Abby Maxwell's Mama Chicken's eggs hatched

[goldbu]

Not by me it isn't. Probably the vast majority of the members are Christian just because the vast majority of people in the rural US tend to be Christian, but that's about it.

It's a club for kids to learn various rural and small town type skills. Raising animals is a big deal, you raise a cow/pig/goat/sheep/whatever and then show it in competition at the county fair, possibly the state fair. There are prizes, and also usually the winning animals get purchased for quite a sum, too.

There's also FFA (Future Farmers of America) in the high schools.

4H actually encompasses a lot more than this. My husband did 4H growing up and he's a big time city boy. He mainly did photography and computer stuff (websites, programming, etc). I think his brother did some sort of debate or public speaking.

[Eater of Worlds]

Hens can store sperm for a couple of weeks in the sperm host glands. I have no idea how long she's had these chickens.

[Justme]

Hens can store sperm for a couple of weeks in the sperm host glands. I have no idea how long she's had these chickens.

I think around 9-12 months.

[Savoring Samsara]

4H actually encompasses a lot more than this. My husband did 4H growing up and he's a big time city boy. He mainly did photography and computer stuff (websites, programming, etc). I think his brother did some sort of debate or public speaking.

I did 4H for the entirety of my childhood and never raised a single farm animal or planted a single crop. You really can do a ridiculous amount of activities through it now. I did photography, public speaking, music, arts and crafts, and baking/cooking/canning. If you stay in it through your teens there's a lot of leadership development type stuff too.

It definitely does attract a boatload of fundies. My club had a lot of homeschoolers and really conservative families, probably because it's a good extracurricular that you can do just about any activity in and that doesn't have to go through a school.

[SPHASH]

I don't think Abby or any of the Maxwell grandkids will be allowed to do 4-H. Might turn into an idol you know.

[WonderingInWA]

I don't think Abby or any of the Maxwell grandkids will be allowed to do 4-H. Might turn into an idol you know.

Well, and it's competitive and you win prizes, and Stevie wouldn't approve of that. So no, no 4-H for anyone on the compound.

Alissa will have to find something else to occupy her time (wasn't she in 4-H? Someone found I think it was a red coat she had made and received an award for, I think).

[RandomTrivia]

Hens can store sperm for a couple of weeks in the sperm host glands. I have no idea how long she's had these chickens.

I didn't know that. Learn something new every day. :) Granted, we never had that problem (back in the pre-internet days); we were more likely to have too many roosters than not-enough. The few times we got hatchery chicks, we usually didn't pay extra for sexed chicks, so we got about half roosters and had fried chicken later on. :animals-chickencatch:

Now, livebearing aquarium fish, like guppies, can apparently store sperm for up to four months, and have 3-5 batches of babies from storage. Of course, they also eat their young (which is the only reason I don't have 50,000 fish right now).

[nomoxian]

probably even Poor Sarah isn't ready to hear about how eggs become baby chicks.

Even the toddler Duggar kids saw a cow give birth (which I thought was pretty surprising for a conservative family like theirs)

[Black Aliss]

I left a comment on the blog asking about a rooster and/or fertilized eggs. It wasn't approved. :pink-shock:

[VodouDoll]

We've taken our toddler to the county fair the last few years because she's bananas over farm animals, and the 4H kids are amazing. It's so wonderful and fun to see their pride in the animals they've raised, and watching the kids care for their animals and hang around them getting excited when visitors compliment them. Last summer a bunch of the dressage tweens kindly offered to let my two year old into the stalls with their horses to pet their noses, and it made her month. It's really cool seeing kids who've worked hard on these animals caring for them and showing them off and feeling so proud of their work.

Tl;dr: it's fun and has other adults as leaders and is an idol. No Maxwell would ever be allowed.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I did not realize just how broad 4-H is - mostly I've seen the animal stuff at the fair (which I agree is amazing).

Sounds like maybe 4-H could even be an alternative to the One Ton Ramp for kids who want to learn about computers...!

[Hane]

In the "Saturday with the Moodys (Maxwells)" thread, the magnanimous Talitha Cumi quoted Stevehovah as saying that they'd better be careful, or Abby's chicken-raising hobby might take up too much of her time (becoming an idol?)--time that would probably be better spent obsessing over Jesus.

I can't. I Just. Fucking. Can't.

[Pretzel]

Meet Broody Mama (named by Abigail of course :)). Broody Mama wanted to hatch some chicks and very patiently sat on her eggs. She didn’t leave them more than 30 minutes a day, and as time drew closer to hatching, she was up only a few minutes at a time. Finally, three little chicks popped out.

The Psalmist draws an analogy about the protection a chicken provides her chicks to how the Lord watches over us! How true.

It's great to know the Lord doesn't leave me more than 30 minutes a day! But I guess everyone needs some time off every now and then....

[uber frau]

I doubt Steve would leave his brood for that long over the course of a whole week. (But then we already know he's more hardcore than God.)