Feathered friends are the best.
My flock is in many ways how I recharge my batteries, ground myself, and take time to relax.
I like to sit with the flock and drift away from the daily grind.
I love the way they greet me with their curious eyes connecting with mine.
This week, I want to hear the leaves rustling the wind.
Revel in the splendor of the autumn colored leaves, as they crisp and crunch with the squirrels, feverishly hiding nuts for a winter’s meal.
Listen to the flock with their coos, clucks and squawks when someone gets annoyed. I want to watch them do silly things- boneless yoga while dust bathing, discovering a tasty worm and announcing it to the world, checking out a new treat, catching their glimpse in the mirror and wondering who they see.
Breathe in the crisp fall air and feel the chill in my lungs and see my breath suspended in the air for just a moment.
Feel the coolness of the earth go through my jeans, while sitting on an old tree stump by the coop.
Enjoy the girls pecking seeds from my hands. Feeling those gentle pecks and the other hens that peck so hard that you can feel their determination. Sometimes, it makes me jump.
I want to hold my girls close, stroke their feathers and together drift off into a total state of relaxation.
I want to watch them scuttle and wobble among the leaves. Scratching to their little hearts content on the latest chicken treasure hunt.
I want to believe that tomorrow will be a better day. I know it will.
My feathered friends make me believe.
XO– Melissa
How does spending time with your feathered friends touch your heart and make a difference in your life? I’d love to know. Share a comment below.
12 thoughts on “Feathered Friends: Backyard Chickens”
I feel the same way you do – they are such a job to be with.
Absolutely!
It is very relaxing for me to sit out in the garden and watch the chickens go about their search for tidbits. The mad dash when I open the chicken pen is always funny, seeing them run and fly about the garden in the first wild joy they show after the boredom of being cooped up! It’s nice to make them happy after a work day, but kind of sad that the days are so much shorter and their time out doesn’t last to long.
Oh yes, I love these times too. It is getting dark here around 4:30 in the afternoon. So difficult. I try to give my girls lots of boredom busters to help ease the winter blues.
I love chicken hugs – a hug after a bad day is such a relief. Even after a good day! I grew up with horses and they were my refuge. Now it’s my chickens!
Oh definitely! They are so soothing to the soul.
I love my girls…. My new ones are getting on and figuring things out. They sure come a running when I call Chicky Chicky…. treats are coming…..
My girls do the same thing. They learn from the older ones for sure. Good habits and bad! LOL! Treats are definitely a motivator for sure.
this might be a nonrelated question but can non fertilized eggs hatch? im going by my moms email
No unfertilized eggs cannot hatch. However, if you keep a rooster, you must assume that all eggs are fertilized.I hope this helps.
thanks
Hi Melissa,
I just found your blog and have spend an amusing half hour reading your musings about your flock! Thank you so much, I can really connect to what you say! I have a little flock of bantams in my garden in Cologne, Germany, and I love spending time with them and even feel like I somehow belong to the flock! ;o) They are such great pets, amusing, sociable and have so much more personality than the public gives them credit for!
In Germany there are not many people who are keeping a few chickens, so you don’t have many blogs or websites with advice and even finding a vet for them was not easy. All my friends and colleagues think I am mad, when I tell stories from my “girls”, but I don’t care!
Greetings from Germany
Mairi