Brown
My family has a passion for birds.
I think we have about 50 feathered friends living at our hobby farm on Olive Branch Road. Many of them are rescues.
It all started with my daughter Laura, who as a homeschooler began studying birds when she was 6 years old. We had a few hens and ducks when she was little, and she adored them.
When it came to school, Laura wasn’t interested in anything else, so I brought home stacks of books about birds for her and found lots of relevant documentaries. She learned to read with bird books! Around age 7 she learned to care for her very own hens and a pair of lovebirds. All her dreams were coming true.
When children have a passion, it’s so important for parents to find ways to invest in those interests.
As Laura got older, she focused her passion on tropical birds. Soon she embraced a dream to someday operate a tropical bird rescue program, and she wanted to be a veterinary technician for exotic pets when she grew up. By age 9 her favorite reading material happened to be college textbooks on veterinary science, and books on bird training and psychology.
When Laura was 10 our family moved to Hawaii. She was so excited about all the tropical birds. While my father and mother were visiting she told my dad about her dream to have an aviary and rescue unwanted tropical birds.
By the end of the week my dad and daughter had built a large aviary in our tropical paradise. Once complete she posted a notice on Craigslist offering to care for birds in need of adoption. Within a month she had adopted five birds in need of a nurturing home. Every bird had a story.
After three years our family decided to return to Indiana. We sold our tropical paradise and bought a beautiful hobby farm in Johnson County. We were very careful to find a property zoned for both residential and agricultural purposes, as Laura was excited about raising chickens, and several of our teens also wanted horses. As parents we try our best to help our kids pursue their dreams, and hobby farming is not just a dream my kids had — it was my dream too, from the time I was young.
Laura was able to bring most of her birds with us to Indiana, and the dream of having a rescue operation continued in her heart. But it turned out that in Indiana the greatest need for bird rescue involved illegal chickens, not tropical parrots.
Years ago our family lived in Fortville, Indiana, where our family had a few pet chickens, some ducks and a couple dairy goats. We all remember the traumatic day the police came to the door and told us that it was illegal to have farm animals on our residential property. All the kids were so sad about giving up their pets. As a family we have compassion for people who have to rehome beloved pets. The woman who made room on her property for our chickens always welcomed our family to come to her farm to spend time with the critters.
To make a long story short, we ended up getting to keep our goats and ducks in Fortville, because the ordinance only prohibited the keeping of chickens. The whole experience was traumatic for the kids, but in the end it turned out for the best.
Recently we have started a new kind of bird rescue — a habitat for chickens that needed a second chance. We have been adopting pet chickens from families in urban areas that have gotten in trouble with the local government or home owners associations for having hens or roosters. We have five movable chicken coops and a large area and garden dedicated to free ranging.
Many of the chickens that have come to us are beautiful hand-raised roosters. They are all very tame and have such beautiful feathers. In many communities it’s legal to have hens as pets, but not roosters. It’s pretty common for folks to buys some young hens, and a few months later one of their friendly hens is waking up the neighbors with a cook-a-doodle-do.
When we adopt the chickens their owners come to our farm to help get their pets settled in. It’s sometimes an emotional good-bye, but when they see how happy their chickens are to explore the gardens and make new friends, it’s not so hard.
Families who have had to rehome their chickens often bring their kids over to say hello or drop off treats.
Now it’s not just Laura, who is 16, running a bird rescue. Several of us are involved, especially my 11-year-old daughter Ember who feeds the birds each morning.
The chickens are also a fun feature of our homeschooling co-op experience. Several family visit our hobby farm for picnics, games, gardening and socializing every Friday. The kids love seeing all the unique varieties of friendly hens and roosters.
Sarah Janisse Brown is a Center Grove-area resident and a publisher who lives with her family on a working farm. Send comments to [email protected].
