As many of you know, I have been keeping chickens and selling eggs for a few years now. If the latest "food safety" legislation does not put me out of business, I will continue to do so for as long as I can. Chickens are interesting creatures and tending them and watching them as they go about their daily semi-flightless avian business supplies a good bit of the entertainment and joy I get from living in rural New Hampshire.
Since this is the season of giving, I thought I would share an unexpected gift we received this spring. This year, we added a second coop and tripled the size of our flock. At the store where I work, which is also where I get my chicks, we had some left overs after all the orders had been filled. One bird was an odd looking creature that did not appear to be any of the standard breeds which we sell. That was probably the reason why it was left behind; no one knew what it was so it was never used to fill an order.
I am a sucker for the outsider and unwanted, so I paid my $2.25 and took the little bird home. As it continued to grow, we ralized that this was something we had not seen before. Clearly a heavy breed, it was colored differently from anything we had ever seen. I began poring over my poultry references and realized we had something special. This little lady was one of the rarest of the rare: A blue Wyandotte!
Blue Wyandotte chickens are quite rare and breeders charge a large premium for them. To think that we got one because no one knew what it was and thus didn't want it. Perhaps there is a bigger lesson here.
She has grown into a fine hen and has been a joy to have in our flock. I guess that makes he our "blue bird" of happiness. I hope you all find your own.
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| Our Blue Bird of Happiness |
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