Eggciting News From Three Geese Farm!

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The girls have arrived.

Last Sunday, we made the one-hour journey to Alba, population 473, up by Lake Fork. From there we crisscrossed several country roads and finally spied a sign: Chickens for Sale. A pleasant young couple and two dogs came out to greet us in front of a fenced shipping container that had been converted into a giant chicken coop. There was a whole lot of clucking going on that afternoon from 125 Cinnamon Queen laying hens, all sporting various patterns of burnt orange and white feathers.

We had lined a dog crate with newspaper (print still has its uses), put the seats down in the SUV and spread out a tarp beneath the crate. Chickens are not housebroken. Not even close.

The Cinnamon Queen is a hybrid chicken breed, a cross between a Rhode Island Red rooster and a Rhode Island White hen. (Yankee chickens.) It is a relatively new breed. Cinnamon Queens are excellent egg layers, usually docile in demeanor, and are highly social, according to what I read.

Of course, I knew none of this before we arrived at the Alba farm. A retired county agent buddy who knows we were looking for laying hens sent a screenshot Saturday night. The couple was ready to sell some hens for a quite reasonable price of $15 apiece. I called the fellow straight up and agreed to head to his farm the next afternoon.

“We’ll take four,” I announced after a quick inspection, figuring that was a good start for our newly built coop. (That is the topic of last week’s piece. Click here to read.) While I served as gatekeeper of the dog crate, the chicken farmer waded into the herd with a fishing net. The Cinnamon Queens were not pleased with this turn of events and kicked up quite a fuss, trying to get away from this dude with a net. But he clearly has experience and soon netted two hens, pulling them out and holding them upside down for my inspection. “Looks good to me,” I said. In truth, they all looked alike. Soon four fine-looking hens, about 13 months old, were in the crate and my wallet was $60 lighter.

The girls didn’t make a peep or cluck on the drive home. Meanwhile, my Beautiful Mystery Companion had researched what type of chickens we had acquired before we left the chicken farm’s driveway. We had already settled on names before even buying any hens, and our choices turned out to be appropriate for the breed: Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, and June Carter Cash – queens of country music.

The trouble is, I can’t tell one hen from another, which makes naming them problematic. (Naming chickens is actually less useful than naming cats. But it’s what we do.) My BMC and daughter Abbie plan to use nontoxic fingernail polish in four different shades so we can identify which one is June Carter Cash, etc.

The girls seem happy in their new abode, which is spacious and clean. I spread fresh pine shavings six inches deep. We bought a galvanized feeder and water container. During the first torrential rain since they arrived at Three Geese Farm, Dolly and company stayed safe and dry. They seem to be eating well and are slowly getting used to our presence when we go inside the coop. Soon, we will let them roam outside in the daytime. Their coop is surrounded by a shiny new black chain-link fence. I half-jokingly tell folks if we start selling eggs, the price is going to be about $50 a dozen to recoup (recoop?) our costs.

Two days after the hens arrived, right after the storm passed, my BMC sent me a photo while I was still at work in the library. It was a selfie of her holding a brown egg. This was very eggciting news! (Sorry. Egg puns are irresistible.) The sole egg sits in a bowl on the kitchen counter. Maybe we should have it bronzed, being the first egg and all.

We are on the hunt for a few more laying hens of different breeds, so we can have a variety of colors of both hens and their eggs. I am optimistic that store-bought eggs will soon be a thing of the past for us.

I enjoy standing outside the coop, peering in, watching their behavior, listening to them talk to each other. They are beautiful, interesting creatures. Getting a steady supply of farm fresh, organic eggs is a bonus.

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