Chicken Killer

Chicken Killer

My Mom used to order baby chickens from
another state, Rhode Island I think it was.
The mail man would bring them while we
were in school. He would leave them on top
of the three or four mail boxes on the side
of the road. Mom would say the chickens should come in today, be sure
and bring
them home.

When we got off the bus the box would be
there and all kind of peeping noises coming
from it. The box would be large, square and had a handle on each side.
Lots of air holes
on the top. We would carry it home and set
it down outside.

The first thing Mom would do was make a
place for them in the corner of the bedroom
that my sister and I shared. She dropped a
light from the ceiling real close to the floor
for warmth, a pie pan with water, and finely
ground corn for food. She kept them pinned
in with a bench from the kitchen.

When all was ready she came outside, took
the top off the box, and looked inside for a few
minutes. Then my Mom the murderer would
pick out the sickly looking chickens, bang
them up against the wall one by one until
all the sickly looking ones were dead.

Her reasoning, they would have made the well ones sick. The first time
I watched her do this
I looked at my sister and said whatever you do don't cough.

It's really hard to sleep with about twenty five
baby chickens peeping all night, and a great
big light bulb on. Well we lived through it and thinking back I guess
we should have been glad it wasn't baby pigs.