We decided then that Half Dead would be the only cock of the roost.

A few weeks later, we received a very early phone call from a very annoyed Postmaster, saying “Your chicks are here, come get them… now!”

For David, it was like the birth of another child.  He springs out of bed, barely pulling on his blue jeans and runs to the post office for his Christmas-like package. He came home, smiling from ear to ear, waking everyone in the house to come and view his noisy package proudly displayed on the kitchen table.

Did I mention I work from home?  Did I mention, the chicks were now IN the house? Did I mention, 18 one-day old baby chicks peep loudly (David swears they peeped with a Southern drawl)? 

About this time, David decided that chickens have a “pecking order” and fearing the safety of his new chicks, and the comfort of Half-Dead and Curious, he decided that we needed yet another coop and run for the new chickens.

But this time, it would be double the size of the last coop.  So, you guessed it, another trip to Menards and the supplies are getting significantly more luxurious and expensive.  Not one, but two lights.  Storm door, because winter is coming.  And a screen window that has a replaceable storm, because again, winter is coming.

The chickens grew to adulthood, producing more eggs than I know what to do with.  David was wrong about the pecking order, the two groups of chickens merged just fine and Half Dead liked being the only rooster with a whole gaggle of chickens!

 

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs

How many different ways can you cook eggs?  Getting close to 1 ½ dozen eggs per day, I was determined to use this free source of nutrition for my family.

I’ve perfected Potato Salad, make a delicious Deviled Egg, serve Brinner (Breakfast for Dinner) two nights a week, and tried every egg recipe under the sun.  I’ve eBayed egg cookbooks and now have about a dozen (pretty much all have the same recipes).

David takes our lovely brown, pink, green and blue eggs to the Assisted Living Facility in town and the little old ladies go crazy over them!

Friends and family come to the house with empty egg cartons and I fill them all by the time they go home.

I’ve tried freezing the eggs, but the success rate has been marginal.  Good only for cooking, the eggs have a strange slimy consistency.  Since the hens don’t lay over the winter, egg production is seasonally feast or famine.  It doesn’t have do to with the temperature, but the amount of light available during the day. 

“I’ll just leave that light on overnight in the coop and you’ll get eggs during the winter” he exclaims.

Right, and a $300 per month electric bill.  “No, that’s okay, we’ll buy eggs over the winter and store the egg cartons”.  Yeah, I can do math!

While talking on the phone to a client, I see a black dog streak across my window with a chicken in it’s mouth.

I quickly end the call and begin to freak out!  David’s not home, kids are in school, what do I do???  The last time a black dog came to the house it killed all of our chickens (except two).        

Not sure if I should pick up my work phone to call David or run upstairs to shoo away the dog, I decide to run upstairs and grab my cell phone.  David, who is now at the gun club about 8 miles away answers.

“There’s a black dog in the yard eating a chicken” I shriek.

“Grab a gun and go shoot it!” he yells back.

I run into his gun closet.  Did I mention my husband can be obsessive?  David can’t have one gun.  No.  He has dozens of guns.

“Grab the revolver” he yells

So I did.  I ran down the stairs and opened the front door.  This black dog, drops the limp chicken in it’s mouth and looks at me.  I take a deep breath and pull the trigger of the 357 Magnum (I later found out).

Click.

“Damn, it’s not loaded.” I scream.                                                              Continue Reading