We Have Chickens!

I have had this blog for three full years now.

A few months after I started it, somebody said to me, "Aren't you afraid you'll run out of topics to write about?"

Well, it's been my experience that it isn't topics that I lack...

It's time!

Because home living is so varied and diverse, I seem to always have ideas for this blog swirling around in my brain.

For example, we were given chickens over the holidays!

 I want to take a moment to compose a quick post on it before I move on to writing about the other ideas that I have...

Friends of ours are moving, and they can't take their chickens with them.

The situation just sort of fell into our laps! 

My friend said that we could have them because she just cares about them going to a good home. 

Our garage has a little coop attached to the back, and my friend knows we're home a lot, so we seemed to be a good fit.

(The entrance to the coop)

Micah built these nesting boxes for the hens...

They seem to like them.

We have thirteen hens altogether.

They are good girls.

Most of them came to us unnamed, so of course I gave them adorable names like Penny, Lucy, and Tilda...

The kids named the rest, giving them names like Freckles, Cupcake, and Arrow...

The lighting of these photos is red because we have a few heat lamps in the coop for them.

It is very cold here at the moment, and we want them to be comfortable.

We check on them everyday, sometimes two to three times a day.

We collect eggs, of course, but we also make sure their water isn't frozen and their feeder isn't empty.

We like to take kitchen scraps out to them.

We've learned they love breadcrumbs, lettuce, and warm oatmeal.

Sometimes at night I will make a big batch of plain, warm oatmeal just for them.

They've already learned to recognize the container I bring it in, and go nuts when I enter the coop!

(An omelette-making lesson with fresh eggs)

The eggs that they lay are mainly brown, but the little speckled chickens lay small white ones.

This is about the amount we get from them each morning....

We eat around four to five with our breakfast every morning, and Roman sells the rest.

He is by far our most motivated and driven child, and he's taken it upon himself to start a little egg business.

In fact, he told Micah and I on New Year's Eve that his goal for 2019 is to make $50 in "chicken business". 

I, on the other hand, am not business-minded at all. I recently gave my hair stylist and my mother free eggs and Roman was exasperated!

He said, "Mom! Please stop giving away eggs!'

Haha!

(Farm-fresh eggs, buttered english muffin, and spinach smoothie makes a great breakfast!)

So, if you like farm-fresh eggs, you'd make Roman's day if you ask him about buying some.

He is selling them for $3 a dozen.

*smile

Micah and I have a short getaway planned, so I'll be back soon with traveling tales to share.

 Until then... take care, sweet friends.

Thank you for stopping by my blog.

It means a lot to me.

xo,

~ Courtney ~