"CHICK" This Out!
This might be one of my craziest ideas yet! Kevin and I are seriously considering getting chickens this spring. We love the idea of getting the kids invested in caring for the chickens and collecting the eggs. Hopefully, by getting them involved in the process they will gain respect and knowledge of the food chain. Plus, we will have fresh/free-range organic eggs everyday.
Each summer, we try to take on a new challenge. Year one was composting. Year two was gardening. Year three will be chickens. To be very honest, year one and two had their challenges. For example, we worked on six months of composting when a sassy raccoon came in, tore apart our composter and ate it all! Then our garden got neglected due to crazy schedules and didn't thrive as much as it could have... Kevin and I grew up in the suburbs and didn't know much about any of this when we first started. To put it bluntly...we don't have green thumbs! :) However, we are not going to give up. It is a learning process and we hope each year we get better and better at these adventures. I just hope the chickens have a better chance than the garden and compost.....
I will document my chicken adventures so if any other brave souls are considering it...you can:
A) be inspired by our chicken journey and try it yourself or
B) learn from us and say "no way in hell would I do that."
Here are my fears:
1. Our new pets get abducted/slaughtered by all of our wild life surrounding our home.
PLAN- To build a kick-ass coop that will not allow any nasty critters in.
2. I am going to be grossed-out by touching and/or caring for the chickens.
PLAN: Suck it up and try it for one year. I really want to get out of my comfort zone and try this. Hoping the positives of the experience out weigh the negatives.
3. I can hardly manage my big family of six...what makes me think I can add four chickens to the mix?
PLAN: Everyone tells me once they are set-up, it is as simple as a house cat. I hope that is true!!
So there it is...my fears about raising chickens. I will keep you posted. Wish us luck! :)
Each summer, we try to take on a new challenge. Year one was composting. Year two was gardening. Year three will be chickens. To be very honest, year one and two had their challenges. For example, we worked on six months of composting when a sassy raccoon came in, tore apart our composter and ate it all! Then our garden got neglected due to crazy schedules and didn't thrive as much as it could have... Kevin and I grew up in the suburbs and didn't know much about any of this when we first started. To put it bluntly...we don't have green thumbs! :) However, we are not going to give up. It is a learning process and we hope each year we get better and better at these adventures. I just hope the chickens have a better chance than the garden and compost.....
I will document my chicken adventures so if any other brave souls are considering it...you can:
A) be inspired by our chicken journey and try it yourself or
B) learn from us and say "no way in hell would I do that."
Here are my fears:
1. Our new pets get abducted/slaughtered by all of our wild life surrounding our home.
PLAN- To build a kick-ass coop that will not allow any nasty critters in.
2. I am going to be grossed-out by touching and/or caring for the chickens.
PLAN: Suck it up and try it for one year. I really want to get out of my comfort zone and try this. Hoping the positives of the experience out weigh the negatives.
3. I can hardly manage my big family of six...what makes me think I can add four chickens to the mix?
PLAN: Everyone tells me once they are set-up, it is as simple as a house cat. I hope that is true!!
So there it is...my fears about raising chickens. I will keep you posted. Wish us luck! :)
4 comments:
This is SO cool Danielle, and I am totally impressed that you are going to take this one! Can't wait to follow the journey!
Danielle, not sure if you know this but we had a chicken coop growing up as kids. 32 chickens and 2 roosters. It did require a lot of daily work but taught us responsibility and now I look back and have great memories of it!! Winter months were the hardest for us. I am not sure how they make coups these days but for us it meant frozen poop we had to scrape off the floor and frozen water we had to exchange for fresh water. They gave us the most amazing eggs you could never buy at the store!! We did not raise them for slaughter. We had to have a fence around the coup to prevent animals to come in. Never had a problem with that. Good luck!!!
Ohhh gosh...I think I am crazy for doing this. Frozen poop sounds pretty nasty. I am hoping my kids will have the same great memories. 34 chickens is a LOT!!!! Go Aunt Linda! :) Danielle
Yep, the first thing I thought of was "well, if she thinks raccoons and COMPOST was bad, imagine raccoons and CHICKENS! Oh the carnage!" But you can't be the first person with that problem--I'm sure there is something good out there! Cool!
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