Questions from Sara to Wendy
Q’s
How did you learn how to buy and raise chickens? Do you have a rooster (s)?
Where do the chicks live?
What do they eat?
Do you also kill them for dinner?
Do you have help?
What color are the eggs?
Wendy’s answers!
A. We bought our chickens in the spring of 2005. I thought it would be a good project for my boys, ages seven and five. I think it’s important that my children understand how their grandparents and great grandparents had to live. My grandparents taught me so much about life. I built a big coop with a chicken house built onto it. My boys had an awesome time building the chicken coop. Needles even came and helped a day or two. That was awesome because I didn’t need a ladder.:) Our chickens were about two days old when we bought them from Southern States. It was still a little cold outside so I keep them in a big box and I had a light on them to help warm them. The cold will kill baby chicks. Everything was fine with the baby chicks until my youngest son decided to spray one with Febreze. He told me the baby chick smelled bad. Well being the nurse I am I decided to give the chicken mouth-to-beck (just kidding). Anyway the chick died. My sons and I named it APRIL FRESH and buried it in the field.
It takes a while for the chickens to begin to lay eggs. Different chickens lay different color eggs. We mainly have Brown Comets and they lay brown eggs. The chickens don’t have to have a roaster to lay eggs only to lay fertile eggs for hatching. We have a roaster problem. We have too many roasters. We only need two and we have five. They are beginning to fight. The roasters won’t fight unless they are around hens. We ran into another problem with the chickens pecking the eggs. They were doing this because of the lack of Calcium. My husband and I bought some crushed oyster shells which has helped with the problem. I give my chickens cracked corn, a cup of oyster shells and laying mash daily. The laying mash also has small pieces of oyster shells in it. The oyster shells replenish the calcium that the chickens need. My chicken’s eggs are much harder to break than the ones in the grocery store. They have slowed down on their laying as of late but that’s due to the roaster problem that I mentioned earlier.
We haven’t eaten any of the chickens yet. They are more like pets. When they hear my voice I see their little heads looking through the chicken wire. When the roasters hear my voice they begin crowing. I can always hear them crowing as the sun rises. We don’t have a big chicken farm, but my boys enjoy taking care of the chickens.
Well here is some information about the life of a chicken farmer. If you need any information about fishing let me know. My husband and I owned and operated a charter boat for many years before we moved to my family farm. He was the captain and I worked as the first mate we fished for tuna, marlin, cobia, mackerel, ect. We had a 42 foot sportsman and we lived on the Outer Banks and fished out of Pirates Cove Marina. We sold our boat and business a year ago.
thedailylily.com 
Wendy
I hope u will invite me to see the chickens one day.
I am so blessed to read this and on New Year’s Eve. I was thinking backward this am so I could plan forward w/some of Jersey-N-Needles’ NY Resoultions.
This story brought tears to my eyes. When I was 5 my Mother had a chicken farm much like you. I don’t remember to much as we left the farm when I was 8. But, I do remember this and it has been one of the main reason for my salvation and loving God.
My Dad wanted to take us (Mom and children) to a carnival in town. My Mom really didn’t want to go but she did. While we were gone a fire came and burned her little chicken house/coup and her chickens. I remember her saying “I knew I should not have gone, I don’t think the carnival honored God.” In my mind I thought she was saying God let her chickens burn because she went to carnival and forgot the baby chicks with the faulty wiring. But I think of that often when the world draws me away from my mission and focus. I am not saying I even understood what she said or what she meant or what part God had it in. But, I do know that my Mother wanted to Honor God at all times and I do too.
By the way she let me gather eggs in my little basket while she gathered in her apron. How do you and your sons gather the eggs?
Wait until Gary and our sons hear about the fishing boat, now they will want to ask a lot of questions about that as well.
What a beautiful gift Wendy you have given to The Daily Lily for ’06.
Wendy thank you for the article on Chicken Farming. It took me down memory lane. I grew up on a farm where we raised cows, pigs, and chickens. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from caring for chickens. When I was real little my Dad would have my sister and I clean the eggs, and then we would box them and he would sell them. My sister and I cleaned many eggs, but sometimes we would come across one that was totally covered in chicken dung. We would try and wash it, but if it was too much effort we would throw the egg in the crawl space of our country farm home. My Dad began to suddenly complain that he was seeing too many rats in the basement. Of course, it was our fault. My sister and I learned that no matter how dirty an egg is, you need to clean it up. Just like with our sins. We can’t clean them ourselves. Only Jesus can take away/forgive our sins. We can’t let the dirt clinge to us or our unique selves do not show through. Thank goodness no sin is too great for Jesus to clean up if we ask.
We had one rooster who was terrible. Everytime we would go near him he would peck us. He was a rooster with an attitude problem or he was after some calcium, mainly ours. My Mom tried to change his attitude but when it wasn’t changed he became chicken stew.
My Mom would kill and dress chickens in the summer for winter food. My sister and I were the lucky ones and helped dressed the chickens. She always said it takes real work to provide for a family. (Another lesson taught.)
Thanks again for the memory walk, and I hope your sons continue to enjoy the chickens.
Wendy, on a lighter note, I couldn’t help thinking as I read your story on my computer..I was reading…”THE FARMER ON MY “DELL”. :>)Your teaching style reminds me of Jesus’ style Who taught His “students” by every day examples that they could understand and connect with.
Thank you for an informative and enlightening message!
Wendy Chickenfarmer, what a great article chocked full of interesting information! When I got my Master’s degree in the school of Agriculture from VA Tech I NEVER learned how to give chickens mouth-to-beek recessitation. Well, just goes to show you how technology has changed over the years!
I do love hearing and learning about things related to Agriculture, since just the word has a special meaning to me. I attended Cornell U to study and become an architect, but God had other plans for me to switch majors and become a ‘Farmer’!
Your story about chickens and fish is endearing. I remember the years I worked for Southern States and the excitement as customers came in to pick up their peeping baby chick orders or their pond stocking fish from the ‘Fish Wagon’. Thanks for bringing back these great memories and I look forward to hearing more of your stories!
Wendy I understand about chickens and making friends because they sort of seem like pets after awhile….back in the 60s when my Parents were between army asignments we were staying at my grandmothers house and she had alot of chickens and I made friends with one chicken and named it Her…she would come when I called and just like you said would cluck and come running when she saw me…well needless to say one day my aunt fried chicken….no one told me but since Her didnt come when I called I knew and I didnt eat that night…..I was hard to eat chicken for a while after that but as usual time passes and so did that memory…..it seems a little sad to think of it now but it was food and that was what she was being raised for……..but they are cute….dj
I WANT TO WELCOME COW MILKER (AKA CHICKEN FARMER) TO THE DAILY LILY. SHE IS MORE THEN A CHICKEN FARMER, THIS WOMAN CAN DO ANYTHING. SHE TAUGHT ME CHANGE MY TIRE AND THEN GET NEW ONES. SHE IS A GREAT MOTHER , WIFE, NURSE AND MOST OF ALL ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS I THANK GOD FOR PUTTING HER IN MY PATH. PS SHE ALSO HAS A STRAY HORSE BY HER HOUSE IF ANY ONE HAS ANY INFORMATION PLEASE LET HER KNOW. IT WAS LAST SEEN IN THE CORN FIELD THEN IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET BLOCKING OUR CAR, IT HAD NO COLAR ON. WE THINK HIS NAME IS MR. ED. ALSO IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED ON HOW TO CATCH AND CLEAN FISH I THINK SHE IS GOING TO HOLD A SEMINAR, WE SHOULD ALL ATTEND. HA HA
Clean fish????? Well clean and Eat, I will be there!!!!!
Sara you’re in charge of preparing the fish. I know you must have some awesome recipes.
The fish seminar sounds great! Does she throw in a workshop on milking cows too? Somehow I missed out on ‘Milking 101’ when I got my Agriculture degree because you probably had to be at the dairy barn at 5am and I could barely make it to a 9am class.
I’d love to join the milking seminar. When I was a little girl I use to milk cows by hand. My sister and I had a lot of fun squirting each other with the warm milk. There was only thing I minded and that was the swish of the cows tail across your face ever once in awhile.
Rena, We’ll let you teach the cow milking seminar 101. Jersey can be in charge of holding the cows tail so it won’t swish anyone in the face and Needles can hold the flashlight. I think this will be a good start to our milking class.What do you think?
As everyone knows a good teacher models first. Yeah! I can model both milking and squirting as I’m the teacher and then I can lead all in a few verses of Milking we shall go, milking we shall go, a squirt here, a squirt there, milking we shall go. I wouldn’t want anyone to think that milk comes cold from the cow like it does from the market, so they must experience it in one of my classes. I do worry about Jersey as the cow’s tail is pretty powerful. I hope she is strong. Are you strong Jersey?
Rena, I think we have the makings of an awesome Milking class. Who could ask for more. We’ll have plenty to drink and music for entertaiment. It sounds wonderful. You know I think you’re right about Jersey holding the cow’s tail. I have a BS degree in Exercise of Sport Science. I think I’m going to write her up an exercise program to get her in the physical shape she needs to be in to accomplish the goal of holding the cows tail without releasing it from an extended peroid of time. We may have to give her rest breaks in between squirts. I’ll begin working on this. What do you think?
OK guys I think we can do this if we are not rolling on the ground in stitches of laughter. Of course the barn yard would not be a good place for this.
IM STRONG, REMEMBER I WORK WITH NEEDLES. BUT I THINK COW TAIL HOLDING IS OUT OF MY LEAGUE I THINK NEEDLES IS BETTER SUITED FOR THIS POSITION. LETS ALL CONGRADULATE HER>>>
My specialty is holding the flashlight!!!!(It takes less muscles)
Now Needles you know you have to have a pretty strong thumb to turn the flashlight on and off. Tell you what! I’ll come up with some awesome thumb exercises to help you with the flashlight, so you can build strenght and endurance while turning on and off the light. Bow flex may have what I’m looking for. We need to start slow on your training so lactic acid doesn’t build up in your thumb, causing thumb cramps due to overuse and not enough oxygen getting to your digit. I’ll start working on your program.
I WILL BE BAKING THE COOKIES FOR THE MILK.
Well Jersey, if your going to bake cookies make sure you wash your hands after holding the cows tail.
Fishing seminars are more my thing. I’m not as familiar with the cow milking workshop, but I’m will to try. I feel like if we all get together in a workshop we’ll teach each other. What do you think?
Well if Rena teaches the milking class we might end up with more milk on us than in the bucket since she has so much ‘fun squirting each other with the warm milk.’!!
We can always wear our fishing rain gear while we milk the cows. That will keep us nice and dry.
I HAVE FAITH IN YOU.
SIGN ME UP! Ive been told by my husband” you cant talk and catch fish at the same time”,,,so I figured this seminar could help me and my talking to the fish problem…also Debi mentioned Milking 101..I quess I was busy in home ec. sewing and crocheting..so I missed that class…When does the milking and fishing start Im ready!.. oh do I need to bring my own worms?, If so we have a problem..(worms)..dj
Your husband is right. You shouldn’t talk loud while fishing. Next time you’re fishing and you want to talk tell your husband to fish the lines really deep in the water so the fish want hear what you saying. The type of fishing I mainly did was trolling. The boat is still running so talking while fishing wasn’t an issue. I wish you the best of luck on your next fishing trip and if I can help please let me know.God Bless!We’ll supply the worms and the cows when we start these classes.:)
Jersey, I told you that I would teach you how to change a tire, milk a cow, catch a fish, take the fish off the hool without touching it,clean and cook the fish,take care of chickens, and most importantly rope a stray horse AKA Mr.Ed without harming him. Thanks for being a great friend.
Say, Chickenfarmer! You don’t happen to have JERSEY cows, do you?
Just wondering~~~~~~~~
Now I thought a horse wore a halter and a dog wore a collar. What is this Mr. Ed really??
MR ED IS A STRAY HORSE WHERE CHICKEN FARMER LIVES. I WANTED TO TAKE HIM HOME BUT HE WOULD NOT FIT IN THE CAR. HE IS THE NEIGHBORHOOD SECURITY.
Thanks for the info Jersey. Does Mr.Ed, the neighborhood watch horse, have any other stray friends? That way Needles could sit on a blanket on him and I could sit on one of his friends!
I am a city girl, by nature! I am concerned that I might get my stiletto heels mussed up in the barn. And I don’t know much about OLD MAC DONALD’S “E I E I O”! But I wasn’t born yesterday, you know! SO…Come on~~~~Ladies! Who has EVER heard of a WATCH HORSE?!!!! OR worse yet, a WATCH CHICKEN?
I think this is a wonderful story! I’m just wondering….do you plan to eat your chickens one day?(if so, give me a call, I love fried chicken) The eggs sure are good! Chicken farmer is amazing how much she can do, anyone can learn from her. I’m looking forward to learning all I can now about chicken farming, egg eating, and fishing. What a great friend to have.
Needles, you know if I decide to cook these chickens, I’ll call you. Someone will have to help me chase the chickens down, kill and clean the chickens. After you help me with that, then you can help me fry the chickens. I believe in team work. Thanks for being such a great friend.
I WILL BE THERE FOR THIS ONE, AFTER THE OOOH ME OOOH MY. WE WILL SEE HOW FAR SHE GETS, SHE JUST MIGHT GO HUNGRY. HA HA