By Anahata Iradah
It was only when I became a resident of the small countryside town of Hogansville, Georgia, USA that I finally had the time and space to have chickens. My journey with my chicks has been both inspiring and alarming!
I initially got started with five hens, or so I thought. Two of the initial flock turned out to be boys, and from small beginnings my flock of 100 plus chickens has arisen. I study every day to understand the art of chicken keeping more deeply, and in the beginning, I had an on-line teacher, Patricia Foreman, who wrote a great book called “City Chicks”. I am now in year three or four of my studies.
The first five chickens in my flock were all silkies, totally adorable, soft, fluffy, beautiful, but oh so broody. They sit on eggs 4-5 times per year and this is why my flock grew so quickly. They LOVE to be mothers. Everywhere in the chicken world I hear people say that they can’t incubate their eggs because their hens have had the broodiness bred out of them. I have the opposite problem. My hens only have to walk past an egg and their broody hormone takes over and they hunker down for the 21 days it takes before the baby emerges from the egg. They pluck their breast feathers from their own bodies where there is contact with the eggs so that their skin touches the egg(s) in order to have direct communication with the chick inside the egg. Mother hen has to turn the eggs many times throughout the day to keep the chick in the correct position. She sends soothing sounds to her chicks and she listens intently for the moment when the chick is preparing to emerge into this world. It is an act of total selflessness. For 21 days many of them do not move from the egg or eggs. If they do move it is for the briefest time to take a dust bath and eat. They are totally absent of a “self” and in total surrender to the life forming underneath them. It is amazing.
Of course it doesn’t end there. Once the chicks are born she teachers them everything. She protects them, makes tiny bite size morsels for the babies to eat and they sleep under her at night, warm and snug. I think it is something to behold, the dedication, the simplicity, the authenticity. She doesn’t want to be anywhere else. Her mind does not wander! She rises with the chick at dawn and guards them all day long, completely content to be Mother Hen.
During my chicken studies we explored a project called the Vermont Compost Company, where an army of a thousand chickens turned mountains of food scraps from the city of Montpelier’s institutions, into the finest compost in the world. As my flock grew, I realized that I wanted my flock to be engaged in the right livelihood of helping to keep the food residue out of the land fill. If the chickens eat the food instead of it going into the land fill, then compost is produced. Otherwise that food residue (which is 21% of every land fill) becomes part of the carbon emissions that go into the atmosphere producing methane. The chickens instead can convert the food into compost to grow our flowers and veggies. Much better! Everyone is happy. The circle is complete and can begin again.
So this is what I have been doing on a small scale. I have a local bed and breakfast and the local coffee shop save me all their scraps and the chicks turn it into compost. But my dream is to do this on a much larger scale, and have Troup County, where I live, divert much of the food away from the landfills and into a dedicated place where my army of Angel Chicks will convert it into compost. If you watch my short 5 minute film it shows the process in a little more detail.
One of the really great things about this project is that the males have a place. In our modern chicken world outside, males are mostly killed. They have no place, no use. I have not been able to let my boys go. They are family too and, by and large, partly because my chickens are almost all bantams (small chickens), I don’t have many problems with lots of roosters in the same yard. It is the same at the Vermont Compost Company, the boys, girls and babies all do the same work! They eat the food, fertilize the ground and convert the institutional food waste into compost. I LOVE the idea of including everyone, no one left outside, everyone contributing.
I feel as if becoming a chicken keeper is completing my humanity. I have always loved animals and considered them as my best friends, but I had never had an animal that produced my breakfast before! The first egg that was laid in my yard was like a precious jewel, in fact around that time I began to call my house Angel Farm. I felt as if gifts were coming from heaven. Each time one of the girls lays an egg the whole flock goes off in a cheerful chorus of celebration.
I find myself caught in this vortex of jungle energy. Some of the clever birds will sneak in through my kitchen, to finish off any kibble left over from the breakfast of the cats. Then one particular threesome will parade through the house and ask to be let out of the front door where they will stay much of the day. They all have their favorite rituals and, from time to time, the rituals will progress and evolve. I am definitely front and center in their story line. When I arrive home in my car, and get out of the car, just as the chorus rises when an egg is laid, I get a similar chorus of delight. I get the feeling that when I am around all is well in their world.
My latest proud accomplishment is that I have just mastered the art of fermenting their food, so that each morsel is turned into a probiotic feast of deliciousness. My day and their day are intricately woven. As the sun sets earlier and earlier each day I must adjust my schedule so that I can close the doors to their houses at dusk. Chickens are night blind and predators can cause immense damage after dark. So I am there for them with the sunrise and sunset. Sometimes I just go out into the garden to watch them take their dust baths, preen, chase each other, to watch the boys do their courting dance with the girls, to watch the girls decide which rooster will earn her affections.
The eggs are an enormous plus. They are delicious and my girls cannot lay enough to supply the many people who do not want to eat anybody else's eggs than my Angel Eggs!
To view the YouTube video related to this story, please click here.