Jobs to earn pocket money #2

We received a wonderful gift from one of the ladies in our church last weekend: two beautiful white Sussex chickens!



Samuel wanted to name them Chicken-tin and Chicken-robber, but I have succeeded in convincing him that they should be called Snowy and Lily. Just don't ask us which is which in these photos!

They are perfectly at home in the coop that came with our manse.


I remember when I was a kid, our minister's wife also had chickens. I was afraid of them and their potentially scratchy beaks and claws. Samuel has no such fears. He is responsible for feeding the chickens their food scraps, laying mix and wheat grain each morning. He also checks their roosting box for eggs. Most days so far we have had one egg but as the chickens settle in Sam is finding two eggs more often.

One day, Sam and I went out early to feed the chickens and Lily was still sitting in the roosting box. She sat there the entire time that Sam took in the food, and then, while we watched her from the doorway we heard a little thud. Lily promptly stood up and looked underneath her body, then hopped down from the box and went out to peck at the food. We hurried around to open the roof of the coop to find a newly laid egg, still warm! Samuel was very excited. I was too.

Samuel's chicken syllogism:
Sam: "So can we call our home a farm now?"
Me: "Why?"
Sam: "Because chickens live on farms and now we have two chickens. So we live on a farm."
Dad: "Not until we have a rain gauge."

[For posterity, this is my 700th post on this blog.]