easley59 on thu 13 may 04
Loved the Chicken Tractor. Was fascinated by it.=20
Then, through Vince's kid's website (can't remember how I got there -- =
another post I think led me there, talking about teabowls)
I saw a Chicken website link and looked at it.
Sure enough, more chicken tractors, among other things.
I am a suburban dweller and have wanted my own chickens for eggs. The =
place I want to place my coop is in the back yard, fairly shaded by =
evergreens and not good or growing grass. Darn. The chicken tractor =
won't work if you don't have grass for the little buggers to peck at, =
will it?
Will the girls still lay prolifically if they don't have a rooster? I'm =
not sure my neighbors would go for that one......
Still wanting my own fresh eggs.
Pam in Seattle
Earl Krueger on fri 14 may 04
On Thursday, May 13, 2004, at 22:38 US/Pacific, easley59 wrote:
> Will the girls still lay prolifically if they don't have a rooster?
Pam, you bring back memories...
When I was a kid on the farm my mother
would raise 2-300 chicks every year.
In full swing the hens would almost lay an
egg every day with nary a rooster in sight.
The roosters were all in the freezer.
She sold the eggs at 25=A2 per dozen.
This money was what bought those
grocery items that we couldn't grow
ourselves and an occasional Sunday
night dinner out at Dairy Queen.
Mom kept the hens cooped up in a building
from August or September till late spring
when they were sold to Cambell's for soup.
My job was to fill their feeders and waterers.
I got very good at carrying a 5 gallon bucket
of water 50 feet through a sea of stupid birds
that would just squat in front of you rather
than get out of your way, pull the top off of
the waterer, dump the water in, put the top
back on and make my exit back through the
sea, all the while holding my breath 'cause
the ammonia smell from their manure was
overwhelming.
Then, in August, after the hens had been sold
and it was good and hot and dry I got to scoop
up 9 months worth of dry powdery chicken
poop and toss it out a window into a manure
spreader (wagon). This was the only time the
hen house was well ventilated, for you see on
those days the wind was always blowing such
that there was a good breeze blowing back
the window.
So now whenever anybody tells me to
go eat chicken sh*t, I say:
"Already done that. How about you?".
Cluuuuuuuckk, cluck, cluck, cluck. Cluuuck.
Earl K...
Bothell, WA, USA
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