March is chicken month. I basically feel like I’m one of the flock at this point… I’m writing about chickens, sifting through pictures of Bright Hope chickens, looking up chicken jokes, and throwing out random chicken facts.
Such as:
“There are more chickens on earth than people – 25 billion. There are also more chickens than any other bird species.”*
And then this one.
This one definitely led to a little google search about chicken earlobes. (I can’t be the only one who has no idea where a chicken’s earlobes are, right?)
“The color of the egg depends on the chicken’s earlobes. Red ear lobed chickens lay brown eggs, while white ear lobed chickens lay white eggs.” (I’m still a little skeptical on this one. So, please verify for yourself.)
When I read this next one, I can’t help but ask, “How do we know that?”
Chickens can see and dream in full color.
Okay, just one more:
Mother hens talk to their chicks while they’re still in the eggs, and the chicks can chirp back while in the shell.
Awww… That’s kinda sweet, right?
So, after all the time I’ve spent in my virtual chicken coop, I’m really not tired of talking about them. Why? (I don’t usually have an attention span this long.) Because I’m so convinced that giving a family a gift of chickens is an incredibly simple, affordable and impactful way to break an awful cycle of poverty.
I just came back from a trip to one of the nations where we work. I saw horrible poverty. I heard so many stories about hunger. So, so many.
The problems of poverty can seem so huge and overwhelming, and solving them seems like it would probably cost more money than I can count zeros.
But when we zero-in on helping one struggling family in rural Uganda, or one grandmother trying to help provide for her grandchildren, I don’t have to bear that weight of trying to end poverty for the whole world. I have limited means, but at $6 a chicken, I have an incredible opportunity to help ease the burden of poverty for one family. I can do that. I can change life for that one family.
And that is something I can get behind with my whole heart and tell the world about.
So, what do you say? Will you change a life today?
(*Want to learn more chicken facts for yourself? Here’s where I found mine: https://www.thefactsite.com/chicken-facts/)
