CHICKENS: IT'S A LOVELY RIDE

Yesterday, as I stood by the grave where my father and I had just buried my big, beautiful, gentle, and kind Cochin Rooster, I considered the chicken journey I have travelled for the last 7 years.

This friendly, engaging, and noisy Rooster was a large part of that experience. He was the epi-center. His name was Mr. Coshie.

Mr. Coshie was one of the ambassadors of my farm.

I started with 17 babies back in the springtime of 2013.

Continue reading

  1. Binky Thorsson says:

    I agree 100% with your share! Enjoyed every bit of your story, and photos! From one chicken lover to another, thanks for sharing out passion with your followers ☺

  2. Carol says:

    I bought some chickens last year that I truly hope I can get baby chicks from this year.My egg production has gone down, but I also do not have a light on them for the winter. I am still getting a few a week.

  3. Drucilla Weiland says:

    Loved your story. You are so right about having everything ready before you order. I once, many years ago, had 300 chicks in a refrigerator box in my basement!!

  4. Jan says:

    Started with turkeys – hatched in An incubator- 2 different batches hatched only 1 chick so i had to purchase a chicken chick to grow up with
    Wonderful wonderful
    I have a blue barred rock for brown eggs
    A americana for a green egg and they out lay my turkeys far and away.
    I’d like to write an article one day –
    I’d tell everyone do it !!

  5. Heike says:

    Love this!
    I live in Suburbia, and have 6 in my coop, two of them are old ladies. I let them out to roam once a day, even though their coop is spacious. One thing I tell everyone: CHICKENS POOP. Everywhere.

    🙂 I love them though. Good idea to get a first aid basket too. I am nursing one with with a foot infection right now. They can get things, just like any other pet, and we don’t have lots of chicken Vets in suburbia :).

  6. Bonnie I says:

    I had chickens when we had our farm. They are absolutely entertaining! Sometimes when dinner and all chores were done I would drag a chair around and watch the chickens play. Much better than TV!!

  7. Mary Rauch says:

    I have to find out someday, “where/what is the source of your never-ending well of love?” … It never seems to go dry! How do you do it? What a blessing for you, and for all of us!
    I enjoyed hearing you make reference to your Dad. I wondered if the parents were alive and well since I had not seen any reference to them for a long time. Thanks for another heartwarming story of another facet of your life. I really enjoyed this.
    Any time you want to tell us about your current surroundings and changes made in your everyday routine, it will be interesting to hear. Your voice sounds “longing” when you speak of the deep snow. Thanks for sharing.

  8. Julia G Garnant says:

    Dear Rebekah, Thank you for the wonderful “chicken tale”. My husband bought a few books about chicken raising for me for Christmas, and since we can’t have them in the city we now live in, I’m ready to roll when we find our retirement home in the countryside in the next two years. I like your comment that what starts out as yours remains yours – I have 4 out of 10 rescue cats left, one is 18 and on thyroid meds., but is still a love. Take care and God bless. (I turn to your article first when I receive Mary Jane magazine to check to see how your are doing – things sound great!) Julia

  9. Donna Kozak says:

    Like you, I love my chickens ! The Cochin rooster we once had (he was our first) was also very sweet – I wish I could say the same for my present Ancona rooster, Andy, who was previously known as Annie and who we thought was the sweetest little ‘hen’ that would sit on a bench with me and let me feed ‘her’ …so cute.. that is, until ‘she’ started crowing and attacking me every time I entered the coop area. Well, this has been going on for a couple of years now and every once in a while I tell him his days are numbered, but the rest of the family would never forgive me…so, he still stalks me but I have learned not to turn my back on him – and he is so sweet with his girls and he is beautiful !!
    P.S.: I do have a lovely ‘rooster trainer’ tho – a nice little branch !

  10. Sonja says:

    Oh wow!!! I LOVED your post. We got our first chickens in 2013 and we love all we have had. They are all so different. My first ones(Golden Comet) would come up to me and want to be petted. My husband always told people if I wanted to find my wife she would be sitting in the coup with the chickens petting them. They would line up to be petted. We will get new ones in a few weeks. Can’t wait to see what they are like.

  11. Diane Van Horn says:

    Rebekah, I am so sorry for the loss of your beautiful black rooster. He was stunning! I loved the story of your first chickens and really look forward to hearing about the chickens in the camper moving trip! I hope all is well with you at the new (old) farm. I can send you some snow from Wisconsin if you would like.

  12. Jean Fletcher says:

    My chickens are a constant source of conversation amongst my co-workers and even some of the Judges I appear in in front of. I was asked to provide “expert” opinion on whether having a chicken run loose in a house with a toddler was a bad idea. Remember your chicken truth about chicken pooping everywhere. I said of course it was a bad idea for the health of the child, take the chicken outside and let the child enjoy it where it belongs. They all have distinctive personalities and as I complete my 9th year of chickens, I have loved most of it, except when my chicken threw up on me. Yes, chickens can vomit, don’t push on a distended crop!

  13. Marlene Capelle says:

    Well that just made me cry. It was beautiful. Thanks.

  14. Judy From Maine says:

    Loved the chicken post. I don’t have any chickens of my own, but plenty of my neighbors do and I love, love, love the fresh eggs. There is such a difference. Did I miss something? Have you moved from your tree farm? Where ever you are I hope you are happy.

  15. Sandi King says:

    I loved your story. I have had chickens a few times in my life. I have never ordered them online though, always bought from store or swap meet, (used chickens), some just starting to lay and others over a year old. Some days lots of eggs, other days just a few. Lost a few to disease but never to predators, buried in my flower garden. When I was a little girl I had a pet chicken. She had a crippled leg so I did everything for her, like digging holes to lay in the dirt. Other hens would always push her out after she tried so hard to make a hole for herself – they can be mean. A few years ago had some again, but now I don’t but I get fresh eggs from a friend who does have them. Nothing compares to fresh farm eggs. So glad you had a story about your chickens. :Loved the photos also.

  16. Charlene says:

    Fantastic what is there not to love about chickens or chooks as we call them in Australia .
    They make me happy and are the best thing for your garden
    Love Charlene a suburban gardener

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CHICKENS: IT’S A LOVELY RIDE

Yesterday, as I stood by the grave where my father and I had just buried my big, beautiful, gentle, and kind Cochin Rooster, I considered the chicken journey I have travelled for the last 7 years.

This friendly, engaging, and noisy Rooster was a large part of that experience. He was the epi-center. His name was Mr. Coshie.

Mr. Coshie was one of the ambassadors of my farm.

I started with 17 babies back in the springtime of 2013.

Continue reading

  1. Binky Thorsson says:

    I agree 100% with your share! Enjoyed every bit of your story, and photos! From one chicken lover to another, thanks for sharing out passion with your followers ☺

  2. Carol says:

    I bought some chickens last year that I truly hope I can get baby chicks from this year.My egg production has gone down, but I also do not have a light on them for the winter. I am still getting a few a week.

  3. Drucilla Weiland says:

    Loved your story. You are so right about having everything ready before you order. I once, many years ago, had 300 chicks in a refrigerator box in my basement!!

  4. Jan says:

    Started with turkeys – hatched in An incubator- 2 different batches hatched only 1 chick so i had to purchase a chicken chick to grow up with
    Wonderful wonderful
    I have a blue barred rock for brown eggs
    A americana for a green egg and they out lay my turkeys far and away.
    I’d like to write an article one day –
    I’d tell everyone do it !!

  5. Heike says:

    Love this!
    I live in Suburbia, and have 6 in my coop, two of them are old ladies. I let them out to roam once a day, even though their coop is spacious. One thing I tell everyone: CHICKENS POOP. Everywhere.

    🙂 I love them though. Good idea to get a first aid basket too. I am nursing one with with a foot infection right now. They can get things, just like any other pet, and we don’t have lots of chicken Vets in suburbia :).

  6. Bonnie I says:

    I had chickens when we had our farm. They are absolutely entertaining! Sometimes when dinner and all chores were done I would drag a chair around and watch the chickens play. Much better than TV!!

  7. Mary Rauch says:

    I have to find out someday, “where/what is the source of your never-ending well of love?” … It never seems to go dry! How do you do it? What a blessing for you, and for all of us!
    I enjoyed hearing you make reference to your Dad. I wondered if the parents were alive and well since I had not seen any reference to them for a long time. Thanks for another heartwarming story of another facet of your life. I really enjoyed this.
    Any time you want to tell us about your current surroundings and changes made in your everyday routine, it will be interesting to hear. Your voice sounds “longing” when you speak of the deep snow. Thanks for sharing.

  8. Julia G Garnant says:

    Dear Rebekah, Thank you for the wonderful “chicken tale”. My husband bought a few books about chicken raising for me for Christmas, and since we can’t have them in the city we now live in, I’m ready to roll when we find our retirement home in the countryside in the next two years. I like your comment that what starts out as yours remains yours – I have 4 out of 10 rescue cats left, one is 18 and on thyroid meds., but is still a love. Take care and God bless. (I turn to your article first when I receive Mary Jane magazine to check to see how your are doing – things sound great!) Julia

  9. Donna Kozak says:

    Like you, I love my chickens ! The Cochin rooster we once had (he was our first) was also very sweet – I wish I could say the same for my present Ancona rooster, Andy, who was previously known as Annie and who we thought was the sweetest little ‘hen’ that would sit on a bench with me and let me feed ‘her’ …so cute.. that is, until ‘she’ started crowing and attacking me every time I entered the coop area. Well, this has been going on for a couple of years now and every once in a while I tell him his days are numbered, but the rest of the family would never forgive me…so, he still stalks me but I have learned not to turn my back on him – and he is so sweet with his girls and he is beautiful !!
    P.S.: I do have a lovely ‘rooster trainer’ tho – a nice little branch !

  10. Sonja says:

    Oh wow!!! I LOVED your post. We got our first chickens in 2013 and we love all we have had. They are all so different. My first ones(Golden Comet) would come up to me and want to be petted. My husband always told people if I wanted to find my wife she would be sitting in the coup with the chickens petting them. They would line up to be petted. We will get new ones in a few weeks. Can’t wait to see what they are like.

  11. Diane Van Horn says:

    Rebekah, I am so sorry for the loss of your beautiful black rooster. He was stunning! I loved the story of your first chickens and really look forward to hearing about the chickens in the camper moving trip! I hope all is well with you at the new (old) farm. I can send you some snow from Wisconsin if you would like.

  12. Jean Fletcher says:

    My chickens are a constant source of conversation amongst my co-workers and even some of the Judges I appear in in front of. I was asked to provide “expert” opinion on whether having a chicken run loose in a house with a toddler was a bad idea. Remember your chicken truth about chicken pooping everywhere. I said of course it was a bad idea for the health of the child, take the chicken outside and let the child enjoy it where it belongs. They all have distinctive personalities and as I complete my 9th year of chickens, I have loved most of it, except when my chicken threw up on me. Yes, chickens can vomit, don’t push on a distended crop!

  13. Marlene Capelle says:

    Well that just made me cry. It was beautiful. Thanks.

  14. Judy From Maine says:

    Loved the chicken post. I don’t have any chickens of my own, but plenty of my neighbors do and I love, love, love the fresh eggs. There is such a difference. Did I miss something? Have you moved from your tree farm? Where ever you are I hope you are happy.

  15. Sandi King says:

    I loved your story. I have had chickens a few times in my life. I have never ordered them online though, always bought from store or swap meet, (used chickens), some just starting to lay and others over a year old. Some days lots of eggs, other days just a few. Lost a few to disease but never to predators, buried in my flower garden. When I was a little girl I had a pet chicken. She had a crippled leg so I did everything for her, like digging holes to lay in the dirt. Other hens would always push her out after she tried so hard to make a hole for herself – they can be mean. A few years ago had some again, but now I don’t but I get fresh eggs from a friend who does have them. Nothing compares to fresh farm eggs. So glad you had a story about your chickens. :Loved the photos also.

  16. Charlene says:

    Fantastic what is there not to love about chickens or chooks as we call them in Australia .
    They make me happy and are the best thing for your garden
    Love Charlene a suburban gardener

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *