How we ended up with Chickens …
Read on for the story of how my family ended up getting chickens! I've always known that having a happy, healthy backyard flock isn't exactly cheap (cheep? 😄) I feed our chickens a high quality organic feed from @citychickatl, plenty of @grubblyfarms treats, I don't cull older hens who have stopped laying rather let them live out their golden years as colorful & entertaining pets, and their coop is pretty posh as well. But having chickens was never about the eggs ... at least not as the top reason.
It was actually my son who talked me into getting chickens at first. When he was 8 years old, my son Charlie came to me with his big blue eyes and said something along the lines of "Mama, we need chickens!" Being a busy and often tired Mom with a full-time career, I was not convinced. Undaunted, he persisted "but Mom, backyard chickens are healthy because the cholesterol in a their eggs is much better than grocery store eggs!" At this point he had my attention, any 8-year-old who talks about cholesterol is it going to get my attention. He continued "they're also green because they can eat our kitchen scraps and ...." At this point he paused and thought really hard about his final reason about why we should get chickens. After a quasi-dramatic pause, he states enthusiastically "Plus! They'll be so educational! Just think of all I will learn from our chickens!" I had to laugh at that manipulation, but I was pretty much convinced. I told him we could get chickens but I had three requirements:
1️⃣ We would take very good care of them because first and foremost they would be pets.
2️⃣ They would have to fit the budget I set ~ as I recall, the budget was around $100 (laughable!)
3️⃣ They had to lay pretty eggs
The very next day, my son comes back with what I can only describe as an 8-year-old's version of a business plan. So, we got chickens.
His clever manipulation ultimately became my obsession and I take great joy in curating our flock with colorful chickens who lay colorful eggs. In fact, for the first time in years I've got some new chicks who will join our flock this Spring, so stay tuned for that in March!