Metal Fencing

Dat 354: Metal Fencing

I listened to Helen Macdonald speaking about H is for Hawk today, and T.H. White, and I thought about chickens, and bees, and raptors. I don't intend to have chickens again, not unless I have a friendly neighbor who wants to share them. Honeybees seemed like a more sensible pursuit - they only need to be monitored every week or three - but having a systemic allergy has crossed bees off my list.

The big thaw has cleared the path to more chicken stuff, including this metal fencing that we put along the top of the fence to keep the chickens from flying the coop. For a while, one of the hens was wandering, laying eggs all around the property and annoying the neighbors.

There is a Michigan Hawking Club. Who knew?

I'm not really dreaming of becoming a falconer. It's a lifestyle more than a hobby, perhaps even more than beekeeping. But I understand the appeal. Once trained, hawks don't need fences. Like bees, they are both tame and wild, domestic and free.

Everything seems like a metaphor these days.