We would buy chicks early in the spring and put them in the southeast brooder house. Sometime the weather turned cold after we had them in the brooder house, and we had to make a fire in the stove to keep them warm. The wood burning stove set in the middle and there was a two foot screen around it to keep the chicks from getting burned. I had the job of going to the brooder house to “stir” the chicks. If they were not stirred, they would crowd up and trample or smother each other. The floor set a foot above the earth and the floor was made our of ½ inch screen-type wire nailed to two by fours in the floor. This allowed the droppings to fall down to the earth, keeping the “floor” of the brooder house clean. I liked sitting there, stirring the chicks with snow coming down and the wind howling outside listening to all the little “peep, peep, peeps” in my cozy domain.
There was a large chicken house on the south side of the farmhouse. There were roosts and places built for egg-laying. I had to get the eggs and some of the old hens would peck you when you reached under to get eggs. There was a room behind this area but I can’t remember what, if anything, it was used for. I remember playing in there and I think it had some kind of loft area? We did have a pig pen for a while. It was down in the south field by the pear tree.
I can remember doing the same thing. It smelled so good in the brooder house when the baby chicks were very small. They were so much fun to play with. Naomi and I used that brooder house (when It had the wire floor out of it. and was all cleaned up) for a play house at different times. It was a wonderful play house, set at the head of the plum orchard, where we would check each day to see if the plums had ripened. Sometimes we put green plums in jars and buried them in the ground,and kept them there until they ripened, dug them up and ate them. That orchard was our 4-H make believe, fair ground. We called it Lark’s Park. We had wonderful times in our fair grounds. Pretending wonderful things. One time we got our exhibits, all ready and and our park all looking real good. We went to the house and got Mother and Elizabeth,Cleo, and who ever else was there, and we charged them money to get into our fair. They actually paid us!! That was awesome. Good memories.
Lloyd, you better get Lauren something nice on the 22nd and tell us what it was, you cheapskate. SS
I bought her a Prius. I may even let her drive it.
🙂