Text 3134, 70 rader
Skriven 2006-07-10 22:16:04 av DAVE SACERDOTE (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av GLEN JAMIESON
Ärende: PETS AS FOOD  607`0
===========================
GJ> Apart from the eggs, she is quite attractive, and I have 
GJ> found her clucking by the door has a comfortable, soothing 
GJ> effect.

GJ> You would have noticed that effect, several times over.

Actually, yes.

People who have never kept chickens often can't understand why
I would bother.  There are a lot of misconceptions about chickens -
"they smell" or "they're hard to care for" or "why would you
bother when eggs are so cheap?"

Well, chickens don't smell if they're properly cared for.  A
henhouse of adequate size (mine is actually far too big for
eight chooks) kept with reasonably clean litter emits no odor.
I cycle the wood shavings in the coop - when I muck out the
house, the manure-laden shavings from under the roost go out 
to the compost heap where they turn into the best possible 
fertilizer.  The cleaner litter from the floor of the coop 
goes under the roost, and fresh shavings get spread on the
henhouse floor.

They're not at all hard to care for.  As you know, they do
quite well on their own, though they do enjoy a handful of
grain for variety's sake now and again.  Though I keep mine
in a pen for their own safety, I do allow them to roam
especially in the autumn.  They are quite efficient at 
scratching the leaf litter away from the fence so they can get
at the bugs there, and it saves me a lot of work trying to
rake the stuff out of the chicken wire there.

Eggs are not at all so cheap as they are for me.  Hatchlings
cost me about a dollar apiece and a dozen of them eat about 
eight dollars worth of chicken feed (1 sack) before they start
to lay.  From then on, they consume about ten dollars worth of
grain per month (or about 1.5 sacks of feed).  The last few 
flocks have been 10 hens yielding about 23 dozen eggs per month.
Even taking into account the hundred dollars or so I spent to
build the henhouse I still come out far ahead financially
(Maryanne and I also sell our surplus eggs to coworkers and
friends.)  While it's true that we keep our chickens much
longer than any commercial egg operation, we feel that as long
as the girls continue to produce enough eggs to meet our
personal needs they may live out their lives until they die
of old age, predation, or accident.

Because - and here's the part that directly addresses that
bit of yours I quoted above - there is something pleasing
and comforting about the "happy chook noises" that contented
chickens make when they are going about their business.  I
don't know what it is.  But chickens are fun and relaxing to 
watch as they wander about.  Their antics are amusing even
if they are typical "barnyard" chickens who want little to do
with people, but they are even more amusing if they have been
well and truly hand-raised like our first batch.  Then, they
are friendly and gentle and will happily sit on a child's lap
to be scratched at the neck and stroked, all the while
trilling and cooing with quite an extensive chicken vocabulary.

Yes, it really is a shame that more people don't adopt a hen
or two.  For most Americans, who normally have a full 
breakfast only on the weekends, two hens would give them
exactly as many eggs per week as they'd need: about a dozen.


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