I’M NO CHICKEN farmer. I’m not even particularly fond of roaming chickens (ducks or geese). But this time of year on “Chick Days,” I feel nostalgic, remembering the delivery of newly-hatched chicks. They arrived on my southwestern Minnesota childhood farm via the U.S. Postal Service, cheeping raucously and, I’m certain, desiring to escape their cardboard boxes.
Today, chicks still ship via mail, but need to be picked up at the post office or at a local supplier on “Chick Days.” That may be at a farm store, a grain elevator, a feed store…
Gone are the days when chick hatcheries were found in many farming communities. But this is not Mayberry anymore. Rural America has changed significantly since I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s with businesses now shuttered, buildings vacated.
But, if you look closely enough, dig deep enough, ghosts of those businesses remain, including chick hatcheries. Among the vintage greeting cards my mom saved (she saved everything), I found a holiday card from Dr. Kerr’s Hatchery. That was in Minneota; that’s Minnesota minus the “s.”
Minneota sits on the prairie northwest of Marshall in Lyon County. This small town is perhaps best-known as the home of the late Bill Holm, noted writer and English professor at Southwest Minnesota State University. Among his work, Boxelder Bug Variations, a collection of poetry and essays about, yes, boxelder bugs. Minneota celebrates Boxelder Bug Days annually.
But it doesn’t celebrate chicks, as far as I know, or the hatchery with the unusual name of “Dr. Kerr’s Hatchery.” There’s a story behind that moniker. I just don’t know what that may be.
I do know, though, that Morgan, 60 miles to the east of Minneota, also had a hatchery, aptly named Morgan Hatchery. I photographed the exterior of the former hatchery and feed store in 2013 while en route to my hometown of Vesta.
Thoughts of home take me back to those chicks delivered by the mailman, as we called letter carriers back in the day. After retrieving the box (es) of chicks from aside the roadside mailbox, Mom released them into the chicken coop. There they clustered around shallow water dishes under the warmth of heat lamps. I don’t recall many details other than the fluffy fowl feathering all too soon. For me, the chicks’ transition toward adulthood quickly ended my adoration.
There’s a reason I dislike being in close proximity to chickens: pecking hens and a vicious rooster. Gathering eggs from angry hens as a young girl proved an unpleasant chore. And avoiding a mean rooster proved impossible. One day Dad had enough of the rooster attacking his children. He grabbed an ax and that quickly ended the hostile encounters. I still hold trauma from that rooster. But I’ve gotten better about being around chickens. However, if I even pick up on a hint of meanness, I flee.
Given my history, I’ll never own chickens. But I eat chicken. And I eat eggs. I especially like farm fresh eggs from free-range chickens. The dark orangish-yellow yolk hue, the taste, are superior to mass-produced eggs.
And I still think chicks are cute, even if they quickly morph into feathered birds I’d rather not be around.
© Copyright 2024 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Minnesota Prairie Roots 
My aunt owned and operated a broiler hen and egg farm in rural Canada back in the 1960s. Visiting her always involved a little “helping out” with the chickens. This didn’t put me off enjoying eggs or fried chicken but it did end any interest in owing a bunch of live ones.
I’m laughing because I can absolutely understand your thinking.
My brother and sister-in-law own a few chickens. They have become quite fond of them, as each has a name. 🙂 I have benefitted from them many times by having some of those beautiful fresh eggs.
Nothing like fresh eggs. How kind of your brother and SIL to share.
That’s so interesting that the chicks came through the mail. Back in the 50s and 60s, my mom would go pick up her chicks from the local hatchery. She usually got about 500 which included a few of those nasty roosters. How many did your family get? I too am not that enthused about chickens. I disliked the smell in the hen house, worried about encountering a rat and feared the mean chickens pecking at me when I reached under to get the egg. Our chickens were allowed outside during the day. To tease the roosters, I would ride my bike past them. Luckily I didn’t get caught!
I hope I’m remembering correctly that our chicks arrived via mail. My siblings might remember otherwise. But I’m pretty certain. I don’t know how many chickens we had, but enough to fill the chicken coop. Ours, too, wandered the farmyard during the day. I especially liked finding eggs dropped in the board pile by the granary. It was like a treasure hunt.
You’re fortunate the roosters never caught you. I didn’t even consider rats, but I’m sure they were there. Not until I covered a chicken barn fire as a reporter for The Gaylord Hub did I realize rats shared the space. The smell of burning feathers and the exit of rats made me wish I could flee. But I had a job to do and that was photograph and then write about the massive fire.
When I help out at the farm, I feed eight chickens. I have to round them up into the coop and shut them in, then feed and water them. They are not the friendliest creatures. But the fresh eggs are good.
Who knew it was Chick Days?
I would not be rounding up those chickens. But good for you to do this chore. Chick Days is a spring ritual.
I think chickens are pretty amazing but they just aren’t cuddly, are they? I tend to like cuddly. 😊
I’ve never found them to be cuddly. But I watched a local TV show recently in which a chicken nestled comfortably in a man’s arms for an entire segment.
how excited you must have been to receive these baby chicks way back when. the reality of their adulthood and all that came with that must have been a disappointment, and I can understand your fears based upon your experiences with them. I do love farm fresh eggs, they are beautiful and somehow taste richer to me. glad you able to go near them again, but always aware and keeping safe.
You’re right. It was exciting to get those chicks. And then they turned into feathered chickens. Too quickly.