HeidiGetsChicks
Songster
- Apr 15, 2023
- 94
- 291
- 116
I need a place to share chicken stories, both of my own current flock and from growing up. Something in another thread reminded me of this one from when I was a kid...
First, some background info. I was 5 years old and we had just moved to Cameroon, which is a country in west Africa. We were right on the equator, bordering Nigeria, in a very remote area only reachable by several days on foot through rough terrain or by helicopter.
Our house in the village was a simple mud brick construction with no plumbing, electricity, doors or windows. Chickens, goats and the occasional cat roamed freely through. During a torrential downpour it was particularly difficult to shove them back outside.
Anyway, our very first day there, we were completely new to this area, to these people, to this culture, and to chickens. And....there were chickens nesting inside the house. Our house. Two of them, actually.....on the same nest.
Two chickens, one nest full of eggs. Inside our house with just open holes as windows and doorways.
Oh, the ruckus was unbelievable. They fought day in and day out over which one of them would sit on the nest. My parents didn't know what to do; they were worried about making a cultural blunder so we just survived it the first few days. The chickens got a room all to themselves and our family of four all slept on the dirt floor in the next room.
I distinctly recall one day while we were eating the ruckus suddenly went silent and I ran in to check on them. The two hens had decided to share the nest, sitting side by side, each covering half of it. I thought it was adorable.
I don't remember exactly how many days went by, but we noticed mites were invading the rest of our house from the room with the nest and I think that was the last straw for my parents, who very cautiously and apologetically explained to our neighbors that we aren't accustomed to living with chickens, and asked how we could proceed to get them out of our house.
I remember the villagers deftly dividing the eggs - they apparently were able to tell which eggs belonged to which hen. I don't recall what happened after that, but my guess is they resettled the chickens with their respective clutches elsewhere. I've never seen or heard of them eating eggs in that area despite malnutrition due to lack of protein, as chickens were considered far more valuable.
That was my very first introduction to raising chickens!
First, some background info. I was 5 years old and we had just moved to Cameroon, which is a country in west Africa. We were right on the equator, bordering Nigeria, in a very remote area only reachable by several days on foot through rough terrain or by helicopter.
Our house in the village was a simple mud brick construction with no plumbing, electricity, doors or windows. Chickens, goats and the occasional cat roamed freely through. During a torrential downpour it was particularly difficult to shove them back outside.
Anyway, our very first day there, we were completely new to this area, to these people, to this culture, and to chickens. And....there were chickens nesting inside the house. Our house. Two of them, actually.....on the same nest.
Two chickens, one nest full of eggs. Inside our house with just open holes as windows and doorways.
Oh, the ruckus was unbelievable. They fought day in and day out over which one of them would sit on the nest. My parents didn't know what to do; they were worried about making a cultural blunder so we just survived it the first few days. The chickens got a room all to themselves and our family of four all slept on the dirt floor in the next room.
I distinctly recall one day while we were eating the ruckus suddenly went silent and I ran in to check on them. The two hens had decided to share the nest, sitting side by side, each covering half of it. I thought it was adorable.
I don't remember exactly how many days went by, but we noticed mites were invading the rest of our house from the room with the nest and I think that was the last straw for my parents, who very cautiously and apologetically explained to our neighbors that we aren't accustomed to living with chickens, and asked how we could proceed to get them out of our house.
I remember the villagers deftly dividing the eggs - they apparently were able to tell which eggs belonged to which hen. I don't recall what happened after that, but my guess is they resettled the chickens with their respective clutches elsewhere. I've never seen or heard of them eating eggs in that area despite malnutrition due to lack of protein, as chickens were considered far more valuable.
That was my very first introduction to raising chickens!
Thanks for sharing!!
