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EGGS
"HELP! HELP! I can't get out!" I tried to go forward, I tried to go backward, nothing seemed to work. I was caught between the floor joists under the barn, and the hard ground. My 5 year old brother Lawrence, was the only person who knew where I was. I yelled at the top of my voice but got no answer. I was scared. How was I ever going to get out of this mess.
I suppose it was no longer than 10 minutes, but it seemed like 10 days. I tried to crawl out of my clothes, but I couldn't unhook my suspenders. I was crying and yelling, and I finally got an answer from Lawrence. I didn't know where he was, but he was soon pulling on my pant leg. He unhooked my pants from a nail in the floor joist and gave me enough freedom to wriggle backward and free myself.
Spring on the ranch brings calves, pigs, lambs, kittens, colts and chickens. As for the chickens, the eggs came first. My brother and I were hunting eggs. Mumsie was the proud owner of a flock of prize Buff Orpingtons that furnished her with eggs enough for the family table and a surplus with which she purchased most of the groceries that we needed.
The selection of the breeding stock was an important process in maintaining a productive laying flock. Eggs were collected for several weeks and then placed in an incubator. In three weeks another laying flock was on the way.
The chickens were allowed to run free at the ranch, and 1 eggs were not always laic in the proper nests in the chicken house. In the spring, a brooding hen had her own idea as to what was needed to raise young chicks, she would hide her eggs under the feed bunks in the barn or even under buildings. Lawrence and I could earn a little money if we found eggs in hidden nests. We would be paid a penny an egg for all we could collect.
Trying to find eggs is what got me in trouble. I was under the barn and spotted a nest in the far corner. I tried to crawl thru the same opening that the hen had been using, but I didn't make it. Lawrence was a little smaller than I and did get thru and found six eggs. We divided the six cents.
Years later I looked under that old barn. That hole as [sic] still there, but I didn't see any eggs.
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Metzger Memories
