For most of you who read my blog and facebook page, you know by now that I am keeping chickens in our backyard. As a proud "mama" to "my girls", there's more story to tell about them than just their names. When we first saw the property in April, it was love at first sight {more about the history of the house in future blog post}. The old house is beautiful with a good size of land to plant herbs and vegetables, raise half a dozen chickens {I repeat 6 chickens!}, and keep a colony or two of bees. When we toured the main house, we felt that it was calling our names {NO, of course not in a creepy or hunted way - otherwise I was out of there even before Jayvee can say my name}. Then we were led outside in the backyard and that's when I saw this ....
The property has a built-in chicken coop with 20 live chickens in it! OMG as in literally I said "Oh my God you are answering my prayers, aren't You? I only want 6 chickens but You are giving me 20!" and I started crying. The real estate agent probably thought i'm nuts and JV said I guess you just made a sale - the chickens sealed the deal!!! BUT the story of my girls is just starting....
The Boss up there didn't just gave me ordinary chickens. He gave me hens who are ex battery hens. Huh? Battery what?
The Canadian Coalition of Farm Animals (CCFA) has this to say about ex battery hens :
"Most eggs in Canada are produced under intensive factory farm conditions where hens are confined in small, over-crowded cages for their entire life. The hens are unable to perform any of their natural behaviours such as roosting, making nests, or even walking. The cages are so cramped they cannot even spread their wings. Many birds suffer broken bones, aggression from other birds, hunger, feather loss, and foot ailments. After one year, when the birds have reached their peak production average of 6 eggs per week, they are sent to slaughter."
In short my girls are rescued from slaughter houses. Patrick (our house's previous owner) saved them from sure death, build them a beautiful house and nourished them back to health to enjoy whatever is left of their remaining chicken lives in a more comfortable and suitable surroundings. What a real "ChikenJoy"! (no pun intended Jollybee}
Jayvee and I took this chicken adoption seriously. Just like other pet adoption, this one comes with responsibilities. We want to continue {if not surpass} what Patrick has kindly started so we spend time, effort and some financial resources to make the girls comfortable and well taken cared of. As much as we can ,we try to provide them the luxury they missed during their "hard labour days" as battery hens. From the crowded cages at the egg farms, they now live here in newly painted and spacious "La Grand Maison du Poulet" {The Grand Chicken House}.
La Grand Maison has three sections. Below is the Maison de Ville {the town house} where they roost, make their nest and lay their beautiful eggs.
Adjacent to the Maison de Ville is the Bistrot Poulet {Chicken Bistro} where their meals and other seasonal treats are served early morning and at dusk.
The west end of the Bistrot is the Jardin du Poulet (Chicken Garden} where they can do dust bathing to their hearts' content. A healthy and good smelling chicken needs to take a dust bath on a regular basis. The first time I saw my girls do this, I thought they are dying! It is one of the most unusual things I've ever seen. During the act of dusting, the hens will get as much dirt as they can all over their bodies. down to the base of their feathers. This in turn actually cleans the chicken and will asphyxiate pests that may prey on them.
Just last Saturday, hubby lovingly added some soil and sand in their garden. During the process, the girls were so delighted picking on worms and insects! After about 20 minutes of "worm festival", some of the girls retreated to their nests and gave us 4 eggs as if returning the favor.
Visiting the coop 2 times a day {sometimes three} is pure bliss and joy. The chickens may think that they make us {and some friends} happy for the eggs they produce daily but more than that I'm thankful for them for bringing out the compassion and kindness in animals in me. Traits that my sister {who by the way is feeding numerous stray cats daily}and I got from our parents. We are thankful for witnessing one of God's daily miracles after the hens lay their eggs. We are blessed to be given the resources to provide for these farm animals in their second lease on life.
Some of our girls will go to pet heaven by next spring {we lost the two oldest already}. We will miss them of course but we will make sure to save other chickens {well, at least some of them} from the slaughter house by adopting a new batch in spring. Hubby and I and the rest of the girls will be happy to welcome the newbies to their new home ...
