Another Chicken Story

Chickens can be so entertaining, mostly because we are always asking ourselves what is going through their little birdbrains. They do some of the craziest stuff and we just have to scratch our heads and chuckle. 

The latest happened right after the snow last week. I know I have said that we are keeping some chickens for our friends that went south for a while this winter. These chickens were raised differently and it sure does show. Rick likes to call them our  “city chickens.” I went out the morning after the snow storm to give them water and make sure they had feed, I also put a flake of hay in the coop for them to scratch on, because it was too cold for them to be out, especially since the run attached to their coop has no roof and the snow was about 6-inches deep in the run. My girls’ run has a roof over it because it has made the rounds of a chicken run, to a goat pen, to a milk cow barn and now back to a chicken pen. They had very little snow in their run and besides, they just seem to be tougher. 

So that morning I opened the door to their house. One of the hens likes to jump into the window on the door so she gets a little bit of a head start on the others getting outside, that morning, though, she looked down at that snow and decided not to bail off the ledge. The rest of them were standing in the door craning their necks and staring at the snow while making the most pathetic, whiny sound. Meanwhile I am bent over and putting fresh water in their water container, checking the feed and putting the flake of hay toward the back of the coop. 

Onyx, the hen that had jumped on my back, decided the best place to go from her perch on the door was onto a nice flat wide and convenient ledge, my back. She hopped right over from the ledge on the door window to my back and just stood there. I didn’t really want to dump her off into the snow, so I tried reaching around and encouraging her to get back into the coop, or even on the ground. She was in a position that I couldn’t reach from any direction, but presently she decided to stroll up my back onto my hat and then jump from there to a perch inside the house. The whole ordeal probably only lasted a minute or two. 

I guess I was really lucky as it could have been worse, at least she didn’t poop on my back. 

Brandied Pork

4 pound center cut loin roast

1 can (6 ounces) frozen pineapple-orange juice concentrate

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 teaspoon crushed gingerroot

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup brandy. 

Place pork roast fat side up on rack in shallow roasting pan; make vertical cuts between bones (if using a boneless roast simply cut into serving slices without cutting clear through).  Roast at 325º about 2 hours or until a meat thermometer reads 170º. Heat frozen concentrate, onion, garlic, gingerroot and salt just to boiling over medium heat. Remove from heat. During the last hour of roasting, stir brandy into juice mixture and brush over pork every 15 minutes. Serve remaining sauce with pork.