Penned Chickens at the Lakeland Fleamarket, Lakeland, Florida

Penned Chickens

May 23, 2010

A common sight at the Lakeland Fleamarket was penned chickens at several of the booths.  Some looked like they might be selling the chickens but others were like this one just sitting out beside the booth.  Well in this case the chicken pen was sitting by the food truck and did not appear to be for sale.  I had to wonder why they were there.  Were they there for the purpose of selling or to be killed for some of the food being served?  I can't see them being killed on site in such a small unit so perhaps they were there because the family spent so many hours away from home and this was one way to still have chickens.  Could they be a bit of a status symbol?  See these are the kinds of thoughts inquiring minds can come up with.  In hind sight I should have simply inquired about why the chickens were there but what a lot of people don't know about me is talking to strangers does not come easy so the questions went unanswered, slipping into my memories of the trip.

I have been wanting to get laying hens here so I've been doing a bit of research.  My husband isn't too fond of the idea of me getting chickens so we are into the great chicken debate.  To me the pen pictured is much to small for the number of chickens in it even for a brief time.  They were in full, blazing hot sun too which didn't impress me.  Despite that the chickens looked quite healthy but I don't have a lot of experience with chickens so maybe they aren't as healthy as they look.  At any rate if I ever do get chickens I will be posting a lot about them here.

Garden Gnome
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