Mmmm my chicken story. Perhaps I should start by confessing that I am a facilitator!!! i was never an animal lover - Im a mum who for 30 odd years believed that pets made mess so I never let my children have more than a gold fish and a budgie :-) Then along came my son. When he was born I was told that he would never walk, talk or even know who I was. For the first 10 months of his life he acted as if that was going to be so - he never rolled or even reached for a toy. He couldnt even eat, he was fed by a tube. Then one day my teenage daughters cat (a stray that my daughter adopted) walked past my son and he rolled to the cat!!! So animals were the motivator!! Soon after we got a therapy dog from the Guide Dog Association and she taught him to walk and became his bestest buddy. When he was 4 I sent him to a preschool for the deaf as his signing had outstripped mine. At preschool they hatched 12 eggs in the classroom (in an incubator made out if a light globe and a styrofoam box). And those chicks were the cause of his saying his first words. Well he fell in love and his love affair has lasted another 15 years and is still going strong. We lived in suburban Sydney where roosters were banned so he went to a high school that had an agricultural department and he bred his beloved chickens there. (Silkies and araucanas) Four years ago we moved to a few acres here in Tasmania just so he could pursue his love of chickens. Contrary to what the doctors predicted he walks, talks and is a very typical 20 year old. He does the work for his animals and my role is facilitator :-) His love is for all things chicken but primarily rare breeds and the odder the better in his opinion hehe for example the greatest excitement this week has been for the hatching of his very first Naked Neck chicks. He actually has a dozen different heritage breeds and we are both always keen to learn more. Since we have been in Tasmania its been a rapid learning curve and we have started over again a couple of times due to quolls and that nasty nasty coryza. But we think we have things finally under control, but always learning.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 07:26:38 +0000
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