Needing Some Chickens

Resistance is futile. Where before I casually ignored my husband’s occasional declaration that “we need chickens,”  I am now completely onboard with the idea.

Why the change of heart? Well, on a recent trip to Costco, I stood. stared and contemplated the 5 dozen egg package. I also carefully checked the date and thought “oh, great, that’s almost a month out.” Then I bought and proudly carted all 5 dozen of those eggs home. Well, we ate them all in less than two weeks!

I think I need to do the world a favor and, as perfectly said by Anthony Bourdain in The Nasty Bits, start caring “that the rivers of Arkansas are clogging up with chicken sh#$.” Of course, he was referring to America’s relentless need for chicken fingers and I live in Oregon, but you get the idea.

My husband and I are just now in the planning stages. Where will we put them on our farmette? How do we protect them from our cat and neighboring dogs? How many should we get? What kind of chickens are the best layers? Should we throw in a duck for fun? What’s the coop and chicken shack going to look like?

I found a blog called the Farmette Life that is inspiring us for the structure. I’ll be sure to blog and show our progress. We’ll start constructing the hen house soon so that we’re ready to roll when the chicks show up at the farm stores this spring.