Keeping chickens in the Andes

Living in the Andes of Chile has various advantages. You can keep horses easily and at a less prohibitive cost than in Europe or the States; you can keep chickens in your garden and the neighbours don’t complain about the cock crowing just before dawn, because they probably have some too. The other delight is the colours and feathers of the chickens. Also the eggs are coloured, either blueish or brown, not white.We have a marvellously grand cockerel and his favourite wife, Miss Frizzy, or the Hat as she is also known. After laying a great many eggs Miss Frizzy lay down and died but fortunately we have succeeded in rearing a baby from her clutch of eggs. This is good as she was quite the most distinguished of our chickens in the Andes.

Types of chickens in the Andes

These types are referred to as ‘Mapuche’ although I think that just means old-fashioned, or perhaps even ‘rare breed. The Mapuche people in Chile are some of the original inhabitants, ‘pre-colombino’ or living here before Christopher Columbus and the Spanish conquistadores arrived. They have been keeping these kinds of chickens in the Andes for hundreds of years.