Changing minds about chickens

I recently had a talk with someone about keeping chickens; they had considered it in the past, but never committed to the endeavor. In my neck of the woods many people keep "yard birds" as we call them, and for good reason. If you let them free range during the day then all you have to do is supplement their diet, not provide it. They keep bugs down, run off snakes, provide entertainment, and above all else are a food source.

Most people who have the ability to keep chickens never give it much thought. I went to the grocery store the other day and there were no eggs. I live in a small city where the codes department will NOT allow you to keep "farm animals" in the city limits. I could understand if I was trying to keep pigs or a cow, but chickens?

I have had people say to me, "Chickens? I don't want a bunch of crowing at 4 AM!" First off, chickens don't "crow". Roosters call in the morning and randomly throughout the day, while hens make a light clucking noise that is barely audible from more than a ten feet away. You do not need a Rooster to keep chickens, despite beliefs to the contrary.

A group of hens, if raised together, will become a tightly bonded family unit. Outsiders may or may not be allowed in without squabbling. Just like people, newcomers aren't always welcome. It is best to get them all young and around the same time to avoid in-fighting. The coop you keep them in can be a simple box with a door you can close to keep foxes and cats out. Most people fall over laughing when the chickens come home to roost, in a little group, and go into their house around dusk.

There is a lot you can learn about chickens, more than I will put into this article, and that is part of the adventure. I am from the country, and while we do form bonds and attachments with our animals we also understand their purpose. When a hen stops laying eggs you can have fried chicken. That bothers a lot of people. Or at least it used to.

The person I talked to about getting chickens was there as well, looking at the empty egg section in the store. He looked at me and said, "I should have gotten those chickens." It's a small thing; to most of the people who read this article it will be a sentence in a post, and nothing more. To me it was one more person looking at what is happening around them and saying 'maybe there is a different way'.

Society is an amazing thing, but when it breaks down and the things you took for granted are no longer there, you start to think differently. Hank Williams Jr. got it dead-right when he said "A country boy can survive", and it's not because of the modern 'redneck' culture portrayed on CMT, or because of southern pride or family values; most of us grew up doing things that the rest of the US doesn't have the opportunity to do. Be it skinning an animal, growing a garden, canning food, or foraging for wild edibles there are a lot of ways to help yourself in hard times.

Take a look at the situation you are in now. Are you stuck at home instead of going to work? Do you have a back yard? Get out there with a shovel and dig up some earth and plant a garden. Do you live outside of a city? Get some yard birds and start laughing as you watch them play. In an apartment with limited space? Get out and go fishing- we country folk have been practicing social distancing for generations. We just call it going to the fishing hole.