Chicken Education

I am officially the Chicken Lady.  Well, if having three chickens counts, then count me in.  My husband has been talking about chickens for a loooooooong time.  I said no.  I knew (and kind of still don't know) nothing about chickens and how to take care of them.  Mostly, I was just concerned that I would end up being the one to feed and water the chickens after everyone else in the family forgot about them.  But, my husband gave me his word that it would not be the case.  So, he started looking for a coop.  My one requirement was that it was cute.  We found a kit on craigslist and he put it together.  I have to say, I am pretty happy with the way it turned out.  I admit that I also fretted about the complexity of taking care of chickens, but Jesse and I soon realized that chickens aren't that complicated.  They don't need a ton of room to run around.  You just feed and water, basically.  They don't even need to come out of their coop.  The actual square footage that a chicken needs is very small and since we only have 3, they have plenty of room.

We got 3 chickens from our friends who started this whole chicken nonsense.  They have about 13 and got them when they were chicks.  They ordered them online and UPS delivered them.  Yes, UPS delivers live chickens....who knew???  Anyway, only one of the chickens is old enough to lay eggs right now, but the other two should start anyday.  Jackson is SUPER excited about having chickens.  He loves to come home from school and check to see if there are any eggs, and we have had one egg every day so far.  He loves it!  The first egg he found, he wanted to take it to naptime with him.  You know how kids are, if they have a new toy or some favorite item, they want to sleep with it.  Thankfully, it wasn't hard to convince him the egg needed to stay in the refrigerator.  After I got him to put in the refrigerator though, he said he couldn't wait to see what would hatch out of the egg.  Sigh.  Then I had to explain the "chicken-birds and bees" to him.  (which, I myself did not know the inner workings until recently).  Did you know that chickens lay eggs all the time?  Only when you get a rooster involved, do chickens lay fertilized eggs that will then turn into chicks.  I didn't know this, though it may be obvious to some of you all out there.  I grew up in the suburbs of North Dallas.  The closest thing to "farming/or what have you" was having more than one dog.  Anyway...I refuse to get a rooster.  My neighbor tried to convince us to get one because "fertilized eggs taste really good."  BLECH.  VOMIT.  NASTY!  NO THANKYOU.  I refuse to eat pre-hatched baby chicks.  And what if you don't eat it in time?  Will some deformed-refrigerated embryo chick be inside???  (shudder) I can't handle these thoughts.  So no rooster.

Speaking of rooster, though, Jackson named the chickens.  One is Rooster, also known as Mr. Logan.  One is Sam I am (which is the one that is the most fearless and will eat grass out of Jackson's hand).  The other one, which is the one that is laying eggs right now, is Crystal.  Yep.  Crystal.  Where the kid got this name, I have no idea.  It makes me laugh though, because Jackson has always been a very black and white kid (like his daddy).  He doesn't get too involved in imaginative detail.  He will tell you what something is and that's that.  What's the name of his penguin?  Pengy.  What's the name of Sloan's puppy?  Puppy.  So, to come up with "Crystal" is hilarious to me and Jesse. 

our coop.  We painted it the same green as our house.  yes, I am that ridiculous.

Sam I am, Crystal, and Rooster/Mr. Logan.  Rooster is a scaredy chicken.  She hardly comes out when we are around b/c our dog scared the chicken sh*t out of her....  (sorry, couldn't resist.  But it's true)

Sam I am and Jackson are developing a special bond.  She's the only one that isn't afraid of us and she comes out looking for grass from Jackson.

So, I'm in the egg business.  I have chickens that I can see outside my window.  I kinda have to admit that I like them.  Way more than I thought.  The only drawback so far after my 5 days of being a chicken lady is that I feel a little weird when I cook chicken for dinner.  It's weird to cook chicken on the stove while I can see the three lady chicks outside my window.  Hopefully they don't know what goes on in my kitchen...