My parents are from the South, and Mom tells me that she grew up always hearing the old wives' tale - Keeping a crowing hen is bad luck. Now, I've heard that if you have a hen house with no rooster, that sometimes, one of the hens will assume a couple of the rooster's duties, and start crowing and watching out for hawks, etc.
Has anyone ever heard this old wives' tale? Does anyone have a crowing hen???
...I'm not superstitious at all, but I find this kind of old folklore interesting. Especially old stories from the South...
:) Glenda
Is a crowing hen bad luck???
I've had a crowing hen, and when we got a new rooster, she stopped. Didn't notice any bad luck.
WEll, it is certainly bad luck for the hen if she starts crowing and you get rid of her!
Backyard Hens, I see your point. Bad luck is in the eye of the "bad luck beholder", now isn't it! I'm sure the crowing hen would agree. :)
Glad to hear you didn't notice any bad luck Zeppy! Once The Colonel meets the grim reaper someday, maybe one of my hens will start crowing. My chickens free range (I have a coop but no pen) and The Colonel is getting meaner by the day, so when that day comes, I'm not planning on replacing him. His crow is the only thing I'll miss. ~:>
Eastern Kentucky is full of old wives' tales.... Gotta love it!
Glenda
Glenda, have you ever looked at the Foxfire books? It's a series edited by Eliot Wigginton: I think you'd really love it. I think you can look at them on Amazon.com to see what they're like...
Hey Zeppy,
Yes, I have! Actually, I have started collecting them. Our daughters have bought me a few of them for b-days, Christmas, etc. I think I have the first book through the 4th or 5th one. My Mom is reading them right now so I don't have them here. They are great, and help to preserve a way of life that is all but lost outside of Appalachia, which is where all my ancestors come from. ...The way this old world is going these day, we might NEED to have the information contained in the Foxfire books some day.
:) Glenda
My mother used to tell me when I was a little girl that 'young ladies' didn't whistle.
She had a rhyme she used to say if she caught me whistling. It went like this.............
"A whistling girl and a crowing hen,
Always come to a bad, bad end."
I just thought she made it up so I wouldn't whistle. LOL But evidently, not.
That's a great rhyme! Ah, well, times have changed. I was a chronic whistler, and my hen is doing very well indeed. :)
Thanks for the poem, PeggyK! That's very cool. I'll recite it to my Mom and see if she has heard that one before. Isn't it interesting how often poetry (how ever simple) was used back then? Do you ever hear anyone using poetry to make a point today? I can't think of one example, and no, rapping, doesn't count. lol If I remember it right, my Mom used to say, "Don't whistle at the dinner table (while setting at the table) or you'll pee the bed." She had a bunch of short saying she use to toss out to us now and then. I'll set her down and see if I can get her to tell me all of them so I can write them down. They're either wisdom or superstition rolled into a short poem or saying.
This is not a superstition, but my Papaw Williams, who lived in Eastern Kentucky, use to set me on his knee and say, "Suppose my little darlin' that your doll should break its head. Could you hold it by crying until your eyes and nose were red? But wouldn't it be more pleasant to think it as a joke, and be glad that it's dolly's head and not your head that's broke!" If I only had a nickel for every time he told me that poem. I must have either laughed at it or made a face or something, because Papaw and I would always end up laughing - which is probably why he kept telling it to me.
...I sure do miss him.
:) Glenda
Awwwh, that's so sweet. I bet he was a good grandpa. It's a lot of those rhymes that stick so dearly in our memories. Those and little songs they used to sing for us.
Makes me think I need to make up some for my grandkids. All they ever hear nowdays is whatever is in the video games. Yuk ! Not many values taught there .
Zeppy, you are so right..........times have really changed. Glad your hen is doing well and the superstitions and old wives' tales haven't disuaded her little song.