Silkies: A Puzzle Full of Memories
by Elmer Prather, guest blogger
My latest puzzle is a five-hundred-piece titled Silkies by Heather Gauthier. The Silkies in the puzzle caught my eye because of how they looked sitting on the stacks of books.
Silkie chickens get their name from their trademark fluffy plumage. I chose this puzzle to put together because of my experiences with chickens. When I was about twelve years old, my mother was busy taking care of her seven children. Mother called me aside one day and explained that she needed some assistance with all the work she was doing, and from that day on, I oversaw our flock of free-range chickens.
I fed them, prepared the eggs that I wanted my hens to set on, and tended to the chicks when they hatched twenty-one days after setting them under my brooding hens. The chickens I was responsible for were a mixture of breeds. There were some Game, Dominicker, White Leghorns, and some Rhode Island Red hens. I always had a few Game roosters to keep the eggs fertile. I took care of the chickens for several years and kept increasing the number of chickens. In doing so, I was able to keep plenty of eggs on the table, and with the extra eggs, I became an entrepreneur. I asked the grocery store owner where we purchased our food if he would be interested in purchasing eggs from me, and he said yes and gave me the price he would be willing to pay per dozen eggs. The store was about a mile from where we lived, and when I had several dozen extra eggs, I would put them in the basket of my bike and take them to the grocer who paid me for them.
Getting back to the puzzle, Silkie chickens are a distinctive, gentle breed known for their soft, fur-like feathers, black skin and bones, turquoise earlobes, and strong broodiness. Originating in ancient China, they also have roots in Southeast Asia, India, and Java. The puzzle features three Silkies, a brown one, a white one, and a black one, each perched on a stack of books with chicken-themed titles. For example, one book is titled Hatcher in the Rye, and another is titled The Chicken on the Train. I really enjoyed putting this puzzle together. Reflecting on my time caring for our chickens, I can never thank my mother enough for having the confidence in me to allow me to take on this task. This experience taught me many things that I will never forget. I learned responsibility, how to negotiate with people, how to schedule my time, and many other things. I have used the things I learned from taking care of our chickens as an adult. My mother gave me opportunities like this, and I am the man I am today because of her.
Elmer Prather
Canton, Georgia
U S A
