Category Archives: Chickens

Sick Chicken

I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am to see this girl up and foraging around the yard. Two weeks ago, we thought she was a goner. Continue reading

Backyard Chickens

I love raising chickens in the back yard.  I think everyone should do it.  These lovely ladies are good friends. Here are three quick reasons why I love my chickens.

Reason One: They have made my back yard greener! They roam free during the day and have completely cleared my yard of dandelions. They leave fertilizer where ever they go so the grass is greener than ever. They love digging around the yard with their big feet which gives the soil air and keeps weeds at bay in my flowerbeds.

Reason Two: They eat all of our leftovers!  Here they are eating some tomatoes that were too ripe for me.  We feed them everything from the fridge, except chicken because that would just be weird. Chickens will eat everything you eat. They eat vegetables and fruit, no matter how ripe.  They won’t eat the peels…because you wouldn’t eat the peels!  They do love to eat the seeds from cantaloupe or squash, when I’ve cleaned it out for the family to eat.  I wonder how much garlic I would have to feed them to get garlicky scrambled eggs?

Reason Two (continued): I did say they eat all of our leftovers…below they are having a little leftover pizza.  I don’t feed fatty foods to them often, but they love a good slice of pizza every now and then.  Who doesn’t?

Reason Three: They make me laugh! One day I was looking for Speedy (my son named her).  Speedy is our escape artist.  She likes to go over the house to escape to our front yard garden.  We didn’t know it at the time, but Speedy is a perfect name for her.  Anyway, we found Speedy in the little green house (see below) we constructed to protect our kale from winter frost. The look on her face when she knew she was busted was priceless.

I also love feeding them blueberries and watching them run to get them first. My second favorite treat for them is a string cheese.  I toss small strings out and the ladies grab them and run. The cheese dangles from their beak, while the other chickens try to snatch it away from them.

Reason Four: I know I only said three, but here is a bonus.  Their eggs taste amazing.  Our chickens spend most of their time looking for bugs and worms. This foraging diet is high in protein and make their eggs a deep yellow color and an amazing rich flavor.  Plus, we have an Easter Egg hunt every day when they find fun little places under bushes or tall grass to lay their eggs in.