Shut out and shut down!

Lily is looking rather confused ... "NO CHICKENS ALLOWED!"

*fingers crossed*

OH NO! THEY DI'INT !!!

*Sigh* The chickens DID ... and ate every single morsel of my kale. It was fine yesterday and bare today. One more reason to keep chickens and gardens separate. Well, their eggs better be good now that they've had an extra dose of leafy greens!

Egg to riches

From this ...

... to this.

The Experiment: Raise chickens from hatching eggs (i.e., purchased fertile eggs), sell them, apply funds toward feed and supplies needed to raise 2 hens for eggs. Goal: net input = net output.

The Result: Utter and dismal failure ... sort of.

The Analysis: I ended up adoring (*love*) my three silkie chickies as pets rather than commodities and the idea of selling them became very distressing and yes, there were many tears. I should have known. Already, 2 have crowed (roosters *gulp*) and had to be reluctantly rehomed. Buttercup has already been rehomed to a ranch in Kona and Camellia will follow this weekend. Sell them? God forbid! I gave them to a family with 13 kids that I know will give them a good life and love `em up and that was a good feeling.

The Lesson: I am not cut out to be a chicken farmer. Maybe having many will offset their uncanny ability to tug at my heartstrings but then, of course, naming them was the first big red flag. I guess I'll just have to admit my little silkies are my pets and I should just relish the fact that my pets provide me eggs for breakfast. Will I be hatching chicks again any time soon? Heck no! Well, maybe not.

13 weeks old

Camellia is looking awfully rooster-ish!
The gang ... Tulip, the splash one in the middle of the picture is a lot smaller than the others but she's the sweetest.
Buttercup is just plain beautiful! The white and blue (i.e., black) ones are my adult hens, Lily and Daisy.

Sufficient Self - a forum for the energy conscious

A sister forum to Backyard Chickens is this one, called Sufficient Self. If you're looking for a community of like-minded individuals looking to become more sufficient through renewable energy, recycling, hunting and gathering, organic consumption, etc., this is the site for you. Check it out!