Are You Ready to Hatch an Unusual Chicken?: List 3

Sam and I put gravel over the wooden floor of the duck house and stapled tinfoil on the walls, while Chris dragged a couple of long metal tubes and a piece of sturdy wire fence out and sang songs about working on the chain gang and in coal mines.

I filled up the hole with a little bit of water to make a pond, even though I was putting chickens in there, not ducks, because it couldn’t hurt to have some water around if we needed it. Then Chris bailed some of it out, to be sure the chicks couldn’t drown themselves in it, since they aren’t exactly babies anymore but they aren’t old enough to have any sense yet.

Chris, you drag the hose back here and turn it on. Squirt down the whole coop, just in case anything flammable is in range.

“Does plastic burn?” I asked.
“It mostly melts, and it gives off noxious fumes that are bad for you and the earth. But it doesn’t catch on fire like paper or wood, or at least it doesn’t at normal fire temperatures.”

We are about to attempt a dangerous maneuver.

One of them walked out of the pond and ran over toward the feeder. The rest followed. I held my breath when they jostled the light gray chick.

“It’s just down the street, across from the thrift store,” Ms. O’Malley said.

“That’s the potential threat?” Al nodded at the light gray chick.

Let’s go over how to make a fire-safety zone surrounding the coop. You can use our safety recommendations for farm welding shops as a model—this chick doesn’t have nearly the heat or range of a welding torch.

The brochure had a checklist, and it felt good to look down the list and know that we were doing everything we could to keep everybody’s farms from burning up.

As far as I know, Agnes never hatched any new breeds, only the occasional color variation.

Then, at college, I did an analysis for Professor Shaw’s class on business plans for specialty mail-order poultry businesses.

I love how they bulldoze all the weeds and all the dirt goes flying, and how they always look really serious, even when they’re molting and funny-looking, and all the sounds they make, and how they will jump for a tomato but look kind of mad about it, and how they’re pretty much the only kind of pet except ducks and geese and maybe quail or emus that will lay eggs you can eat for breakfast.

Reporting on: The hatching of a fire-breathing chicken from a clutch of Mille Fleur d’Uccle Swimmers, and whether this new breed should remain at Redwood Farm or be transferred to secure facilities elsewhere for care and research.

Reporting on: The hatching of a fire-breathing chicken from a clutch of Mille Fleur d’Uccle Swimmers, and whether this new breed should remain at Redwood Farm or be transferred to secure facilities elsewhere for care and research.

Upon inheriting an unusual poultry farm in disrepair, she used creative problem-solving to bring her friends and family in to help fix the farm up again, creating new ties between the farm and the community.

Finally, Sophie helped build a chicken coop for mundane chickens at a local retirement home, strengthening her ties to the community and increasing goodwill toward chickens, while sensibly deciding that such a public space was not a good fit for unusual chickens.

Finally, Sophie helped build a chicken coop for mundane chickens at a local retirement home, strengthening her ties to the community and increasing goodwill toward chickens, while sensibly deciding that such a public space was not a good fit for unusual chickens.

Finally, Sophie helped build a chicken coop for mundane chickens at a local retirement home, strengthening her ties to the community and increasing goodwill toward chickens, while sensibly deciding that such a public space was not a good fit for unusual chickens.

However, Sophie Brown has shown great ingenuity and responsibility, working closely with the local fire department to take precautionary measures, which have passed their inspection.

However, Sophie Brown has shown great ingenuity and responsibility, working closely with the local fire department to take precautionary measures, which have passed their inspection.

It is the recommendation of this inspector that such a promising poultry farmer not be discouraged by the removal of this new breed, but rather supported in her ongoing learning.

Bantam Mille Fleur
Belgian Bearded d’Uccle
Diminutive height, reddish-brown plumage with black bars and white spangles, and black tail.

As recommended following your inspection, the Unusual Poultry Committee has decided to leave the sole individual of the new breed of poultry in your care, provided you accept the following conditions...

Ms. O’Malley got a grant for twenty new books at the library.