raising our own eggs

A few weeks ago I told my husband that I wanted to go to a community education class about raising chickens.  He thought it was a good idea and set out to turn the dog house into a chicken coop.  The class was educational and full of information, but I was still not sure that I wanted chickens (or nasty old yard birds as my husband calls them).  I really enjoy fresh eggs, but am a cheapskate and don't want to pay for them.  So a Few dollars later for some hinges and latches we sucessfully turned the old dog house into a chicken coop. Still not sure, I finally broke down and bought four barred rock chicks.  They were a bit bigger and had real feathers, they were not tiny fluffy chicks that my kids would have squeezed to death in one day.  The kids went wild over them.  We ended up killing two of the four chicks because the kids would not leave them alone.  Since then the children have calmed down about the chickens.  We ended up buying a bakers dozen more barred rock chicks (thinking that we would lose some).  Then we couldn't resist half dozen more tiny fluffy chicks of assorted breeds. In all we have 21 chickens.  During this time of obtaining chicks there came a couple of stray chickens who have taken up residence next door. They are pretty tame chickens.  The one wandered into my house when the door got left open.  Yesterday my four year old Veronica asked if she could have a big chicken.  There in the driveway under the truck were the two chickens. There is no one living next door right now, so we had a chicken rodeo and got those two chickens rounded up and into the back yard.   It was fun to watch the kids with the chickens. Miss Veronica got along behind the chickens walking with a good chicken strut, bobbing her head and flapping her wings.  it was fun to just soak it in on a sunny afternoon.  It is fun making memories like that. 

It is fun to watch the kids as they get so excited about making sure the chickens are in the coop for the night.  Waking up in the morning to let the chickens out and feed and water them is real excitement. .  It is good for the kids to have some responsibilities.  I think that kids should have responsibilities and that they need to do more than video games and such.  That is part of the chicken adventure  responsibility and self sufficency.  Now we just have to find ways to feed and take care of the chickens in a budget freindly way.  The gal that taught the chicken class actually said that she only breaks even on eggs, that it really doesn't save any money.  At this point we are into it a bit to buy the chicks and feed to start them, but  think that we will be feeding them scraps and letting them forage for food.  It is fun to watch the chickens fight over scraps of food waste that used to go into the trashcan.  They love banana peels and cabbage so far.  Keep watching for updates to our new chicken adventures.