Saturday 5 June 2010

Ladybird chickens

I have been amassing a collection of vintage ladybird books, and selling them off on ebay one by one once I can't bear reading them anymore or the kids have lost interest. I pick them up for 10p, good ones can resell for upward of 30 quid. A "Well loved tales" Cinderella series 606D can go for 50 quid or more if it's in good nick. I love the illustrations, they are so evocative of my own childhood. I'm just about to post one off to an ebay buyer, it's "The Farmer" from the "People at Work" series, illustrated by John Berry. Narrating the farming world of the 60's, the combine pictures drew sons' interest briefly before he became motorbike obsessed. I love the drawings of the hop pickers, presumably some rough old cockneys employed at slave wages in yesteryear, but I love best of all the chickens and the text alongside that describes their lovely life in the shed: "In batteries and deep litter the hens are kept warm, well fed and have plenty of light": yes, for 24 hours! See how happy the battery hens are! See how they love their lives in the shed! Forever! Till they die prematurely!


I have a coop waiting to be built. I was hoping for hens this year but we have too much to do beforehand, a fence, a lawn. Our garden is 250ft long but mostly gravel for now as the previous owners of the house had 5 cars and a love of long driveway from the rear access. We stupidly thought it would be a quick job to do a lawn, now we know it will involve a mini-digger hire, which son will love. So the hens are next year. How happy they will be, though, to be garden hens and not ladybird battery hens.

3 comments:

Jan said...

Ladybird books were great ,phew fancy them selling for all that much ,wow good for you ,battery hens Im so pleased we learned better ,in the intervening years ,I worked on an egg farm once ,one day was all I lasted, the smell was unbelievable ..love Jan xx

sharie said...

I always pick up vintage ladybird books whenever I spot them in decent condition. My retirement fund LOL.
OK, I'll come clean....I just like the illustrations....

Fenwitters said...

I think they're popular as they are what people in their late 30's and 40's remember as kids books, people buy them for their kids and grandkids. A complete set of Well Loved tales went for 500 quid plus on ebay.
Jan, we lived downwind from a chicken battery once, and Lord, how they got anyone to work there I do not know. My friend has ex-battery hens, I think I will get some too. When they arrived they had no fetahers to speak of and burnt legs.