Our newest hobby!

My Goodness! What a week this has been starting with the purchase of 6 young “village” chickens!


Wednesday is market day here in Prizren. I decided I wanted to try to raise some chickens for eggs just as a hobby out here at the camp. Mahir, our driver, had arranged for Janon, another worker here at the camp who speaks English and her brother who has raised chickens and doesn’t speak English to go to the market with us to pick out some good egg layers! Well, off we went and the market was something else. Chickens in pens, chickens and roosters tied to the pens, little puppies in pens, geese, and peacocks which were all wrapped up with their heads and necks poking out. Then there was feed for sale all over and also some pretty nice furniture! Ha! We saw some beautiful hens…nice and fat brown in color but the guy wanted 50 euros each! Then he said 30 Euros. I wanted to start with some younger chickens anyway and Janon’s brother said these black and white ones were good for laying eggs so we went with 5 of those for 20 Euros ( 4 euro each!) and then he said I’ll give you one more for 1 Euro and I said ok. So we came home with 6 chickens I asked what was the name of the chickens and he said they are just village chickens! . The men just don’t understand why I don’t want a rooster! I told them I just wanted to have eggs, not chicks and the chicken expert said, “But you can’t have eggs without a rooster! I said , there will be eggs…and he said “but these are VILLAGE chickens!” Ha! Well, we will wait and see about that!

We also picked up some grain and ground corn and a feeder for 1 Euro and a waterer for 1 Euro. We brought them home and the wind came up suddenly so I brought the cardboard box with chickens into the entryway for a while until the worst of the storm blew over. I put some food in the box and the chickens immediately set to work eating!

Finally I introduced them to their new home. Mike had a little triangular house built with 2 lofts up in the eaves. ( You can open some side panels to collect eggs). We soon realized the chickens didn’t know how to get up there so the workers built a little ladder going up to one side. I left the box turned on it’s side in the cage to give them a little extra security and that’s where they slept the first few nights. They didn’t know what to do with that ladder.

Also the workers didn’t put down wire on the bottom so we asked them to do that to keep weasels, etc out. They have been trying to accommodate us the best they can! When they put the wire fence on the bottom though, there was a seam right down the middle sharp wires sticking up and out .They wanted to put plywood on the whole floor because they thought the wire would hurt the chickens feet. We finally decided to put a board just over the sharp edge. The chickens like to get bugs and worms from the ground. I might add that these 2 workers don’t understand a word I’m telling them! One is Albanian and one is Turkish! But they are willing and try to figure out what I want from them!

I kept the chickens in their coop/pen for 2 whole days before I decided to let them out. I wanted them to feel secure in their new home. They one by one came out and starting scratching for bugs and worms immediately and some wallowed down in the grass and dirt. They really seemed to relish being out in the dirt! They stayed pretty close to the coop for awhile. I sat out there on a bale of hay and some came up to me. I try to catch them and scratch their necks a bit. I read where they like that!

Little by little they started going out along the fence by the garden. The one with the black back seems to be the most adventuresome one. She was the first one to pop out of the box and Vera, my friend, named her Florence since we were in Florence while the coop was being built. I call her Flo …ha!

They are so interesting to watch. They all spread out…then they all come together as if to check on each other. Flo is always in the lead. She is the biggest and probably the oldest. They are between 2 and 3 months of age right now. It’s fun to watch them squabble over a bug or a worm!

Sunday, Mike and I were out in the garden and suddenly a big boom surprised us all! There is a road being built up the mountain side just across the field and a main road. They were dynamiting! Mike and I recovered and saw the dust cloud rise up, but the chickens were frozen in time for probably 20-30 secs with their necks stretched up high! It was the funniest thing to see!

Well, I also acquired a sweet little white bunny this week. Driver Mahir picked it up for his little girl, Havsa, last weekend on our way home from Montenegro. He had planned this for awhile. He told us he sees young boys selling rabbits at the turn off to Kosovo every time he is down there. Sure enough, there were about 5 boys holding rabbits up by the ears last Sunday. They were all various sizes (both boys and rabbits!) Mahir went back to see what they had a brought this little tiny white bunny with dark eyes to the car. I held it all the way home and it was so sweet and calm! The boys had handled it a lot and it was totally comfortable with humans. It laid in my lap with it’s little legs splayed out like a little dog. I gave Mahir a plastic storage box for him to take it home in. Mahir said he only wanted to keep it 2 or 3 weeks because they just have a small apartment, then he would take it to the zoo. I told him to bring it out to me when he was ready to give it up….and here he came on Wed….just a few days later with it! (Decided the bunny is a girl and named it Lily).

Once again the camp guys built us a little hutch. It sits right next to the chicken pen. I’ve been letting the bunny roam free when I am outside and it follows me around. Goes in and out the chicken pen and just seems to be content to be with the chickens. The chickens didn’t know what to think at first and the bunny seems to chase them a bit, but I think she is just being friendly. Now they are both in and out the chicken coop.

Today, I came in to do some dishes up and the bunny was out in the weeds by the coop. I was washing away and looked out and AAGH!!!! There was a big ‘ol hawk out there on the fence post looking down at the chickens! I ran out shooing it away! The chickens had all taken cover under the rabbit hutch and when I ran out there I saw 1 chicken and bunny in the chicken coop. When I counted the chickens I was missing one. I walked through the weeds out by the garden and found it all hunkered down, seemingly unhurt! Now I have to worry about hawks!!!! I was so relieved all were safe. They’ve been pretty subdued all morning, but now are back to roaming around! I am leaving home in a little while so now they are all nicely penned up and SAFE until I get back!

One more chicken story! I finally took the box out of the coop because the chickens weren’t going to the loft. I got inside the coop (which isn’t easy) and put all the chickens in the loft 2 nights ago. Last night, it was almost dark and they all went into the coop so I shut the door and locked it. When I turned around they were all headed up the ladder for bed! I had to laugh because they put themselves to bed for the night. One lone chicken ( the same one is always lost and separated from the others and cheeps really loud) was cheeping for quite awhile….but she eventually got up there with the others!

The girls!

The chicken coop and bunny pen



chicken and bunny




Looking for a worm