Last Night I Dreamed of Chickens

by Jack Pretlusky

Last night I dreamed of chickens,
there were chickens everywhere,
they were standing on my stomach,
they were nesting in my hair,
they were pecking at my pillow,
they were hopping on my head,
they were ruffling up their feathers

as they raced about my bed.

They were on the chairs and tables,
they were on the chandeliers,
they were roosting in the corners,
they were clucking in my ears,
there were chickens, chickens, chickens
for as far as I could see...
when I woke today, I noticed
there were eggs on top of me.

Well, our feathered friends are gone. We brought them back to the lady we bought our eggs from. We spent about 45 minutes talking with her - she gave us lots more information about chickens and showed us around her farm. She has 12 acres with a beautiful garden, several varieties of horses, goats, chickens, ducks, pea and guinea fowl, cats and dogs. (Today, she had 10 kittens she was trying to find homes for.)

Forty-four years ago she and her husband brought her parents to look at the house before they bought it. When her mother saw the tiny (really tiny) house on a big piece of land, she asked her if she was sure she could be happy there. The woman replied, "I just need to look out my back window, and I know I'll be happy!" I guess she was right. She told me all the animals were her children's 4-H projects that never ended :) She keeps most of the hens, and the roosters she sells for meat. Although when she was sharing this information with me, she was very discreet, assuring Charlie that "Toto" and "Chuck" could keep their names. This was a fun project, and I think we're going to try hatching ducks next year. Here's some video Charlie took while we were driving them to the farm ~




Oh, and she cracked open all the unhatched eggs - 15 were not fertile, and one had a fully formed chicken that never pecked it's way out (Charlie took this photograph)~