For years, my ex and I had chickens in the back yard. Actually, they were in a pen, and the yard was at the back end of the house, but even with the house from the road. (Our house was longer than wide, and the long side was toward the road.) My parents had also had a chicken yard for several years, out near the old barn. However, my brothers took care of them!

The chickens had to be fed daily, and the water had to be changed, also. We used scratch grain, for the most part, but sometimes had "mash" for them, too. They had a big pine tree for shade, and a pear tree on the other side of the pen from the pine tree, which was outside of the pen. And the chicken house was partly in the pen and partly out of it; the front side held their feed.

Usually, unless the children were at home at the right time, I ended up feeding the chickens. Sometimes, I had to get my ex to do it, because we had one rooster who would fly at me the instant I set foot in the pen. I hated that rooster, but he was the one who was the "daddy" of most of the baby chicks, so my ex kept him around. When he got too old and ornery, though, he finally was caught and his head chopped off. But he was so tough, by then, that we couldn't eat him!

Chicken pens have a tendency to get nasty, especially during the fall and winter. And since ours was on a slope, going in and out was quite often a matter of holding on to something to try to keep from sliding down! But we usually made it OK. In the spring, a little grass might come up, but they would usually pull it and eat it, so nothing green stayed in the ground very long, except the pear tree. And they LOVED to roost in it! And if any pears fell on the ground, they would peck on them.

But the worst thing, of course, was the occasional snake in the nests! For that reason, alone, I truly HATED to go in and check for eggs anywhere near dark! Usually, by then, I would take a flashlight with me, and have something in my hand to hit with! We also found a 'possum and a raccoon in there-not both at once, but at different times.

However, having fresh eggs any time we wanted them was worth all the trouble and fear. And we had fresh chicken, too, quite frequently! And when the children all three raised broilers for the fair one year, we ended up with almost a hundred broilers to kill, clean, and freeze at one time; my son had been given an extra 25 from somewhere to raise at the same time! He won third prize with one of his broilers that year.

We don't raise chickens, but may at some time. Right now, we are both far too busy with other things to even think about them. But we do already have tomato plants in the garden, and will be planting some peas and peppers, etc., before long! That's when that poultry manure would certainly come in handy!

Learn more about this author, Barbara A. Black.
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