Be a chicken, green light

So Cindy and I have been seriously considering getting a couple chickens for the homestead, yes chickens.  The idea first floated through our heads when we were looking at chickens at the county fair.  Recently the idea came up again and we have been actually investigating various housing options for the birds.

So why in the world would we want chickens you may ask?  Well having chickens means eggs, something that I use for breakfast every morning and something Cindy uses quite regularly with her baking projects.  Plus you can’t get any more organic or free range than harvesting eggs from your backyard.

Chickens love to eat bugs.  My backyard has an infinite supply.  The chickens could be great natural pest control.  The chicken droppings also would be great to throw in the compost bins to eventually be mixed into the garden soil.

Finally, Cindy and I both love animals, taking care of chickens sounds like fun, at least from this vantage point.

My neighbors across the street had chickens and they do not recommend it, saying it was a lot of work.  However I really don’t think it is the type of labor that would seem like much to us.  Plus we are only talking about getting 2-3 chickens, not a dozen. Another potential issue is noise, I have personal experience with how loud and annoying (and mean) a roster can be.  There will be no rosters in our collection to address the noise issue and to make sure there aren’t additional chicks joining the flock.

As far as housing goes, there is a surprising collection of chicken coops out there suitable for a small collection of chickens.  Ideally we would have a main coop with an attached, enclosed run area, larger than what is pictured above.  The structure would need to be light enough that Cindy and I could periodically move it around the yard.  When we are home I would let the chickens roam around freely in the back yard during the day but we would need to make sure they are safely back in the coop at night.

Predators are a concern.  The neighbors had a bobcat kill a couple of their chickens.  We also have hawks that frequent my yard on a pretty regular basis.  Hopefully the chickens are smart enough to utilize their coop as a safe house if need be.  I’m also worried about bastard fire ants attacking the chickens.

My life as a chicken farmer is not etched in stone yet but I think there is a pretty solid chance it will happen.

Ali finally got the final approval on her mortgage and will be closing today.  She will be wasting no time and is moving her stuff which has been residing in the back of a moving truck for the last 6 days, into her new place tonight.  I will be heading over right after work to help get the big stuff safely off the truck and in place.