The Minnesota Farm Woman

One of my old hens is getting ready to pass into that great field in the sky. She is part of a larger group of chickens that were given to me a couple of years ago. Because it was hard to name a group of hens that all looked alike and all came at the same time, I refer to all of them as “Mama”.  All are still alive except for one, who was tragically killed by a neighboring dog.  This group lives a rather charmed life. They joined my little chicken family when they were old and beyond their prime egg-laying years. I feed them, clean their coop, keep them warm in the winter, let them roam in the grass in the summer, and they reward me with an occasional egg. Occasional being the key word. Most of them are crabby and peevish, squawking and pecking at the younger hens who dare get near the food. They make sure that they get first choice of all the vegetable scraps brought in, jostling and pushing the others out of the way. I was cleaning out the coop the other day on a warm and sunny afternoon. I opened the run so they could get a little freedom.  All of the chickens rushed outside except Mama. She poked around, listless, tail down, watching the others look for worms in the lawn. A funny thing happened, though. After the initial rush outside, one of the young hens came back into the run. She had carried in a worm and laid it at Mama’s feet. Mama quickly gobbled it up and for a moment, moved around a little more quickly.  As the sun warmed the straw in the run, the chickens came in to catch some rays. Mama got the prime spot, and the others gathered around her, occasionally lightly pecking her as if to say “Come on, Mama….snap out of it!”   I don’t know how long she’ll last, but Mama seems comfortable and well-loved.  It seems that in many ways, chickens are a lot like humans. As we get older, we want nothing more than a warm home with food delivered every day, even though we are not able to work as much as we used to.   We may get peevish and peckish on occasion, but who can blame us when there always seems to be some young chick hanging around, just waiting to replace us?  We like to sit out in the sunshine with our friends. We sometimes don’t play well with others.  When we are tired, lonely, or not feeling well, it gives us a lift when  someone comes in to give us a treat.  It is even more wonderful when that someone is perhaps one that we haven’t always gotten along with, and at the end of our days, lets us know that all is forgiven.