Brood (noun): a family of young animals, especially of a bird, produced at one hatching or birth.
(verb): think deeply about something that makes one unhappy.
(noun, informal): all of the children in a family.
From the Old English brod: “to breed”.
Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting a few kids who have grown up on small scale farms. A favorite activity is often–“How many mouths are there to feed on our farm?” Even on a small farm, these numbers can add up! A couple acre plot with chickens, ducks, pigs, a horse or cow or two, dogs, kids, cats…even if the animals have a lot of space, can already be in the hundreds-of-mouths-to-feed territory. The count can be especially high if the counters try to estimate numbers of bees in a hive or worms in the vermipost bin.
Kiki/Hana Gana/Shadow–My favorite hen
It was of great joy I received and read the story of your “Brood”❤️ Such a lovely family you have. There is no better way to raise your precious children than on your family “MiniFarm”. I so much look forward to the next chapter. Grama Debbie
Loved this!
Hubby & I with Daisy and Lillie Mae, Llama Mama and around 30 Dorper Sheep, Painted Buntings, no chicks, been there done that, hehe. Enjoying our farm/ranch life and all that comes with that. Identifying wildflowers on our walks for exercise on our beautiful Texas ranch. Loving each day as it comes and glad Summer is here 🙂
Wow, Alex, I love this post of yours. It brings back memories of my life on the farm, albeit, it was more of a garden farm, not an animal farm, though we had chickens, a young calf, dogs and cats and a large garden. Another place I lived after getting married was on a hog farm, where I fed the hogs for the owner in return for living in a small house there with an outdoor toilet, and actual running water in the house which was only 2 rooms, a bedroom where we all slept, and a kitchen area. I had two pets I named Sam and Sarah which were part of the hog farm and these two hogs followed me around whenever I was outdoors and feeding the rest – I carried 5 gallon buckets of feed and water to them daily, and my two followers would eat my dogs food whenever he was fed, unless I closed the gate to the yard and kept them out. Sarah was a small pig and Sam a large boar but they were always together and didn’t hang out with the larger hogs. They were allowed to run freely out side the fenced area. I had enjoyed this place for over a year, but we then moved back into town. Missed Sam and Sarah a great deal. I hope you are able to gather more chickens and maybe some other farm animals of choice in the near future. Country life is the best life. God Bless
I agree that animals are great for kids…my older granddaughter fell in love with goats the first time she ever saw one…she has had goats for 18 years…first, as 4-H project animals and now a herd of Saanan and Nigerian dairy goats that she takes to shows…she works at a “real job” to pay for her creatures…she also has a lot of dogs…I had chickens until a man I know lost his and needed some…mine were old, the 6 old hens were not laying many eggs, so I offered them to him and he was grateful to have them. Maybe next spring I’ll get more, but I can buy good farm eggs a few miles down the road for less than the cost of chicken feed…lol…so there are 30 goats here and 7 dogs, plus all the local wild life…the birds and chipmunks share the sunflower seeds that I put out for them…and the dogs chase away the coyotes!