Our girls.... yes, even Annabelle with her rooster sized comb and talent for crowing in the early hours (poor love, she's a wee bit confused), have been with us for some time now. It all began back in the spring of 2007 when Miss Z was 2 years old. I built a chook tractor and headed to the local chook auctions to find some 'backyard foul' as my Grandad would call them. I wasn't new to keeping chooks and had in mind what I was after: bantam pullets, easy to handle, beautiful to look at and good layers.
Miss Z and I spent a Sunday morning viewing a shed full of chooks, geese, ducks and turkeys...we had selected 'our girls'. I returned later for the bidding, a little late, but just in time to find a shed full of breeders and poultry fanciers bidding on our Annabelle. So it turned out that I was the late bidding , non- registered (oops), dark horse who had a big grin on her face when the hammer (in this case, pen on clipboard) finally came down. That day I triumphantly returned home with Beatrice, Claudette and Annabelle. So far so good.... we even found an egg in the boot of the car upon arriving home.
I had this crazy idea in my head that the girls would work for us in the vegie garden, rotating round the beds, digging them over, fertilising them and laying eggs in return for kitchen scraps, organic grain and general admiration. Well....4 years down the track things have worked themselves out in a different fashion.
Beatrice and Claudette have since been laid to rest, along with our beautiful Wyandotte Minette who we acquired from our next door but one neighbours, Phillipe the rooster has come and gone and the renegade silky rooster from 2 doors down was sent packing. No vegie gardens were turned over, no chicken tractor was ...well tractored, and no chicken coop was slept in. The girls free range, opted for and still opt for the highest branch on the biggest tree ( I like to call it a woman's instinct), chuckle to themselves while they watch us search for egg treasure and only use the nesting box when they're broody. Now if you've ever owned chooks you'll know what I mean when I say "don't mess with a broody hen".... mama bear energy in all it's glory.
There is something so simple and lovely about the routine and rhythm that the girls have brought into our lives and nothing more lovely than the way Miss Z's love for them has grown with the years. So in return for those kitchen scraps and handfuls of grain we are blessed with golden yolked organic eggs nearly every day and Miss Z's ongoing and sometimes entertaining passion for these feathered friends. Oh yes, these girls have endured and I might even go far as to say enjoyed, nearly 4 years of chook cuddling, chook lullabies, chook storytime, chook swing time, chook tiggy, chook scolding and copious amounts of chook loving.
And what does this little chook lover of mine do when she gets hold of a camera ? Takes photos of her beloved Annabelle ... naturally.
Love quite simply is ... a chook cuddle.