My Grandmother's Chicken Coop

 

Yesterday my mother wrote: "We moved from the country in Winfred, SD in about 1953 when I was about three years old to a farm in Madison, SD. This was Mom’s chicken coop for all the years that mom and dad lived in Madison. When dad passed away in 1991, mom stayed on the farm until she moved to assisted living. Mom had chickens in this chicken coop for many decades. After mom passed away, my brother bought the home place and my nephew lives in the house. This farm holds a lifetime of memories. My sister and I had the chore of caring for the chickens every day at 4:00 for many years. No matter how cold the temperature or hot the day, it was, for years our responsibility. My sister gathered the eggs and fed the oats. I watered the chickens and fed them corn. My mom loved her chickens and they loved her. I remember that mom had a favorite hen that would sit on her shoulder as she did her morning and mid day care of the chickens. I could bore you with many stories that relate to this chicken house, but I won’t. The chicken coop has lived a good productive life and now it is time for her to come down. My brother is on the roof. I’m sure that my brother’s grandkids will help with the tearing down process. I suppose that my nieces and nephew will help too."

I too have fond memories of my grandma Dorothy’s chicken coop. Whenever we would go to see our grandparents, or my brother and I would go to stay with them I would often go out with my grandmother to tend to the chickens. Grandma always sang and talked to her chickens. She loved her chickens. She would show me how to gather eggs from under the hens without them getting mad. I was always afraid that they would peck me, and sometimes they did. She would warn me to stay away from the cocky roosters in the chicken yard. They could be awfully mean. After collecting the eggs, we would go inside and begin washing the eggs down in the basement and place the eggs in cartons. Grandma sold her eggs to people in town. She had regular customers. I can only now appreciate how wonderful it would be to get fresh eggs the very day they came from the coop. And of course, the hens were free range and were fed good feed. I am sad to see grandma's chicken coop come down but I know that eventually all things have to come to an end. The coop stood a long time and housed many hens and fed many families. Grandma's love for the Lord, her smile, her joy, her song, her kindness, her love, her words of encouragement, and her memory will live on. I love you grandma.