There is a lady and gentlemen in my neck of the woods who are now retired, and for years they owned the local country grocery store. AdriAnn, the kids, and I have Himalayan blackberries on our place. Every year, I pick my elderly friends a few gallons of blackberries and take the berries to them. They had sold their store less than a year ago, and while I was unsure of the exact location of their home, I was able to ask and pretty quickly was told. So me and the kids show up at their house with the yearly cashe of fresh picked blackberries and they are happy as a lark in a meadow full of crickets to see us. Unbeknownst to us all those years of knowing them, Ms. Sharon is the ultimate chicken lover and had 6 chicken pens with a total of 65 chickens.
Now the good part... They weren't just any chickens... In one of the pens was 14 chocolate orpingtons, all between 6 and 8 mos old, from two different stock lines.
Now, I know what it means when they say kindness returns to you 10 fold. Ms. Sharon has always loved my kiddos. She has known them since they were little babies. So as we are adoring her flock, she looks at Staven and says, if you and your dad will build a good pen, because they need to be kept separate from your other chickens, I'll give you and Clementine a trio of these chocolate orpingtons. Staven was like, "WHAT!!!!!"
So, I spent Wednesday and Thursday on my days off last week building another super predator proof Fort Chicken, and now, Staven and Clementine (and mom and dad kind of too) are the extremely proud owners of roo, Mr. Fudge, and hens, Hershey, and Latte, our trio of true chocolate orpintons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are nothing short of beautiful!
On an added note, last night, me and the family went to the Faulkner County fair, and there was probably 600-700 chickens in the show barn. How many chocolate orpingtons were entered at the county fair? Absolutely ZERO! We feel very fortunate. I'll get some pics up as soon as I can.
One more added note, in another of Ms. Sharon's pens? A flock of true English orpingtons. The rooster in unbelieveable. He is massive. I said, "What's he worth, about fifteen hundred?" She replied, "Well, a little more than that." She drove 450 miles just to get him.
Lesson here> Always simply be kind to the folks you meet and know.
Now the good part... They weren't just any chickens... In one of the pens was 14 chocolate orpingtons, all between 6 and 8 mos old, from two different stock lines.
Now, I know what it means when they say kindness returns to you 10 fold. Ms. Sharon has always loved my kiddos. She has known them since they were little babies. So as we are adoring her flock, she looks at Staven and says, if you and your dad will build a good pen, because they need to be kept separate from your other chickens, I'll give you and Clementine a trio of these chocolate orpingtons. Staven was like, "WHAT!!!!!"
So, I spent Wednesday and Thursday on my days off last week building another super predator proof Fort Chicken, and now, Staven and Clementine (and mom and dad kind of too) are the extremely proud owners of roo, Mr. Fudge, and hens, Hershey, and Latte, our trio of true chocolate orpintons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are nothing short of beautiful!
On an added note, last night, me and the family went to the Faulkner County fair, and there was probably 600-700 chickens in the show barn. How many chocolate orpingtons were entered at the county fair? Absolutely ZERO! We feel very fortunate. I'll get some pics up as soon as I can.
One more added note, in another of Ms. Sharon's pens? A flock of true English orpingtons. The rooster in unbelieveable. He is massive. I said, "What's he worth, about fifteen hundred?" She replied, "Well, a little more than that." She drove 450 miles just to get him.
Lesson here> Always simply be kind to the folks you meet and know.
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