How Many Chickens?

When I mention the chickens at Old Frog Pond Farm, people always ask how many? But the truth is, I really don't know. I don't count. I simply enjoy them. They can be sweet companions. During my first summer on the farm, I would check for eggs several times a day. On a beautiful day the chickens roam outside of their already expansive, fenced in yard to scratch under the catalpa, dig through the dense bittersweet, or even to cross the road into the orchard. By evening, it's hard to know if they have all returned.

For, as the shadows lengthen, the hens know that it is time to return to the coop. Once inside, they find their roosting positions for the night. There is a hierarchy in the hen house. Everyone has his or her place. Some hens like to roost in strange places; this is a known fact. One likes the top of the old water tank, another always chooses the top of the waterer, a few stay in the large laying box, and the others take their places somewhere on the roosting platform in rows four deep.

The roosters, on the other hand, are easy to count because there are so few. You don't need roosters to keep a henhouse; but there are always several who arrive even in an order of all female chicks. The hatchery promises 90 percent accuracy. Experts with a keen eye can sex a day-old chick by their vent. And some breeds can be sexed by their color at the time of hatching. I never order males, which are considerably cheaper, or a straight run (hatched both sexes), but do look forward to receiving a few males (cockerels) because these birds will develop much more striking features than the females (pullets) - longer tail feathers, colorful headdresses, capes, and long, sharp talons. With such beauty, it is hard to part with them as long as they don't become aggressive towards people or the hens.

Besides, they are fascinating to watch. When they want to have sex with a hen, they are relentless. They will chase her all around the yard, then jump on her back and pin her to the ground. Some of the popular hens have the feathers worn off from the small of their backs. It's not a pretty sight. Even when a hen is sitting on an egg - a rooster will go over and jump her. Sometimes it almost feels as if they are showing off. When I am collecting eggs, it is always the largest rooster, a Buff Cochin, the one with feathers on his legs that make him look as if he's wearing long pants, who immediately finds a hen to mount. A few seconds later he's off running around and the hen resumes her activity.