Let me just say to you, that I am so very thankful we have chickens. With the state of the grocery stores currently where I live, it is hard to find good protein, of any kind. Yes, you can find some canned things here and there but it is pretty scarce.
These awesome little beauties are an amazing gift to us. We raised most of them from a couple days old and have grown to really love and treasure them. My kids love to carry them around and they don’t seem to mind a whole lot either. Sometimes they even get to ride in style.
These girls faithfully give us breakfast, lunch or dinner every day. If you have ever thought about getting backyard chickens, I would highly recommend it. Be sure to look up your local allowances for how many you can have and some places still aren’t allowing them. I have no idea why, they are awesome! The Backyard Chicken is a great resource so start your research into chicken ownership.
Where do you get chickens? Surprisingly, lots of places make them available! We got our first six from Rural King. We went in thinking about getting some and left with six. We truly enjoyed watching them grow, hearing their little chick chirps, and watching them prance around outside when they were big enough to go out. We have had them almost three years now and we have only lost two of them. They prove to be quite hardy around here.
We lost one of the girls on winter number two. She became ill and passed very quickly, there was nothing I could do for her. We then decided come spring, we were going to get a couple more. I saw a post from a local breeder that he was selling off a bunch of Easter Egger chicks for $5 each and I jumped on that deal and bought two. He couldn’t guarantee the sex so it was a gamble if we would get girls or boys. Low and behold, we ended up with two boys. They were very handsome boys though. I instantly fell in love with them but they started fighting. We didn’t want to get rid of both but knew they would both end up mean if we kept them and let them fight. Ultimately we had to make the choice to make one of them dinner. A friend in the country invited us down for me to learn the art of butchering chickens. It was very messy and sad but Ai, the rooster, made it to our freezer.
Not long after the rooster debacle, I learned of a local breeder that sold Silkie chicks. I contacted her and purchased two cute little chicks. One ended up a hen and the other a rooster. I was okay with that though and our little Cookie rooster is cute as pie. Mean as can be if he thinks you are going after one of his girls but adorable still. He and the Easter Egger rooster live well together with no issues.
My friend in the country that owns Rugged Roots Farms was selling off some of her girls so I happily went and picked up two Easter Eggers. They are beautiful and lay lovely blue and green eggs. We love our new mix of egg colors and our twelve chicken friends. We get pink, two shades of brown, blue and green. Some are big and some are small. It is a true treasure.
How do you feel about backyard chickens? Have you ever thought of getting any? If so, what has stopped you?