chickens

[pamela mather]

our dad kept chickens in our small long garden in stokes rd every christmas i think all the street had one for there dinner ,dad use to sit down the shed lead light going from kitchen {no health and safety} plucking these chickings it always seemed so cold then at christmas then they were all trussed up in kitchen with names on no fridges then it must have been done christmas eve . i expect it was those chickens that gave us good christmases      pam

[pamela mather]

same topic same person dads chickens kept pecking one another so he read in some chicken mag about these glasses you put on chickens o my it was the funniest thing i have ever seen every chicken had a pair of red glasses [no lenses ha ha ] stuck on the end of there nose we laughed for days i cant remember if it worked but those  glasses use to turn up every where down the side of chairs we were always finding them even now when me and my sisters are together we still get the giggles at chickens in glasses
pam

[jem45]

Did he go to pecksavers!!  Sorry couldnt resist!

[pamela mather]

why didt i think of that ha ha pam

[jem45]

A fowl joke! Sorry i go now!

[Byard]

My mum kept chickens during the war, but had to swap her egg ration for feed.

[pamela mather]

we were sent around to the neighbours for there waste then dad with some bran boil it all up in the scullery [not kitchens in the 50s] it stank my poor mum .really was recycling !
pam

[harry]

It,s funny how these stories bring back memories  from way back ,stories re kitchen waste for chicken feed.
In Thundersley we now put our kitchen waste out each week to be collected by the Council,evidently to make Gas to turn Turbines to produce Electricity,to go into the Grid??.
In this hot weather it does,nt take long before Flies lay their eggs and hey presto maggots .
We had the same problem in the late Forties with the old Dustbins,but then, we found the answer to the maggot problem was to set fire to the dustbin to kill them off,but now it,s down to the old fly spray to do the job.
This then leads me to my next memories re fires,or should I say Bonfires,the first and most memorable were bonfires in the street ,the Victory bonfires ,when all the blackout materials were piled up in the street  and burnt ,the one at our end of Varley Road,Prince Regents Road end was outside the Freemans and Bowers,s houses and the heat was so intense that the paint on their front doors started to blister but with the aid of a few buckets of water and a couple of hose pipes the fire was brought back under control and the evening was quite a success,a time when the adults were able to relax after the preceeding war years and all its problems arregards had come to an end.
Regards Harry.I.


 

[nellanhoj]

why didt i think of that ha ha pam

I've been scratching around trying to reply to you, but i'm afraid i might fall fowl of the moderator who might haul me up before the beak for eggsactly the same thing.

Trouble is I'm couped up here all day

[KathyF]

Well isn't it strange to think Pam we lived a few doors away and yet I never knew your Dad kept chickens.
Maybe we even ate one for Christmas dinner! I only ever think of your Dad in uniform, sitting on his beautiful white horse, while us children queued up to feed him (the horse not your dad) with carrots.
The excitement when we saw him coming down the road. 
Kathy

[pamela mather]

i was so proud of dad on his white horse called dan they both always looked so smart he can up to the infants school once  pam

[Eddie]

My dad would take me to petticoat lane around easter time to buy half dozen 3 day old chicks to fatten up for Christmas. i can still remember him wringing their necks while i held the sack for him to pop them in when he had done each one.

[pamela mather]

now in these days it seems awful but then it was the only way to have a chicken they were so exspensive to buy dad use to sit down the shed with a lead light plug in kitchen [my husband to be was a electrician so he put sockets in none till then ] ringing there necks they use to have a little red mite on them which made him itch so he was all done up in scarf and overcoat .that was money to buy all our christmas pressys and food after he had sold them all ,what we remember eh
pam

[harry]

All you chicken fans should get down to the market early on Saturday morning as day old chicks are going cheep{cheap}.
Regards Harry.I.

[Will.B]

We never use to keep Chickens but my Uncle Tom who lived next door use to keep Rabbits and fatten them up for the pot, when he killed them he would hold them by their ears and then strike them on the back of the neck, at one time he had a Doe and was saying to Dad that he would like to get a buck and start breeding them.My Father was working at Beckton Gas Works and had a friend  there who also kept Rabbits, and offered to lend Dad his prize Buck,Dad took up his offer and gave to Uncle Tom who put the two together but it was a bit of a disaster for when Uncle Tom opened the hutch the next morning the Buck was dead,how Dad explained to his friend what had happened I cant imagine but I know he had to give him Uncle Tom's Doe in exchange.
Will.