A Flock of Chickens Inspires a Children’s Book

WRITTEN BY: TASHA MEISENHEIMER

Driving by the quaint stone farmhouse that sits at the top of Grassy Hill Road, I always admired the bulbous fieldstone, the sweeping front porch, and the stained-glass window shaped like a rhombus that adorns the front gable.

In January 2018, the 1902 farmhouse was listed, and immediately, I called my realtor. Later that day, we stepped through the front door, enchanted by the beautiful stone center fireplace and fieldstone walls in the breezeway and kitchen. Nestled in the backyard, a stone smoke house sat with a crooked wood door enveloped in a cloak of ivy. The house was certainly one of a kind, and before even venturing upstairs, I knew it was home. My husband, Dan, grew up in Orange and we wanted to return to his hometown to raise our son.

A Bit Of History

My parents and I reviewed records of the farmhouse at Orange Town Hall and discovered that in 1935, Joseph A. & Mary C. Little purchased the farm from William P. McGrath. At that time the property was 36 acres. Records show that between the years 1943 and 1945, the Littles acquired three building permits to construct two poultry coops and a large shed to raise turkeys and chickens. Unfortunately, those structures are no longer standing on the property.

Chicken Little Farm

I have always been fascinated by older homes and intrigued by the stories they hold within their walls and fences. These historical records, along with an intense love of animals, prompted me to construct my own backyard coop in 2021. In accolade to the Littles, I named my tiny coop Chicken Little Farm.

The rearing of chickens required a bit of farmer knowledge, and I gladly jumped into an intensive research assignment. I was an English teacher for the past twenty years, and an unexpected cancer diagnosis in 2019 deferred my teaching career, and the pandemic forced a quarantine. During my healing, I took this precious time to slow down, connect with nature, and mend my soul. It was then the idea of having chickens first surfaced. I thought it would be an educational and exciting experience for my fouryear-old son, Lachlan. I started small with eight chickens, and they soon became a fixture in the community as people spied red hens foraging in my front yard. As the eggs accumulated, I began gifting them to neighbors and friends in town. My flock has now grown to 16 and counting.

Inspiration To Write

More than delivering fresh farm eggs, my flock inspired me to write my first children’s book, Pia Pullet Comes to Chicken Little Farm, the first book in the Chicken Little series. The story of Pia Pullet came to me as I prepared Lachlan for the certain aggressive encounter that would occur when introducing a Polish hen to an established flock of Red Cross chickens. The Polish’s extravagant appearance would provoke the other chickens. The Red Cross hens would pluck out her beautiful plume of head feathers to make the Polish look more like them. In the chicken world it is considered a courtesy. All I could discern was the irony, removing what made the Polish so remarkable and elegant, to look more pedestrian.

A story emerged; I recalled thinking as I witnessed my Red Cross chickens interacting with the Polish pullet for the first time. There was a lesson about accepting differences, a moral I thought was imperative for my son to learn. Sometimes, the attributes that make us quirky and strange, really are what make us exceptional.

After the abrupt feather plucking, the chickens established a pecking order and then there was harmony. What a powerful message, to focus on what makes us alike, rather than on what makes us different, ultimately embracing individualism and celebrating beauty in all its forms. The diversity among chickens is astonishing. There are over 90 breeds and even though they all have varying sizes, colors, wattles, behavior, and personalities, they all have feathers. On occasion a chicken will get its feathers ruffled, just as we do, but they have something to teach us about empathy and acceptance.

The book is intended for children ages 4-10. I have outlined several other story lines for the series, created from the knowledge I have obtained from researching a myriad of breeds to raising my own backyard flock. My next story involves a misfit Malay rooster named Malaki. He goes on a journey of self-discovery in an uncertain world. I have always believed that animals have much to teach us if we are willing to pause and listen.

Books are available for purchase at chickenlittlefarmct.com, as well as Amazon and Barnes and Noble. 