Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Besides feeding you breakfast, chickens are always good for a laugh
.
Turns out this isn't asking too much because nowadays people are keeping chickens in
places no one considers cliché. Young couples in suburbia have Ameraucanas perching
on flowerpots and kids racing past Wyandottes when they fly out the back door to jump
into the car for football practice. They're keeping these birds because they want to know
where their food comes from, sure, but they're also keeping them because having chick-
ens is fun and easy, and it's hard to be bored mowing your lawn when a trio of hens is
waddling behind you for the free salad bar.
COMING HOME TO CHICKENS
I grew up in a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania where the keeping of livestock
was verboten. Oddly enough, my mother grew up in that same town in the 1960s—and
every house on her childhood block had a coop in the backyard. But somewhere along
