The Ghosts of Chickens Past

 

     When we moved three and half years ago up here on the hill, my chicken coop stayed at our old house in town. Not because I didn't want chickens here, but just because it wasn't a priority right off the bat. Well, a year after we had settled in, I began asking for it to be moved. It wasn't an easy thing, so it got put off and put off. Finally, last September when I was in Alaska, my husband and son had it moved up here to surprise me with when I got home. I was surprised. And happy. But I knew it needed work to fix up, and to clean out, as when I had rehomed my last set of hens I never got around to cleaning it out then. Three and a half years ago... ewww.  It was also going to need the Fort Knox of pens built, since we share our acres and woods with fox, coyotes, bobcats, fishers and Bald Eagles, not to mention owls and hawks. And snakes. Sigh. I HATE snakes. So fall, heading into winter, wasn't the greatest time for gaining chickens, but I did know, come Spring, I would have chickens again. Chickens make my heart happy!
     It's Spring. Wet, gloomy, cold, but spring for sure. At least the calendar says so. I had chickens ordered for the first week in May, more coming the first week in June, and a third batch coming sometime in July or August, so I headed out to clean out the coop one day last weekend when it wasn't raining. Ewwwww..... why did I leave it full of chicken poo and wood shavings three years ago?

Because, that's me. That's what I do. But honestly, with it being as old and as dried out as it all was, it really wasn't a difficult cleaning job. And as I shoveled and scooped, I found multiple discarded feathers mixed in, and even a couple of old eggs, and eggshells. I found myself thinking about all the chickens I have had who have come before now. I thought about many of them individually, and some just as a group of "my chickens."  The memories made me smile. I love raising chickens, and find them to be highly entertaining, and very soothing to watch. They really kind of ground me. I'm excited to return to this phase of my life, knowing it will be even better this time around because I have more room, more time, and more knowledge.  I need to get the floor fixed and staple up hardware cloth inside and out to keep out the marauding animals who will think I've provided a banquet for them  - but that's a chore I look forward to because it puts me one step closer to having chickens again.