A year of barnyard noises
12 months ago we boldly set out to extend our proto-urban farm by adding two naked neck chickens to our menagerie. When they arrived I was startled to see just how extraordinarily ‘fugly’ they were. The poor things had been in a run with a couple of young roosters before coming to us and had lost many feathers to ‘courting’ rituals. On top of that there was the additional stress of being relocated and settling in to their new run without a flock to cluster in, causing them to pluck out a few more of their own feathers. This in no way enhanced their looks, given that naked-necks are not the most prepossessing in that department in the first place.
But time and familiarity does wonders, both for humans and for chooks. They gradually started to feather up as they settled in and the weather began to cool, becoming, if not attractive, at least quite cute. When I mention this to visitors, however, they all tell me this definitely has more to do with me getting used to them, than a significant uptick in their general appeal! Even so, it’s been a delight to watch them transform from mostly featherless critters that only a mother hen could love to their current fluffy, feathery (relative) glory.
We’ve actually become quite attached to our mini-dinosaurs. They’re smarter than they look – which is, admittedly, not saying much – and don’t need a whole lot of care and maintenance. Overall, this chicken year has been quite rewarding, despite having to change the design of the run in order to keep them safe, the early morning shenanigans and the fact that they stare at me through my art room window whenever I’m in there, making it clear in their noisy and fulsome way that they believe it to be feeding time. ElizZabeth and ChickenLittle now rush to greet me whenever I go near the run, clucking and whistling to let me know that I’m being judged for being a bit slow to hand over their feed / greens / treats. It has occurred to me that the cunning little fluffballs have trained ME, rather than the other way around! I’ve even positioned the wireless at the window of my art room and leave it on all day to keep them company. Yes, I know, the crazy-chicken-parent thing has definitely kicked in!
In their first 52 weeks here at Menagerie10, the ladies have:
* Laid 343 eggs – which sounds like a lot, mostly because it is. But laying is inconsistent and ranges from 0 (in very hot or very cold weeks) to 10 in any given week.
* An increase in egg consumption on our part, as well as in egg-rich recipe experimentation.
* The ability to gift egg surpluses to friends and family – and to smile when they comment on how brightly yellow the yolks are. Always fun.
* LOTs of early morning ka-kaws (!) as they continue to work on training me to do their bidding, i.e. feed them at 5.30am. Less fun.
* A distinct reduction in the quantity of food scraps going to the compost bin; instead they get turned into eggs, which works for us.
The cost of set-up, feed, etc. hasn’t been amortised as yet, but we’ll get there in due course; the longer we have chickens, the more cost effective the exercise will be. We’ve just ended week two of our second chicken-year and so far they’ve gifted us with another 16 eggs – so we’re on our way. Let me know if you’d like some eggs at any point and I’ll try to ferry some your way.