The Unlikely Chicken Farmer

I'm not quite sure how this happened, but currently there are 4 six week old chickens in my backyard. Well, actually I know how it happened, but I'm still wondering if this zero carb diet I've been on has been messing with my brain.

My son loves these chickens. Pictured from left to right: Blinky, Peeeeeeeeep, Sparkleberry and Oreo.

Every year the kindergarten class hatches eggs at the end of the school year as part of their life cycle science unit. If there is not a family willing to take them home, they go back to the farm. In case you live under a rock, urban chickens are quite the trend right now. Way back in April, I casually mentioned to my husband that we should take the chickens home. He seemed to like the idea, so I mentioned it to Raj's teacher.

Temporary insanity perhaps? I do not have the best track record with pets, I still get the creeps when I think about those tadpoles. *shudder* But the real kicker? Birds are my absolute least favorite animal. I'm not much of an animal person in general, but birds... birds are just nasty, disturbing, the stuff of nightmares.

We have been happy with our current pet, Bun Bun Snow Sparkle. He's a very nice bunny. He lives in his plush cage in our backyard and is a pretty low maintenance member of our family. His cage is easy to clean, the kids are responsible for feeding him and he's soft and cuddly and cute.

Enter the chickens. I have to admit, they are pretty funny little things. The first few weeks, they looked like they belonged on my iPhone flinging themselves from sling shots in order to kill pigs and save their eggs.

Now they are less fluffy and quite a bit more stinky. I have to admit, they have kind of grown on me. They are not at all scared of people and they each seem to have their own little bird-brained personality. They follow me around the yard chirping their little chirps. They will even fall asleep in the kids laps if they sit still long enough.

My ever-so-handy husband spent the past two weekends building a chicken coop. Then it poured rain yesterday, and all the wood is now warped. Of course.

We won't know for a few more months who is a hen and who is a rooster. Roosters are not permitted in our little town, so time will tell which chicks we are allowed to keep. Everyone keeps telling us that the eggs the hens lay will taste so much better than store bought. I'll have to leave that for my family to decide, since I don't really even like eggs.

Why am I doing this again? Oh yeah.