Hen Chronicles: The Boston Globe interviews Terry Golson

The Boston Globe interviewed author, blogger and veteran chicken keeper Terry Golson recently, following the publication of her new book, The Farmstead Egg Guide & Cookbook. One of Golson's claims to fame is that she has installed live-streaming cameras at her Massachusetts home so fans can watch her critters online in real time at hencam.com.

In the interview, Golson offered some interesting observations about our feathered friends. For one thing, the article quoted Golson as saying that raising backyard chickens has surged in popularity for good reason.

“There’s nothing more wonderful than an egg that’s fresh from a chicken you know,” Golson told the newspaper. And she explained that hens can be great company. “They are very gratifying animals to have. They’re endlessly curious; they’re very optimistic: They think that anybody they get to know is going to bring them something to eat.”

(My take on that: These are all good points, especially that last one about how chickens view treats. Our four hens deeply resent the very idea of anyone approaching their pen without a snack in hand. They squawk and strut and sometimes flap their wings in frustration when it happens. They seem to think it's very bad form, because humans obviously exist to keep them happy. You've heard of someone being madder than a wet hen? Try a snack-deprived hen if you want to see real anger.)

Golson warned against getting chickens to lower your grocery bill, because that won’t happen. And she explained to readers who may be unfamiliar with the ways of chickens that they don’t lay consistently all year long.

(My take on that: Our "girls" - Snow, Nala, Hope and Nellie - lay fewer eggs in the cold-weather months, but that's still better than no eggs at all in the winter, as some owners have experienced. In addition, our hens generally stop laying while they're molting, which happens roughly every year or so, at least in theory, as new feathers replace old ones. A molt can drag on for more than a month, so a hen can be out of commission, in the egg-laying department, for quite a while.)

“Because these are living animals that need to be related to and cared for daily, if you don’t care about the animals, just support a local farmer” instead of getting your own chickens, Golson said in the Globe interview. “You can get eggs other places. The reason to go into backyard chickens is because you want to have chickens.”

(My take on that: Amen.)