Winter Outside, But Warm in My Kitchen

   

     The next morning scratching noises could be heard coming from the cardboard box on my kitchen floor.  Four sets of tiny feet were busy burying their water source in wood shavings.  Of course, they didn't realize what they were doing, but an upside down fruit jar at the far end of the box stood submerged in shavings. The feeder dish suffered the same fate; I stayed busy that first day. Late that night when I slipped into the kitchen to check on them, I stood mesmerized. Neither the cold outside nor the new surroundings had affected the little charges one bit. Sound asleep they were, four fuzzy yellow balls huddled in the corner 'neath the warming light.

     Two weeks had flown by when my little friend Kate and her grandmother came over and we gave them names. The Araucanas were named for Meg and Jo, from Louisa Mae Alcott's Little Women, and Maddie and Minnie seemed perfect for the Rhode Island Reds. We took turns holding each one because my friend Beth, in Glorieta, New Mexico always held her baby chicks letting them go to sleep in her lap.  After they were grown, you could still hold them. I knew I wanted to do the same with mine.

    One day when I was holding Maddie, I saw pinfeathers coming out on her wings. Oh my! They're growing so fast, I think I'd better pour myself a cup of coffee, and while it's warm and cozy in my kitchen, I'll just sit a spell and watch them grow.

Chicken Scratchin's

Before we take another step into November, I need to tell you something. Did you read my blog last week? What began last week as a preview of what's comin' is what'll be comin'! I've started to share with you my chicken scratchin's.

Something new in your life? Nail it down! Write it! Tell your stories about that new thing!

Hold Onto Your Fork--- Something Good's Coming

     It happened when I stopped by Buzbee's Feed Store that morning to pick up some mulch for my  garden.  They had already put the mulch in my car when I crossed the heavy wooden floor to the cash register to pay my bill.
     A lot of commotion under the stairs to my right stopped me, and I turned to see. A hundred gallon watering trough, postioned in probably the warmest corner of the store out of the draft, held the answer. I peeked over the edge to see blond wood shavings, framed by a big warming light, with fifty or sixty baby chickens down inside peeping.
     I asked Ray, the man waiting at the regisster, "Are those all the same kind of chickens?" I had noticed some were more gold-colored than yellow, and one or two were almost brown.
     "All Araucanas," he said.
     "Those lay the blue-green eggs, don't they?"
     "Yes."
     "My son, his wife, and  their two boys are raising some of those up near Denton." I  remembered how much fun the kids had with their chickens---them, and the entire neighbothood. I was there when their first hen squawked over her newly laid egg. I paid my bill, thanked him, and left the store.

     When I drove in my driveway, clearly, nothing had changed since I left: the same cloud-covered sky, still the same wintry day with a slight wind pushing in from the east. And inside I listened to the same empty echoes from the same empty rooms, hushed by the same silent carpet.

     Yet somthing had changed!

                                                                                                ...to be continued next week...

Henny Penny! The Sky Is Falling!

     Are you bored? Lonely? Winter blues getting to you? Why not take a trip to the Feed Store like I did? And, get you some little chickens, actally chicks? Put'em out in the kitchen near the stove like your grandma did.

     Check online if you're saavy or get to the library and read all about them,  That way you'll know which kind you want to buy. Me? I got two Rhode Island Reds and two Aracaunas---the first time, that is.  I chose the first ones because they lay brown eggs and the others lay blue-green ones.  See, you already know it's fun to check out chickens.

    What I needed was something to keep the house from echoing, something to break the silence, and somthing to change the routine. (something to come home to). I found it in four tiny balls of yellow down!  They all looked alike in the beginning.  They peeped, they pecked, they sipped from the upside down water jar with the round, red lid.  The rushed all day around the confines of their cardboard box lined with sweet-smelling wood shavings, then huddled up to sleep their nights away under the warming light.

     Have you been online lately? Checked out the library? There's so much to learn about chickens.

 .........continued next week