pids iKornef
J.P. Costello’s Work With Chickens Has Its Perks
In this photograph there is a close view of a white
earlobe. The color of the earlobe is how to determine
what color egg the hen will lay. If it is a brown or red lob,
the chicken’s eggs will be brown. White indicates her
eggs will be white. Too bad someone forgot to ask J.P. if
the Aracauna chickens have blue or green earlobes.
shown eating cracked corn,
is known for laying eggs
that have* green and blue
shells. J.P. used the corn
to help the fowl behave
long enough to pose for a
photograph.
pygmy gob*..
and his parents are still debating how to keep the little
rascals restrained. They will leap over the sides of their
pen. If they ever got the chance to roam, it is certain they
would be off on an expedition to explore the neighbor
hood.
Inside the pen with his
smaller Japanese breed
chickens, J.P. Costello has
to scrunch himself up to fit
in the space. The birds
have beautiful snowy white
feathers and black tails.
GAY BROWNLEE
Virginia Correspondent
KEARNEYSVILLE, W.Va.
J.P. (James Paul, like his dad)
Costello, 11, of Kearneysville,
W.Va. thoroughly enjoys chick
ens. He knows a lot about chick
ens, too. In fact, he has owned a
flock of chickens since he was
nine years old.
J.P. was asked what makes
chickens such neat creatures.
“They lay eggs and they eat
worms,” he replied. “They eat
any kind of bug that moves.”
J.P. said a couple of his chick*
ens are tame. The oldest one is
named ‘Mom.” Another pet
“Gimpy” was a baby when an
adult stepped on her tiny foot.
After that she didn’t move about
normally and J.P. says she
‘gimped” instead.
The ones with names J.P. can
identify, but his mom, Paula,
can’t tell them apart. For in
stance, one of his girl birds has a
guys name, “Roger.” That’s be
cause the chick was bom around
the time J.P.’s friendly neighbor
named Roger had died.
“Speedy” isn’t living today, but
he was a bantam that had one
eye and would chase you, J.P.
said. One rooster is “Bob” and
another is “800 Boo.”
His interest in chickens began
when J.P. was in another com
munity visiting his brother’s
farm. He noticed how the chick
ens were always scratching in the
dirt. It made J.P. really curious to
leam more about the fowl.
“I asked if I could see how
many eggs were in the laying
block,” he said. T was gathering
eggs and I thought that was
cool.”
On the internet J.P. began re
searching breeds of chickens. His
mind was made up. He was de
termined to own a flock of chick
ens and finally, selected Rhode
Island Reds, like his dad sug
gested.
‘lt’s the State Bird of Rhode Is
land,” he said, like a good social
studies student.
One day the post office notified
them that 25 chicks had arrived
in the mail. J.P. and his mother
then went to the farm store to
purchase feed and were surprised
that the store was offering “Arau
cana” breed chicks for sale.
Now J.P. knew from his re
search that Araucana eggs have a
green or blue shell. After he and
his mother discussed it, they de
cided to purchase two Araucana
chicks. In about 21 weeks all the
birds would probably be mature
enough to lay eggs.
At home all the preparations
were completed to give the young
fowl a good start in life. There
was a brooder with a heat lamp
to keep the babies warm, snug
and cozy.
Later he learned the impor
tance of taking care of the eggs.
J.P. says with emphasis: ‘Never,
ever wipe em!”
He explained why. When the
egg is laid by the chicken, it’s
outer shell has a natural invisible
coating or membrane that pre
vents bacteria from going inside
to the egg itself. Wiping the shell
can break the membrane and de
stroy the protective layer. Of
course, before cracking eggs open
to cook them its best to clean
away all smudges.
Most people don’t know that
you can tell what color and egg
shell will be by looking at the
Goodness! This long stretchy earthworm that J.P.
found under a rock will be tossed over the fence. In the
chicken yard the excited flock is waiting in expectancy of
a high treat. They see it coming through the air. With
feathers flying and loud clucking, they race to be first for
the “pecking.”
chickens tiny earlobe. If the
earlobes are brown or red, the
eggs will be, too. If her earlobes
are white, the eggs will be white.
Four big proud and noisy
roosters are amongst J.P’s chick
en pens. There are two Rhode Is
land red, one buff Orpington, and
one barred Rock.
The birds are fun to watch and
sometimes their behavior seems
silly. They make you laugh and
are very pretty, too, with differ
ent colored feathers.
Some are a rich red brown.
Others have soft crepmy tan
feathers«jrhe plumage of several
is slate gray mixed with white.
Mostly, their heads have red
combs.
J.P. doesn’t want the big chick
ens pecking the smaller Japanese
bantams, so he keeps these snowy
white birds in separate pens.
At the Jefferson County Fair
“Big Boy” a Rhode Island red
male won “Best Cockerel in
Show.” Someone called him the
“Prettiest rooster in Jefferson
County.”
“Mom” and “Goldie” also took
blue ribbons and so did the eggs
J.P. entered.
J.P. belongs to the Trailblazers
4-H Club where, in public speak
ing competition, he did a visual
presentation about chickens, of
course. He won a county blue rib
bon and a state red ribbon.
J.P.’s responsibility morning
and evening is to feed his live
stock. So it is a good thing he
loves being outdoors.
A South Jefferson Elementary
School fifth grader, J.P. says:
“Twenty minutes are not enough
for me outside at recess.”
In the chicken yard “800 Boo” a buff Orpington rooster
is in the center of the photo.
J.P. checks the news and
weather every morning on televi
sion. Afterward he puts on cam
ouflage coveralls of olive green
and brown to feed and water the
animals. The grain and mash
must last all day. He checks the
three Dorset sheep in the grassy
pasture of Cardinals’ Meadow
and makes sure the pygmy goats
are tended.
On the weekends J.P. works at
a paying job to earn some money.
Friday, after school and twice on
Saturdays and Sundays, he feeds
12Q calvef dairyman Bpb
Gruber.
The youngest calves are bottle
fed untO they are three weeks old.
J.P. fills the bottles from a large
vessel of milk, puts on the nipples
and then hangs the bottles on a
rack. Ttyfe position of the rack
and the bottles enables the calves
to drink without help from J.P.
“I put grain in the back and
hay in the back for those who
don’t have nulk.” he said.
Each feeding takes about one
and a half hours.
J.P. recently spent some of his
money for a Love bird. It has lime
green body feathers, a blue tail
and peach around its neck. It’s
name is “Peachy.”
J.P. is so industrious that when
he’s working, you can catch a
gleam of satisfaction in his dark
brown eyes beneath his cap.
Someday, J.P. is going to own
a ranch a very big ranch he
said, where he will be able to raise
everything. Before then, however,
he wants to drive a big dump
truck to relocate tons of earth.
There’s just something cool about
operating a dump truck, he said.
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