We went back to the Tractor
Supply Animal Swap
on Easter weekend, not because we wanted more chickens, but because it
seemed like a good way to piggy-back on their attendees for our plant swap. I had to take a
stroll around and look at the animals, though, and was quite struck by
these posturing, double-decker roosters.
My eye was also caught
— again — by the unconventional
ways chicken-sellers had come up with for transporting and housing
their birds temporarily at the swap. The silkies at the top of
this post definitely seemed quite content in their topless
enclosure. Their owners explained that the silkies won’t fly at
all, prompting me to wonder if one of our readers was right in saying
the breed would make good orchard
hens.
(Not the particular silkies pictured, though, since I believe those are
all roosters.)
Meanwhile, a couple of
other hens were more cramped but doing okay in a
rubbermaid-bin-turned-chicken-carrier. This carrier is a similar
design to our most recent homemade
chicken carrier and
would be similarly cheap if you had an old rubbermaid bin on hand.
We came home with five
dozen eggs we’d gotten in exchange for a bunch of thornless
blackberries. The previous owner of the eggs spends about $250
per month on chicken feed — now that’s a chicken enthusiast.
Mark gave him one of our chicken waterers to make care of his
extensive flock a little easier.
