Originally posted on 2/21/2012
Here's a question I hear all the time: "Don't you need a rooster to get eggs?"
[[This bad boy was caught by Murray sneaking out of his hen house!]]
The answer is a resounding NO.
Ladies, do you need a man around to ovulate? No. No you do not. And nor does a hen. It amazes me how disconnected we have become from backyard hen keeping. Up until very recently it was a given. Ever heard the expression "egg money"? That's not money for eggs, it's the little bit of money a housewife or kid made by keeping hens and selling the extra eggs, and it was done continuously since the arrival of Europeans and their hens on this soil. Even longer in Europe and Asia!
I've been thinking a lot about how intrinsic hen keeping is to human settlement and how much a part of our language - English, in this case - it's become. Here are a bunch of expressions I've thought of...can you add some I've forgotten?
He thinks he's cock of the walk
Is he ever hen pecked!
That ain't chicken feed!
Pecking order
He really rules the roost
It's coming home to roost
Something to crow about
That's as rare as hen's teeth
Don't ruffle her feathers
He flew the coop
Feeling all cooped up
No one here but us chickens!
You're a chicken!
She's feeling broody.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket!
Don't count your chickens before they hatch!
Don't get yourself all in a flap!
That's like leaving the fox in charge of the hen house!
She's a real mother hen
{{Big Mamma and her little babe}}
Oh boy, the feathers were flying!
Nest egg.
Running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. (the ladies and I don't particularly like that one.)
And that's just the beginning!