When I was very young, my grandfather raised all sorts of farm animals; cattle, mules and horses, hogs, and various types of poultry. My father went into the dairy business, so we dropped the other animals and concentrated on cows for my teenage years and then into my adult life (and we still have around thirty head). Last year my wife and sons convinced me to buy some poultry, so we now have about twenty five chickens and guinea fowl. We free range them in our barnyard and garden during the day and put them up in a coop at night. Surprisingly social, the members of our small flock fascinate me. Though I am not so sure where poultry ranks on the intelligence scale, they are interesting to watch. Each bird is an individual with its own personality. And, we get close to five dozen fresh eggs a week. More if we can find the guinea nests.
(photographs copyright 2009 by Dan Routh)
