This is for the birds

So even though I  became a vegetarian, I decided to become the owner of some beautiful Rhode Island Reds. Four of them to be exact. I thought that if my family was still going to consume eggs I could at least find a better source then the ones found at the grocery store. If you have ever seen the condition that these birds are kept in it would make your head spin. It's disgusting and just mean. I'm all about God putting animals on this earth for us to consume but... God never intended them to be genetically altered and be mass produced with help of  machines. I've learned a few things about chickens in last few months.

1. They are not stupid animals. They're pretty smart. Let me share a story with you. My husband just built some nesting boxes for the chickens and he put the boxes into the coop. Well not knowing it at the time, the boxes interfered with the door and at some point two of the chickens got trapped inside coop and the other two couldn't get in. You see chickens flock together where one goes the others will follow. So this situation was not ideal for them. Not to mention the food and water was in the coop. So that afternoon I was leaving the driveway in my van and in my mirror I saw two chickens running up the hill toward me. I remember thinking it was odd that they were chasing after the car and that I only saw two of them. When I returned home later that day I was bringing my groceries inside and the two chickens started walking up my front stairs into the house. So I stopped what I was doing and brought them down to the coop. Oh yah... I forgot to say that they follow me when I call them. It's kinda cute. Well when I got to the coop I realized that they were shut out and other two were trapped inside. So yet again... mommy saves the day.

2. They are messy animals but only where they roost. Which happens to currently be a maple tree out by my deck in the backyard. It's a very strange sight to see chickens in a tree. But things are always strange around my house so I guess they are just going with the flow.

3. They are sweet if they are treated right. My kids love on them just like they do the cat. Oh and speaking of the cat. He doesn't bother them at all. They walk by him and he doesn't even flinch.He probably realizes that they are way out of his league. We all seam to just coexist.

We just got our first egg over the weekend. So we should have a steady flow of eggs coming in soon. They're small now but they are supposed to increase in size as the the chickens mature.


                                                                   The Party Crashers