Welcome to a brand new Friday insert here at VanZylStead — News From The Coop.
Because apparently somewhere along our suburban homesteading journey, we became “chicken people.” And honestly? These girls are simultaneously the best decision and the most annoying creatures we have ever brought into this garden.Many of you already know we have “the girls,” but I realised we have never properly introduced this feathery little mafia to you.
So here they are.
- Katrien and Febe — our White Leghorns. Fast. Dramatic. Permanently offended about something.
- Then we have Wendy and Poyanita, our Brown Lohmanns, who generally behave like tired middle-aged women running a school tuckshop. And our newest addition — Suzanne — who still looks slightly confused about how she ended up living here.
- And then of course… Madonna. Our black Easter Egger. The drama queen. The leader of the pack. The one who walks through the orchard like she personally pays rates and taxes there. Madonna does not run. She arrives.
The girls stay in our orchard area, which honestly works beautifully. They spend their days scratching through leaves under the fruit trees, hunting bugs, dust bathing in places where they absolutely should not be dust bathing and having very important chicken meetings underneath the guava trees.
One of the questions I get asked all the time is:
“Aren’t chickens very noisy?”
And honestly… no. Not really. Okay fine. There is the egg-laying song. And apparently every single egg deserves a full breaking-news announcement to the entire neighbourhood.
But most of the day they simply blend into the background sounds of the garden. The soft scratching through leaves, little clucks to each other and the occasional completely unnecessary panic from one of the girls somehow just becomes part of the rhythm of the orchard.
It feels peaceful. Wild. Alive.
Honestly, I don’t know why it took us so long to get chickens. Maybe because I knew deep down these birds would somehow completely take over our lives. And they have.
The thing nobody tells you about chickens is that they are not just “garden animals.” They slowly become part of the daily rhythm of the home. You start planning your day around opening coops, collecting scraps and checking whether Madonna is once again standing somewhere she absolutely should not be standing.
But beneath all the chaos and comedy… there is also something incredibly special about keeping chickens. Especially for children. There is something beautiful about watching a child hold a tiny chick for the first time. Watching them see how something so small grows into part of the family. They learn gentleness, patience and responsibility in a way no classroom can really teach.
And sometimes they also learn heartbreak. Because animals, like gardening, have a way of teaching very real life lessons. Sometimes you lose one unexpectedly. Sometimes nature is hard. Sometimes things do not go the way you planned. And strangely enough… sometimes your children end up teaching you how to handle those moments.
I think that is one of the reasons I love this life so much. The garden teaches. The animals teach. The seasons teach. And every now and then, in between all the mud and chaos, your kids quietly grow up alongside it all.
Anyway…
Join us again next Friday for another update from the coop, where we will tell you what these girls have been up to.
Well… that is if they are still here. Because Oupa is currently busy varnishing the new picket fence and jong… these hooligans are treating the freshly painted wood like a luxury chicken spa treatment.
Until next week Friends
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