We always had chickens when I was growing up. Bantams, Rhode Island Reds, Spitzhaubens, Auracauna, Andalusians, Cochins, Orloffs, Buff Orpingtons...

I loved the "banties" the best. They laid such little bitty eggs. My baby sister, Emily, loved to carry the bantam eggs in her coat pockets. (We had to frisk that kid before she could come back into the house!) The bantam roosters were always the baddest dudes in the barnyard.

I showed my Spitzhaubens at the fair in 4H. Really cool. Didn't win a ribbon with them, as no one in our county had ever seen them before... but I smoked everyone with my crabapple jelly.

My sister, Sarah, used to walk around the farm with her favorite chicken roosting on her shoulder. We always thought she'd become a rural veterinarian. No such luck, but she still has pet chickens.