Considering Chickens: Episode 1 (Why?)

As I ponder our future with round two of chickens, I thought I'd avoid acknowledging that school is about to start post a bit of a "series" about my experiences and thoughts on raising chickens.  Our first episode is titled "Why?" and will be handled in two separate sections:

Why Would Any Regular Person Consider Raising Chickens?

My next question should be "Why would any regular person consider having a dog, cat, rabbit, turtle, hamster, ferret, parakeet....?"  I really think that these days, chickens have left the confines of the farm and are starting to infiltrate American backyards.  And it isn't just a trend or a fad.  Raising chickens is a great idea because:

1.  They provide a learning experience for children.  (Did you know that hens DO NOT need a rooster around to lay eggs?  Did you know that their pee and poo comes out as the same kinda watery/poopy mess?  Did you know they take dust baths to naturally rid themselves of pests?  See, even adults can learn something!)

2.  They are OUTSIDE pets.  I don't think I'd be so opposed to dogs if A.) I weren't allergic to basically anything with hair, which is an allergy that is getting worse for me as I get older.  It used to be just cats, now it's all furry things.  Or B.) They didn't shed, have to go outside and come back in with muddy paws, drool, bark, snot all over me, pee on the floor, or take up my bed.  Chickens do none of these things.  (Unless you are a really crazy chicken owner that gets chicken diapers and keeps chickens inside.  Or unless you walk to Daddy's work one day, the wind blows the front door open, and when you get back there's a poop trail around the entire first floor and evidence that a chicken has napped on the schoolroom cushions.) 

3.  Chickens can be raised from chicks to be completely tame, wonderful pets.  All they want is a snack.  Bribing with food is so easy, and no matter what, they will come when you call, or cluck, or whistle, or however you train them to respond.  Our last flock even came to our call of "Ladies!!!  Ladies!!!"  Seeing all their tail feathers go rushing down the hill as they hoped for a handful of sunflower seeds was so fun.  That said, they get less agreeable to being manhandled by children when they are older, but they are overall very friendly if raised from chicks.  (Caeley once kicked a chicken that flapped at her, and from that day on, they had a total war-like relationship.  I would say that this one lady went so far as to pester Caeley any chance she got, but I think she was the alpha female and Caeley was just small enough/big enough to be her "next threat."  Actually really funny.  But don't tell Caeley I said that.  She's still not over it.)  

Okay, so we did raise them in our not-used bathtub, but they moved outside after that!  Here the girls are laughing with chicks on their stomachs and making the chicks bounce up and down.  They look so YOUNG.  (The girls, not the chicks.)

4.  If you garden, chickens are absolutely indispensable as a means of organic (and totally easy) pest control.  I suffered horribly with bugs this summer, and couldn't figure out what the problem was.  And then I remembered that I used to have chickens that did all my pest control for me.  This was a large part of my decision to revisit the chicken issue.  

5.  Eggs.  The best eggs ever.  However, it is really a mistake to think that you can completely cover your costs with chickens.  Unless you can really and truly build your own legit coop, buy the cheapest feed possible, and have enough chickens to lay enough eggs, it isn't possible in the short term.  In the long term, however, after your coop and startup costs are covered, and depending on the price of feed, breaking even is more of a possibility.  But, like any pets, they are an investment, they take food, they sometimes take medicine, you buy them treats here and there, and so they do cost something.  The nice thing is that you DO get something in return.  From a potential sustainability standpoint, chickens could be valuable.  In a super tight pinch, you could feed chickens mostly table scraps, grass, and bugs, use chicken feed as only a supplement, and hope to get by with a really cheap source of protein, I suppose.  I'm not sure what impact this would have on the chicken's health or lay-rate, but I hope I never have to find out.  We kinda spoil our chickens.  

6.  Chickens will eat all the stuff you feel kinda bad about composting.  Like that tomato that is too gross to eat but not gross enough to throw away.  Or the last little bit of watermelon rind with lots of seeds left in it.  You name it, they will eat it, for the most part.  

7.  You can recycle their poopy bedding into your compost, which makes wonderful fertilizer for the garden.  

8.  There is constantly something cute, or funny, or interesting to look at.  Chickens do weird things.  They did dust holes and flap around in them.  They scratch through fallen leaves in autumn looking for bugs.  They fight with each other.  They establish pecking order.  They tilt their heads up in the strangest way when they think they spot a hawk or other large bird.  If you appreciate nature or the outdoors, or you like birds, you could never get tired of watching chicken antics.  

9.  It gives you a total new respect for farmers who run sustainable operations.  It is not easy to dig a chicken coop out of 18 inches of snow.  It's not always enjoyable trying to keep water from freezing so that the chickens can get a drink.  But imagine if you had many coops.  Spread all over a farm.  And those coops didn't have electricity because it is too expensive and awkward to electrify free range coops.  And you collected eggs three times a day instead of one.  You get the picture.  Raising chickens can give you a perspective on "raising food" that you never would've had before. 

Why Am I Doing This AGAIN?

Those of you who know me on Facebook or in real life followed our first chicken journey.  But here's a quick recap:  Basically within a week of getting our first chickens, I found out I was pregnant.  I got horrible morning sickness.  I couldn't stand the smell of anything.  And we had 8 baby chicks in our downstairs bathroom.   (Think POOP.  Lots of it.  And only more as they got older!)   Ken had to take over "chicken duty" and because my pregnancy was so rough, that kinda didn't change for nine months. Then I had a baby.  And the story was the same.  Much of the work fell to him, and when we ended up with only 2 chickens left due to hawks and foxes, we had to give the two chickens away to friends of ours because chickens can't survive the winter in a coop with such a small flock due to lack of body warmth.  But I have missed the chickens terribly.  I have always been an animal person (excluding cats) and dream of being a small scale farmer on some beautiful country homestead.  This is a part of me that isn't tied into my children, my job as a mother, or my homeschooling persona (although it is educational).  It is a part of me that is just me, as a person.  As Christine.  It is one of MY personal interests, something that makes me happy to pursue.  (We were just discussing in Bible study this morning how it is so easy as mothers to brush our own interests aside and always be caring for our husbands, children, etc.  We can end up losing who we are as a person if we don't take the time to cultivate our own interests and dreams.  As dumb as it sounds, chickens are that for me.)  I'm not going to lie, it took some convincing on the part of my better half, although not nearly as much as I thought it would.  I was given rules.  Three strict ones:  

1.  The chickens are to be contained completely.  No pooping on dress shoes.  No lounging on the outdoor furniture or taking shelter on the porches. 

2.  The chickens may not be raised in the bathtub.  Even the one we don't use.

3.  The chickens can't come within 20 yards of the house.

That's IT?  Adhere to those rules and I can have chickens again?  DEAL!  I have learned so much from my last adventure with chickens.  I will probably cover all those things in my next episodes.  But for now I hope I have answered the "Whys" from a generic and also a personal perspective.  Stay tuned for Episode 2: Home on the Range.

This girl was TOTALLY smitten with the chickens.  And was quite the chicken whisperer.  I can't wait to see her at it again!  (Doesn't she look like a BABY here....she's going to be SIX soon!!!)