I\'m Summer, a mouthy, sarcastic bitch. I\'m passionate about natural birth, long term breastfeeding, and living naturally. I curse too much, love tattoos, and will some day be crushed to death by my book collection. I homeschool, dream of gardening, and swing to the left. 
For The Birds
Have I mentioned my chicken obsession lately? Oh I have, well it couldn’t hurt to mention it again.
I’m officially chicken crazy. Today was spent drawing out plans to make a chicken coop, going to the library to check out books for me and the kids on chickens, and diving along ally ways looking for houses with stacks of old wood sitting out back. Though, I never did get brave enough to actually knock on anyone’s door. Especially not the neighbor’s door, even though he has an old coop rotting away in the back of his house that I highly doubt he’s using. Unless of course he’s growing things in there.
The joys of living next to a drug dealer.
Back to my chicken madness. Dearest is ready to toss me outside to live if I don’t stop obsessing soon. I stay up till 1 AM last night comparing measurements of several chicken coop building plans trying to decide on the perfect square foot per bird ratio. I’ve also made a list of the birds I want based on the climate here, how well they lay, and how gentle the are. Plymouth Rock and Sussex are the two breeds I’m dreaming about, though some Rhode Island Reds would be OK if that’s what I can get.
And of course I’ve got the kids in on my madness. They squeal with me now every time we see a picture of a chick. But, look at that cuteness. How could you not want to cuddle it and pet the soft down? You want to, you know you do. Don’t fight the fluffy cuteness, you will succumb.
Image sources – gritama, Dawn Allynn
My moms Rhode Island Red has been laying eggs for a month, and I finally had some during Thanksgiving, YUM! Cooked them up in bacon fat. So creamy and yummy
I hope you get the chickens you’re hoping for- or at least a coop would be a start! We really enjoy having chickens around. It’s nice that they lay eggs too!! Rhode Island Reds are beautiful…which is what we have. They’re so tame and calm. Which reminds me, better go feed them!
Leslie- La Mama Naturale’´s last blog post..90210 Organics Review- All the Better to Kiss You With- Lip Balm!
Chickens are crazy. I like eating them though.
I well remember those obsessive days (though in my case, of course, it was a duck obsession). I think I obsessed for close to 6 months, and I created an organized binder with my own hand-drawn coop plans, in addition to tons of internet resources. Has the obsession kept you up at night yet? As the spring shipment of ducklings approached, I had *many* sleepless nights. It was sort of like planning for a baby. I’m happy to report that now that I’ve had a flock for some time, the obsession has waned, somewhat. But I am getting excited about our potential new flocks in CR. I’m thinking about diversifying to ducks + chickens + turkeys (if they are available!).
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Having hand-reared a chicken (wanted to be a vet when I was younger), I know the joys. He followed me around, sat on my shoulder and was a joy to bring up before we gave him back to the farm. *cue “awwww”*
I obsess about the future I plan out for myself so I can understand the idea behind this and I think it’s a fabulous obsession. Congrats on the obsession. I find obsessions to be huge motivators.
I wish you luck
Stars Above,
Celestial Rose.
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You do know they crow at ALL hours of the night don’t you? I mean ALL hours.
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Tracee, the males do, but not the females. Any males I get, and I’m still not sure if I want a mixed sex lot or just females, would be culled off at 8-10 weeks when they get a good fryer size. I don’t plan to breed, at least not while I’m still living where I am.
I understand! We had yard hens for awhile and they got picked off one by one by various critters. I miss them. The eggs were so great
You just can’t go back to storebought after eating real eggs so I’m on a mission to find some REAL free range local eggs.
It’s not actually true that they crow ALL hours…at least ours don’t. We do have one boy and he only crows at night if anyone or any sound gets near him and his girls. Its a protective mechinism. So long as we leave him alone he really doesn’t crow. Unless the light gets turned on and then he has to “greet the light” The girls though…good girls. They finally started laying! Hooray!!! No more store eggs! As fun and pretty as the auracana’s are..I don’t really suggest them. Not the friendliest. I used to have a barred rock in my last group of girls and was just so wonderful. I’d like to get another couple of barred rocks again. Good birds.