touching the chickens . . .

Today I did not spend any time in that hammock pictured below. Although I should have!

Ildi has been talking about getting some more chickens. She wants to fill the freezer up for the year with meat birds. Nolan says no. He's the one that does most of the chores. I say YES, get more birds . . . we can handle it. Actually, now that we have a few, 47 now, it seems like they are no work at all.

I told Ildi that I would be willing to buy her as many as she wanted and also help Nolan out with the chores of raising them. In reality, I'll have Nolan groom Asher into doing the work. I think one of Nolan's biggest hesitations about getting more birds is that he is not looking forward to butchering them. He's a little squeamish about actually TOUCHING the chickens. The texture of the legs, and the possibility of getting pecked still freaks him out a bit.

Gresham on the other hand has no problem touching the chicks. The other day I let him take one out of the pen and "play" with it. You know, like a toy. Only a live toy. He is so funny, and quite happy to pick them up at any time. He is actually a little rough with them. He still does not understand though that they could actually die. Like the other day when he tried to stick a chick's neck into the cinder block hole. And then there was yesterday when he put one of the 4 week old kittens into the kiddie pool to swim. He is such a hoot! I don't think he will ever remember what it was like to live without having animals around. What a great life for him! And us.