Too Chicken

Chickens are tropical birds, having ancestral roots in Southeast Asia and India. Oddly enough, chickens tolerate cold temperatures quite well. This winter, with temperatures hovering around zero and sometimes as low as -12º F, our chickens have shown no ill effects. I’ve read that sometimes a chicken’s comb will get frost bite, but I think that is mostly true for roosters, which have very large combs. Our hens’ little combs show no signs of damage.

Chickens and snow are an entirely different matter. The girls are too chicken to take a single step onto snow. Recently they have had to confine their outdoor life to a slim path that Dennis shoveled to facilitate the daily task of closing and opening the chickens’ little door. Gradually, as the days warm, their little snow-less area is expanding. The girls are patient. They enjoy running around outdoors but they’re willing to stand patiently until the spring thaw expands their tiny world.

Incidentally, there were more than 24 billions chickens on earth in 2003.* That’s more than three chickens for every human being.

* Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken

Copyright 2014 by Shirley Domer