The Lovable Chicken

When I first decided to get chickens, it was strictly from the “nutritional” aspect. We are trying to live and eat as healthy as possible, using organic products as much as we can. Buying organic eggs can get expensive, as can most things organic, but here was something I could change!

So I took the plunge this past spring and bought 8 little chicks from our local co-op. Four Rhode Island Reds and four Barred Rocks, both breeds are good layers. I brought them right home and set them up in their little temporary housing (the bathtub in our spare bathroom).

How could anyone NOT fall in love with those little bundles of fluff and a beak? They peeped and pecked and wobbled all over their new home and then finally flopped down to sleep wherever they happened to be standing. I talked to them and cuddled them and told them about all the great eggs they would lay someday. When one would start acting a little funny I would pick it up and fuss an’ worry over it until it started acting fine again.

When they finally got to move out to their posh new chicken house they were so happy to be outside. They pecked around and explored every nook and cranny. They walked up and down their ramps and perched on their water dispenser. What fun to be a chicken!

I am beginning to realize at this time that I really like raising chickens, even if they didn’t lay eggs. I just like chickens. The way they cock their little head to get a better look at you; the way they like to taste everything including whatever skirt I’m wearing, my green rubber clogs, my wedding ring , my hair just to name a few. And boy howdy, look out bugs and crickets, here comes the chickens. I love the way they come barreling across the yard when I call them with their big bottoms going from side to side. They remind me of a big lady lifting her skirts to run through a mud puddle at full speed. I love their curiosity in whatever it is I am doing. They are calming and rewarding in so many ways more than just “eggs”.

Of course, the eggs are a BIG plus, don’t get me wrong. I love the suspense every day of checking to see how many “girls” laid an egg. The taste is unsurpassable. I know these eggs come from chickens that are happy, well fed, and well taken care of. The treatment of most chickens in chicken farms is unbelievable and horribly cruel just to up their production of eggs. I can’t even bear to think about it for too long, so I don’t. I just remember how happy my “girls” are.