Chickens! Eggs! In our case, I happen to know it was the chickens...little itty bitty fluff balls that have turned into productive, happy hens. We have nine...two barred rocks, three americauna's, and four rhode island reds. After the chickens came the eggs...tons of them! Our eggs are brown, pink and green. We keep the yard free of chemicals and we don't feed our chickens anything that doesn't come from the earth, and it goes without saying that I don't inject them with any antibiotics. They're healthy, happy and organic!
I built the coop myself. I had NO idea what I was doing, and I had never built anything out of wood by myself. I think it turned out pretty well. It has a roost on on the left side as you're looking at it, and on the right are the nesting boxes. They stay in the coop overnight for safety, and they remain in the coop until about 3in the afternoon when the dogs go in their kennel and the chickens get free run of yard. The chickens put themselves in the coop at night...all we have to do is close the door and secure it.
We have found that chickens are quite fun...watching them run is hilarious, as they run like girls in high heels. And when one finds a grub or some other treat in the yard and tries to sneak off to eat it alone somewhere, invariably one of the other chickens spots it and there's a squawking, maniacal race across the yard. They will hop up to pick berries or cherries or any other yummy looking fruit. They dig holes (worse than dogs, I tell ya!) and they keep pests and weeds under control.
What I love best about chickens is what they teach me about life. No matter how dusty or worthless a spot appears to be to me, those chickens will keep scratching around in the dirt, certain that if they look long enough, they will find a treat. And what do you know, they're right! Sometimes I need to be reminded that just because it seems like all I'm doing is scratching around in the dirt, I can rest assured that there are "treats" to be found. The blessings are there! They've also taught me that life is full of unexpected things, and that it's best to be prepared to hop, dig, and run on a moment's notice so as to seize the opportunity as it comes.
1 comment:
We had chickens when I was a kid. And one mean rooster. It was my job to collect eggs. I remember one time (I was 6 years old) I went out and filled the bucket with eggs, plus one more that I carried in my hand. The rooster chased me all the way back to the house, and on the last step I tripped and splatted the egg not he top step before the door of the house. I cried, and my mom took a broom and whapped that rooster clear across the yard!! Funny memories!
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