Many of you reading the title of this post will think that I am about to write about an experience where I got my hopes up about something and then had them crushed. Well fortunately you would be wrong. I am actually going to talk about chickens. And counting them. It kind of makes the title self explanatory.
During the summer I got to house sit for a friend. We moved into the house at the beginning of July and lived there for a month. Aeryn was very excited about doing this because my friend had chickens that she was going to be able to take care of. Aeryn, a little girl who loves animals beyond belief, could not wait to learn about chickens. Unfortunately my friend had to break the news to us when we got there that some predator had gotten a hold of his chickens and they would not need to be taken care of. Aeryn was devastated. So devastated in fact that my friend told her that she could buy some chickens to put into his chicken coop.Thanks Friend! (Please not my sarcasm)
Guess where I was the following morning....At Cheshire Horse purchasing six of the cutest little chickens that you could ever see. They were Golden Comet chicken. Apparently a hybrid between a Rhode Island Red and a Rhode Island white. Good laying hens. Or so I was told.
My darling farmer girl went from cattle farmer to chicken farmer immediately. She loved those cute little chicks and marveled at the changes that occurred in them every day. She even loved them during what she called their "ugly" stage where they were half feathery and half fuzzy and you could just not tell what was going to happen.
My friend came home, and we moved back to our apartment but our chickens stayed in their coop. Every time Aeryn would go to visit them I would be surprised at how quickly they came to the sound of her voice. Something which made her eyes light up every time. Her chickens remembered her. (Smart birds!)
Unfortunately in the fall something hot one of the chickens, and then this morning I found out that it had now taken three more. So I get to go home and tell Aeryn that she is down to two remaining chickens. Hopefully once she hears the plan that I am starting to set into motion she will not be nearly as depressed as I think she is going to be upon hearing the news.
As a bit of back ground, I have a feeling that my child is going to end up in some sort of animal science profession. She is most at home with animals and has a smooth, natural, calm nature about her when she is with them. It just fits. Lately she has been asking more and more about breeding, and cross breeding and genetics. Of course she does not know the technical terms yet for what she is asking. But her questions show a thinking beyond that of an average nine year old. She is already talking about breeding different types of cows for different qualities and has lately started to ask about chickens as well. She realizes that somehow she would be able to get an ideal breed that will be able to both lay good eggs, and produce a good quality meat.
So today, while on my free block, I have been researching chickens. I have found a local (well somewhat local) hatchery that sells fertilized eggs and think that it might be a good idea for Aeryn to incubate her own. This way she can keep a journal about the chickens. We can tag them and she can weight and measure them and keep track of their growth rate and egg production. She would like to be able to cross breed the chickens for ideal traits. Silly girl and her scientific thinking.
I guess we will see how things turn out.
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