Filling Our Empty Nest

My ladies probably realized that I needed some cheering up this morning so they put on their finest feathers for me. Aren't they gorgeous?

But I am getting ahead of myself.

This blog began as a series of emails to my family and friends to tell them how I was coping after my 19 year old son moved out, leaving my husband Dave and me all alone for the first time in twenty six years. My sister gave me several good reasons why I should keep a blog instead, so after procrastinating a week, I opened a Google blog account. The purpose of this blog is to share my experiences as a novice chicken 'farmer'. From time to time I will also post articles on my other hobbies: gardening, baking, and bee keeping.

My friend keeps chickens in her urban back yard and often shares her fresh chicken eggs with me. I suspect that one of the reasons I am interested in raising chickens is that her 'home grown' eggs taste so good. I don't know how else to describe them except to say that they are eggy. In my opinion, fresh eggs are far superior to the cage free chicken eggs I buy occasionally at the Pleasant Hill produce store.

I toyed with the idea of keeping chickens last year, but Dave and I ended up keeping bees since a friend offered us the use of his bee hive. I will share that story another time.

My daughter Paula kept urging me to get chickens. She offered to pay for the chicken coop and the food if I paid for the birds and nurtured them in my yard. She pointed out that since I live on a quarter acre lot at the end of a cul-de-sac, I have the perfect spot for a chicken coop and plenty of space for the birds to roam.

Last Wednesday, Dave and I drove to Concord Feed and picked up four chicks: two Marans which lay chocolate brown eggs, and two Production Reds which are a hybrid of Rhode Island Red and New Hampshire Red chickens. The postman had just delivered these chicks to the store that afternoon. We took the chicks to Paula's house so she could see them. On the way there, I decided that I would let her take care of two of them for a few days so she and her husband Brant could enjoy them in their cute stage.

Dave volunteered to design the chicken coop. He is a CADD expert, fully qualified to draw up the plans for a perfect house for our birds. Since raising these chicks is a joint project with Paula and Brant, Brant will help Dave with the actual building of this coop.