Friday, October 19, 2007

Our Chickens are giving us eggs!!


My husband has finally achieved his dream of being a chicken farmer. In April we bought 4- day old chicks from a local farming type store.Miraculously they made it to adulthood. Chickens don't lay eggs until they are around six months old, so this whole chicken thing felt like a drawn out food storage experiment. Around the 5 month mark we were horrified to discover that one of our 95% guaranteed hens was really a rooster. The kids came running in the house one day to report that Top (the non-hen) kept jumping on the other chickens and attacking them. Hmm, I thought. The next day Top was completely outed when he started crowing. I always thought that roosters crowed when the sun came up or maybe on the hour, but this is misinformation...or possibly Top didn't know the rules to good rooster conduct. He crowed constantly. Top's eviction from our backyard haven was guaranteed when he began stalking me and actually pecked me in the toe. One should be able to go into their own backyard without carrying a stick to fend off mental roosters. To every one's satisfaction Top moved to the country and now reigns over a bunch of ducks and guards the farmer's gazebo.
We are getting eggs daily from our chickens!! They are actually really fun. I never knew you could get attached to fowl. The kids have really enjoyed the three hens. Some day we might complete the coop. But until then they are "free range".

2 comments:

My Three Sons said...

Hey! Are you home? Hope all went as well as can be expected! Thank you for your comment on my blog. We are ok and I think I will drive up to Spokane tomorrow. I'll be home most of the day and will give you a jingle! I am JEALOUS of your chickens! I think my boys would love to have some fowl around! Are you going to eat the eggs?

EarlGirl said...

Woo Hoo! Thank heaven for ovulation.