The Honest Courtesan

The chicks will be moving into their nursery in the henhouse this coming Sunday, so last Saturday I decided it was time to give the place its semi-annual cleaning.  That means shoveling out what is politely called “poultry litter” (a mixture of feathers, spilled feed, decomposing hay, and chicken shit) and replacing it with fresh hay.  In the autumn that’s the end of it, but in the spring I also need to straighten out the chicken wire around the nursery to keep the hens out, then spread fresh shavings all over the nursery and make sure the bulb in their heat lamp is still good.  It’s a tiring, smelly job, but fortunately it only takes about two hours and it is only semi-annual.  And when I think about how much it would cost to regularly buy a paltry few second-rate weeks-old grocery store eggs, that two hours of literally shoveling shit twice a year in exchange for a constant supply of delicious fresh eggs (in such plentiful supply that I can share them with friends) begins to seem like a good bargain indeed.