In this informal interview, 70‑year‑old Beth (who calls herself “Grandma”) shares her backyard chicken‑raising routine. She explains how she lets the birds free‑range while keeping them safe from hawks by using a combination of netting sections, a talk‑radio speaker, and CDs hung in trees as auditory deterrents. Beth describes her "chick‑shaws"—portable enclosures that let her move the flock around the property—and the layout of her coop, feed placement, and water system (a 5‑gallon vacuum‑seal waterer). She also talks about her goose named Rosie, the egg‑collecting process, and how she distributes eggs to friends and a Sunday‑school group. Practical advice includes recommended flock size (2‑6 birds), checking egg colors to ensure none are missing, and wiring an IntelliShock energizer with a grounding rod for predator protection. Throughout, Beth emphasizes the enjoyment, exercise, and fresh‑egg benefits of keeping chickens, and she compares the satisfaction to that of having a dog, noting the role of cats in pest control.
Chapters
Oh, oh, oh, that's my talky, talky chicken. What's your name? Well, the grandkids call me Grandma, but Beth.
Come on, Chickie. Come on, Chickie. Come on, Chickie. Perfect for breakfast.
How old are you? 70 still, uh, 71 next week. So it's really nice because you have eggs right here all the time.
Are they free right now, like every day, or just because we're about to move them?
Just when I work outside. I've been, you know, digging up the bulbs and I let them out. See, I threw dirt under there.
They like it. Do they tear anything up?
No, but they poop all over the sidewalk.
Hey, that's evil chicken poo when that happens, right?
There you go.
You put it inside that net, it's holy chicken squat.
Yeah. What we've been doing was we've moved all the way around the house and then we came through the woods and back up here, and now we're going that way. Keep a radio on during the day because of the we had a hawk aerial attack. And so then I have my CDs, uh, you know, I'm trying everything.
Did it work?
I haven't had any problem. Of course, I took one of the nets away, and so we're down to just two sections, two sections, you know, a square. So I even put a CD in the tree over here, although—
because they were over there.
Yeah.
So radio, is this like music?
No, talk radio.
Oh, talk radio.
I just turned it off so we could talk.
Okay, and then that way the hawks think there's somebody here.
Correct.
That's pretty smart.
I'm hoping.
I— you haven't had one more attack, right?
No, this one's not real smart.
I was gonna say, what's the matter with this one? She's pacing back and forth right here trying to get with everybody. There's a whole wide open area, so Grandma's gonna chase her out. Oh, it still won't go out. It's opening right here.
Hey, hey, hey, hey, slow up.
There we go. My goodness.
Yeah, that's the dumb one.
Brilliant. It's not as smart as the other one.
I made it so that I just have to move the two sides. Oh well, I guess it'd be three sides.
Okay.
You know, during the winter you can't hang a plant on a plant hanger, so I figured this would be just as good for the— to hang the CDs on there.
What do your friends say about this?
They wish they had the eggs.
Oh, do they?
Yeah.
Maybe not the work.
Oh, wait a minute.
They think you're crazy?
No, you know, they haven't told me. Say, oh, she's nuts. You know, it's exercise, it's fun, they get a chance to free-range, and of course the goose likes the grass. She's been giving an egg every other day.
Do you think part of this project for you is something to do for you?
Yes, I think I like the fresh eggs, and I like being outside, and oh, look there, I guess that's deer. Deer must have come by and had a little bit of the grass. Before, when I used both nets, I had lots of lots of room, which turned out to be a bad thing for the chickens because I thought they'd like to, you know, run and eat more and scratch more. But then the hawk— we saw a big hawk, he ended up getting that brown one in the very beginning, which I didn't put two and two together. And the brown one did finally die.
You got these chickens from us Right. You ever tempted just to give them back to us? We're right down the hill.
No.
Why not?
Because it's fun. It's— you get out in the sunshine and— or the— just out in the fresh air.
Yeah. How long has it been since you've had to buy eggs?
Gosh, since we got— well, a couple months. And I was— I had, uh, was able to give a few to my friends from Sunday school, and so that was fun. To, uh, have a few extra.
You weren't so crazy then, were you?
Uh, no. I gave my— I have a lady friend who's 87. She named the goose. Her name is Jan. I gave her one of the goose eggs. She couldn't believe how big it was.
Oh, what did she name the goose?
She named it Rosie.
That's a good name.
Yep, that's why we call it Rosie. I probably would just call it Goosey. Goosey and Chicky.
You know that if you name a chicken, you're— you could be a crazy chicken lady. So you got started by just getting some adult chickens from us. It's one of the easiest ways to get started.
I just build a little, uh, I wouldn't even build a chickshaw and have the netting or anything if I was in the city. I'd just have some kind of a little, like, a rabbit hutch and then a yard that you could let them run in.
Yeah, you built the chickshaw, right? So you can move them around to different areas every twice a week.
Yep.
You just have a little plastic feeder you got from us.
Yeah.
What's up with these?
Well, the goose likes to get in— it actually gets in the small one. It's the funniest thing, but I've seen her in both of them. Just fresher water, mostly for the goose.
Just for the goose to bathe in, right? So, okay.
I always put the chicken feed closest to the house so that in case the aerial predator, you know, they're eating. So I clean these out most every day.
And you're in the woods, so it's going to be more pressure, right? You just got a vacuum seal waterer, 5 gallons. How long does that last you for 6 birds?
Oh, I guess 3 or 4 days. The water's right here. We got a nice, you know, we put a hose bib right on the corner right near the electric.
Grandpa ever help you move these birds?
Not too often.
Now wait a minute, he helps eat them.
Yeah, we enjoy it.
Why did you choose not to get a dog?
Hair falls out inside your house and you got to walk it or leave it outside and you got to feed it and you don't get anything. I mean, you— oh, don't get me wrong, you get something, you get to pet them and everything, but I like your cats because, uh, they, they come up here sometimes too. I like it that they get the mice. Keep the critters down.
So do you think that chickens have given you that satisfaction you might have found in a dog?
That's— yes, it's enough. And I can, uh, I can grab one of the chickens.
Yeah, we're gonna have to see that. Yeah, so look at them, Beth, they're going right in there. You've got them trained real well. Mine did that, they would just be all over the farm, especially pooping on the sidewalks.
They just hang around.
And you can normally move this by yourself, right? Are there any ways you're like a hen?
Probably pick at each— they pick at each other. I probably pick at Bruce. No, they're always—
I thought you were going to say they're hard working.
They're always busy, and I'm pretty busy myself. That one talks all the time. I'll call that my sister. I'll call that Annie.
Okay.
There we go.
It's okay. Yes, that's a good—
you pick her up every day?
No, but I fed her by hand. It's funny, this is a little bit of a lump in there underneath their tuft of hair or feathers.
Oh, are you about to catch one?
Yeah, I'll get one when they're looking down.
There we go, there we go.
So what would your— if your 10-year-old self came to visit you, would she be having the time of her life, or would she be like, what are you doing?
I have a little basket to go collect the eggs.
So what advice would you have for me when the, the 70-year-old emails me and says, what should I do? Yeah. Is it too late?
I'd get 2, I'd get 4. I get at least 2 if not 4. Okay, 6 is good. 3 whites and 3 colored, that's what I have. And that's how, that's how I check on them when I've got them out there. I count the colors to make sure that, you know, they're all here. I don't want one running away.
Let me see your Energizer. Oh, she said IntelliShock 20 for Premier One, right?
I keep the plug underneath. Okay, and Jonah told me to cut— so we drilled two holes, and then the connector—
you just did a metal wire through the holes, right? Oh, you did one connector.
Yeah, and the metal—
did you lose your grounding rod or grounding wire? Did it not come with one?
Here it is right here.
So you have a metal coming out of the bucket to the grounding rod.
Nice, right? I always put the, uh, grounding rod on one side. And then the plug on the other, and that way, just to make sure that they don't, uh, touch each other.
