works for Aunt Betty. She has a deal worked out with one of her neighbors to get chickens in the nice weather, returning them for the winter. She has the pleasure of chickens and eggs without the misery of over-wintering them. What a great neighbor!
chickens
Killer Tomatoes (Tales from the Toilet)
A well-worn path led down the hill to the toilet located far enough to cut the odor and avoid contamination of our well. Mama was vigilant about sanitation and shoveled lime into the pit to aid decomposition and screened the open back to foil her chickens who considered the flies and maggots a tempting buffet. Chickens are not known for their Continue reading
The Sad Saga of the Beakless, Tailless, Gizzard-bobbing, One-leg Hopping chicken
Repost of an earlier post.
Being a farm kid is not for sissies and cowards. The dark side of the chicken experience is slaughtering, plucking, cleaning, and preparing chickens for the pot. I watched as Mother transformed into a slobbering beast as she towered over the caged chickens, snagging her victim by the leg with a twisted coat-hanger, ringing its neck and releasing it for its last run. We crowded by, horribly thrilled by what we knew was coming. It was scarier than ”The Night of the Living Dead”, as the chicken flapping its wings, Continue reading
The World’s Best Birthday Party! (Part I of II)
Reposting an older story to introduce part II. I loved playing with these kids. Illustrations by Kathleen Swain.
Water play at the Party
Freedom at the Awful’s
The Awfuls were awesome. Even though their name was Alston, the neighborhood mothers thought Awful was a better fit. We all envied them as they roamed the neighborhood with a freedom we only imagined. They weren’t mean; Continue reading
Fluffy, the Species Confused Chicken
My little sisters, Connie and Marilyn, raised their baby chick, Fluffy, in a cloth-lined box in the living room. He spent his nights in their room, going to sleep as soon as they covered his sweet, little head. He woke them early in the morning, peeping around looking for them. Cleaning up after him wasn’t really a big problem while he was a tiny chick. Continue reading
Killer Tomatoes
Mama kept me close her side when we were home alone. If she did let me go in the yard on my own, I had to be close enough to come running in an instant when she called. The only exception was a trip to the toilet. Since it wasn’t polite to answer from the toilet, I kept quiet knowing, she’d be watching for me to come out before mounting a search. She Continue reading
Hey! Little Gal!
Enjoy this story from my mother’s memory bank:
Mama gave me the twin chicks hatched from a double-yoked egg since they were odd, slow and probably wouldn’t have made it on their own. I coddled those two from the first. They’d imprinted on me and followed me everywhere. It is likely they had chromosome damage since they developed into normal looking roosters while retaining their “chick” Continue reading
Pot Rack and the Turkey From Hell
Daddy was a nut about poultry. He made regular patrols within the local area, and if he detected poultry not in his collection, he couldn’t rest until he had one-upped whomever had put him in a “fowl mood. His enthusiasm didn’t last long enough to build a proper poultry yard, so the coyotes inevitably got whichever of the unfortunate fowl didn’t roost in Continue reading
Incredibly Awful Birthday Party
The Awfuls were awesome. Even though their name was Alston, the neighborhood mothers thought Awful was a better fit. We all envied them as they roamed the neighborhood with a freedom we only imagined. They weren’t mean; they just got to do exactly as they pleased. They were everywhere, playing on the railroad track, staying out Continue reading
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