Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Gossip, Rumors, and Big Fat Lies
I feel obligated to give a friendly warning: when you start telling friends and coworkers
about your new livestock adventures, skeptics of backyard chickens (and you'll meet
quite a few) will try to be overly helpful. Unfortunately, their idea of “helpful” will be
telling you what a horrible idea it is to get chickens. I will only say this once, and I mean
it with every fiber of my being: they are wrong.
Some well-meaning but poorly informed people may make heartfelt interventions to
save you from a future of bib overalls. They will say the word chicken very much like
they'd say sewer rat . Chickens? That just isn't what normal people do, is it?! They'll
wave their hands dramatically and warn you that chickens are some giant commitment.
They'll scold you, telling you that hens are a needless expense. They'll tell you that
chickens are too eccentric for suburbia or too smelly for your urban 10 × 20 plot. Occa-
sionally someone will raise an eyebrow and ask, “Can't you just buy eggs?” and look at
you with sincere pity that you'd even consider such a ridiculous notion. Some kind but
clueless souls will be concerned that you can't afford eggs in their prepackaged Styro-
foam containers at the store. Bless their hearts.
SEPARATING FACT FROM FICTION
I'd like to take a moment to exonerate the fine hen from some of the other smack talk
going on behind her back. For an animal as common as the chicken, it constantly amazes
me how ignorant the average person is about them.
For example, a woman who wanted birds for years but never went about getting layers
explained that roosters weren't allowed within her town's limits due to the noise issue.
(We would agree that is a bummer but understandable). She went on to explain that she
wanted chickens for eggs, not meat, and without a rooster they wouldn't lay, so it was
pointless.
CHICKEN LINGO
Hen: An adult female chicken
Rooster: An adult male chicken, sometimes called a cock
Search WWH ::




Custom Search