My mama loved raising chickens better
than anything besides growing her flowers and always managed to have some when
we were growing up. I can’t remember a time when chickens weren’t running
around scratching all day or hearing the ole hens cackling when they’d laid their
eggs. And there’s nothing like being chased by an ole sittin hen when she gets
the mindset to be ornery when she thinks her chicks might be harmed.
When spring time came in mama kept an eye on
those ole hens when they took off to build their nest. Mama knew where every
nest was and if she didn’t she’d watch them till she knew just about the exact
location. Daddy tickled all of us to
death. He’d stand on the porch and say, “lookie yonder at your mamie, she’ll
follow them ole hens till one of these days she’ll get a snake around her neck.”
There were a lot of varmints to
contend with like hawks, foxes, etc. but that didn’t detour mama from doing
what she loved to do. Sometimes an ole hawk would dive down and grab a baby
chick.
One ole hawk really was bold one day and
dived down in the middle of the yard. Mama run down those steps faster than a
cat could lick and grabbed the first rock she could get her hands on and threw
it straight up at that hawk. The rock didn’t come close to him but it scared
him enough to drop the little chick. The poor little thing died on impact if it
wasn’t already dead. It broke mama’s
heart and she said, “I’ll kill that thing if it’s the last thing I do.” Daddy
wanted to put his two cents in but knew better and turned around and walked
back in the house. Those varmints were brave to show themselves around mama.
When an ole varmint grabbed a hen on
her nest mama would take the eggs and put them under another ole hen. We never
could keep up with how many ole hens and chickens mama really had but she knew
each one of the hens and had most of them named and knew where each one built
their nest.
When it came time for all the baby
chicks to hatch out there’d be several ole hens and their baby chicks running
around to feed and those hens were mean as a striped snake. We knew better to
get their feathers riled.
Those ole
roosters were awfully cocky as well. Mama
never could stand to hear an ole rooster crow in the middle of the day. She
said it meant bad luck. She’d throw rocks at one to get him to stop. It was
usually the young roosters that had just learned how to crow and thought they
were something. Daddy told her that one day she was wasting her time and she
said, “well it’s about time they learned when to crow and I’ll teach em.”
She’d put as many of the ole hens up
in chicken pens as she could and the little ones would go in and out through
the chicken wire till roost time. When the chicks got a little older she’d let
them out of the pen to make room for more. Every now and then a fox would reach
through or under the wire and get one of the hens and leave the babies to fend
for themselves. Mama would catch the babies and put them in a cardboard box and
feed them. She’d take them in the house at night and cover them with an old
rag. They’d peep for a little bit and then get quite as a mouse till morning.
When morning came she’d carry the box back out on the front porch and let them
out for the day.
She did this many times and they thought
of her as their mama cause every evening at about the same time they’d come up
the front door steps looking for mama. Someone would holler here comes your babies
mama. If she was in the house she’d come a trotting. If she was already sitting
on the porch she’d stick her legs out and they’d climb up both legs and onto
her lap. Sometimes they’d climb up on her shoulders. She’d say, “awe, come on
and I’ll put you to bed, I know you’re ready fer it.” She’d carry each one and
place them back in their box till morning. This became a daily routine for mama till they
grew big enough to fend for themselves. They’d grow so big they already had
their little tail feathers and they kept on prancing up those steps for mama to
put to bed. It’d finally get to the
point she had to run them back down the steps and I can just hear her now, “
uns go on now and find ye a place to roost, you’re plenty big enough to fend
fer yourself.”
My uncle was visiting late one summer
evening and was sitting on the porch talking with mama and daddy when a batch
of those chicks came up those steps and walked towards mama. She straightened
her legs out and they climbed up her legs as pretty as you please and onto her
lap. He asked her about it and she told
him they did that every evening wanting to be put to bed. He said he’d never
seen anything like it before in his life. He told mama she had those chicks
spoiled and she said, “spoiled or not, someone has to take care of the little
fellers.”
Mama also loved to raise those pesky
guineas and we all hated those things with a passion, daddy included. An ole
guinea ain’t got any sense and can do the craziest things. When they sit on a
nest of eggs till they hatch out they practically abandon their little ones. We’ve
watched ole guinea hens stand out in the pouring down rain and look straight up
and never try to hunker down so the little ones could get under them and stay
dry. They’d walk around with their head in the air and let the little ones
drown. The only thing they were good for was letting us know when a snake
crawled through the grass. They’d all gather around it and you never heard the
beat and of course the chickens had to join in as well. It’s a wonder the snake
didn’t die of a heart attack on the spot.
They also loved going to the main,
paved road and just stand in the middle of it.
When one or two would meet their waterloo we’d shout in secret for our own sake. She lost quite a few in that road but always managed to triple
even more so come spring.
The only thing an ole guinea is fit
for is keeping bugs off of stuff. They sure did keep the bugs off of mama’s
flowers. They’d even eat ole stink bugs, shewww. I do believe that’s one of the reasons mama
liked to raise them. She sure prided herself on those flowers.
Mama did some funny things when it
came to raising chickens and guineas. When an ole guinea was sitting on a nest
of eggs mama would watch her till she left the nest for a while and then slip
and take those eggs out of the nest and put them under an ole sittin hen while
she was off of her nest. She’d remove all of the hen eggs except ONE and replace
them with the guinea eggs. It was the funniest sight you’ve ever seen to see
that ole hen walking around with a bunch of baby guineas and one little chick
in the bunch.
We always said, there was never a
chicken or guinea that built a nest that mama couldn’t find, even if it meant
going into the snakiest places there were. Mama prided herself on her chickens
and guineas. My mama was an inspiration to us all and even though we didn’t
always understand her motives or love for certain things she sure did know her
stuff and taught us a lot of life lessons along the way.
I love going back to our childhood
home in the spring. I can still hear those ole hens cackling when they lay
their eggs and see them running around with those little chicks behind them and
yes, I can still hear those ole guineas as well. I can also see mama standing
in the yard watching an ole hen take off towards her nest. It’s like turning back time and I’ll always
cherish those sweet memories of mama and her chickens and the ole guineas too.
© Susie Swanson, 2018
Happy Spring everyone !! Sorry my Text is black but I've only got office now because my Microsoft Word went down. I've tried to work with the text but so far no luck. I'm still working with it because I do not like this text color at all . As for spring, where has it gone? The second day of spring and we've had snow showers all day with brutal, cold wind. I'm trying not to complain with so many of you having it far worse and I'm praying for you all. blessings, ~Susie~
