The Chickens

I repeatedly said that 2021 would be the year of the human baby (it was, but we also added two kittens somehow….) and that 2022 could be the year of the animal babies.

We kicked it off strong by adding 5 (then 2 more!) healthy, egg laying ladies to the Spena Stead.

To be perfectly honest, neither Jim or I would EVER categorize ourselves as animal people or animal lovers. We never planned to have pets and we never planned to care for animals. But as we headed out towards country living, we knew that cats would be beneficial for keeping mice away (and we felt bad for moving our kids twice in one year……)

and we knew that chickens would be beneficial for, you know, feeding our family.

I have been so, so fortunate to become dear friends with the doula who was present at Lochlan’s birth and I have jokingly called her my chicken sensei. She loves and cares for a lot of birds and was soooo beyond patient and helpful to me as we got started with getting our shed prepped and ready to house some new ladies!

Then, the best part, she sold us 5 of her birds that were already laying to help us get started (and to help downsize her crew a little bit, #chickenmath)

Initially we had lights in the coop because it gets really dark in there with the doors shut, but Jim just installed two big windows last weekend, so now they don’t need lights- AND we’re getting way more eggs. Woohoo!

She brought us:

1 light Brahma

1 Black Astralorp

3 Golden Comets

And we have since added 2 Wyandottes (see also: #ChickenMath)

Okay, so back to not being an animal lover-

To be honest, I was mostly terrified about getting the birds.

I knew I wanted them. I knew they would be important to have. I was excited to have eggs.

I was terrified of the actual chickens.

And then they arrived-

And we all fell IN LOVE with them.

Turns out, they’re so much fun. They’re so entertaining. They’re easy to care for.

And they poop your breakfast.

Win/win/win

We’ve been learning how to care for them and they have been patient and kind with all of us. They love to roam around the yard with us, we feed & water them in the morning and at night if needed, and have just enjoyed adding them to our little homestead!

So far, our highest egg day has been 6 eggs (which is amazing!) but we’ll still probably look to add another few birds as we see them come available. (We’re skipping chicks- ain’t nobody got time for that)

I’m so glad I didn’t let my worries of trying something new (or, you know, being afraid of birds) get in the way of something really amazing.

Which, has kind of been the story of my life for the last few years!