PONCA, Neb. | “Here chicky chickies,” called Autumn Conrad as she made her way to the backyard of her home.
Soon enough, several chickens popped up from some bushes, no doubt hoping food was going to accompany the voice calling them.
“For the most part, chickens aren’t picky,” said Conrad as she threw feed to the eager fowl, “but mine are. They’re divas.”
Conrad raises seven egg-laying chickens of various breeds in her backyard in town. Neighbors don’t mind the sometimes noisy birds as she shares the eggs with everyone around her. Also, older neighbors say the birds remind them of their younger days growing up on the farm.
Even though the chickens are egg-layers, Conrad doesn’t keep them specifically for that reason.
“They are more pets for me. I love animals,” she said. “They just have the bonus of laying eggs. We don’t have to buy eggs anymore.”
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The only potential complication is Conrad’s two dogs: Maybelline, a standard poodle, and Diesel, a corgi. Poodles are bird dogs, but, despite this, all coexist peacefully.
“They all interact pretty well,” she said. “Sometimes the corgi will sneak into the coop and eat the chicken food, but I work with the dogs a lot and they are really well-behaved.”
Some of the chickens even sport colored feathers thanks to Conrad’s occupation.
“I’m a dog groomer, too, a creative groomer,” she said.
Her grooming skills come in handy when it comes to the chickens’ hygiene. She gives the chickens regular baths to keep them clean and healthy.
“They are easy upkeep, but it’s constant,” Conrad said. “They can get smelly, so you have to clean them and their coop.”
Conrad wheels the used bedding from the coop over to the neighbor’s yard every time she cleans the coop so that the neighbor can use it as compost on her garden.
“I try not to throw anything away,” she said. “It works great as compost and it’s another reason the neighbors love the chickens.”
Despite stereotypes, chickens aren’t dumb birds, she added.
“They all have names and personalities,” she said, motioning toward a chicken with a mop of blonde feathers on its head. “Her name is Dolly, after Dolly Parton.”
Not only do the chickens have unique personalities, but they lay different colored eggs as well. There are the classic white and brown eggs, but one of her chickens, an Easter Egger, lays light green eggs as well. Conrad also noted that mixing breeds of chickens that lay different colored eggs will make chickens that lay eggs of the combined colors.
“All the eggs taste the same and look the same on the inside, though,” Conrad said. “Just like people, they’re all the same on the inside. They just look different on the outside.”
