Sweet Vitriol

Chickens!

by Ether

The Ether Garden knew long before we did it seems. It was last winter when we started discussing the possibility of getting a small urban flock, but we figured we’d best wait until we’d been in the new house for a while before starting down that road. Then one morning I looked out the kitchen window which overlooks the garden and what did I see? A small garden statuette which must have been hidden first by the masses of Daylillies and then by the snow. There it was, the sign that the Ether Garden knew better than we did what was to come- a small hen. She’s remained in that very spot since the moment I first saw her, but thoughts of an urban henhouse have expanded and moved to the forefront of our minds

Fast forward to last month when I received notice that the woman from whom my parents have been getting organic free-range eggs. She was selling off a few of her young laying hens, as she simply had too many and couldn’t properly care for them all! This was amazing news, as I was busy trying to figure out where to find started pullets in breeds we found appealing, without having to rear an order of 50 chicks and hope we could sell the surplus later. I quickly conferred with Lumin about the chicken opportunity and a decision was made- we’d get one each of the varieties she was selling, but we’d build space for four in the hopes of adding one or two more in the future.

So that’s that- we will be getting two lovely ladies very soon, too soon almost! One Rhode Island Red and one Black Star (also known as a Black Sex-Link). Now it’s crunch time, I and must say I do feel a bit like Chicken Little at the moment. There is a coop to build, waterers to make, feeders and feed to buy, bedding to obtain, and a myriad of other things to take care of before the ladies arrive. Having spend my younger years raising backyard chickens (a few of whom my mother captured beautifully in a watercolor study) I’m probably a little better off than some, but there has certainly been a large chickenless gap in my life in which to forget a great many things.

Posted by Ether on April 22nd, 2009 filed in 'Green' living, Garden Planning, Homegrown food1 Comment »