Sunny side up

I got so sick of spending so much money on organic and free range eggs so after talking about it for a few years, we decided to go for it and raise backyard chickens. My husband built the coop for them and we welcomed three hens to our family.

It has been a decision we are so excited about for several reasons. The eggs are absolutely delicious with their amazing orange yolks, it's a great learning experience for our three year old (as well as for us grown ups) and we know that we have an instant food source in the eggs when money is tight. We are also supporting local farming cause it doesn't get any more local than the back yard! Not contributing to the use of resources to ship the eggs from a farm to the store, from the store to my home, etc.... everything adds up.

Part of the whole process is also the lesson of how fleeting life is. We started out with three original hens but first lost Sadie to unknown causes. She was an amazing hen, who really led the way for the other two. After she died, Mirabella and Blanche stopped laying for a while. Part of it had to do with molting and Mirabella got broody and wouldn't leave the nest but I think they also lost their leader, who was very regular with her contributions to the family. Months later, we had to deal with Blanche being egg bound. We tried several remedies but then came to terms with the fact that Blanche was suffering and had to put her down.

We have now brought two younger hens into the picture and between the three of them, we usually get over 18 eggs a week. It's enabled us to feed ourselves as well as share with our neighbors and family as well. Our township does allow us to keep hens, which I know some don't and it's been a great decision for our family. They are great for eating the bugs too and that helps to supplement their feed as well. We do let them forage in the yard quite a bit but have had to sacrifice some of our plants in doing so. Our strawberries have been transplanted outside the fence this year so that they won't peck them to bits and at the moment, they are staying in their pen so that our ferns can bounce back from the beating the hens gave them as soon as they sprouted up. We are by no means experts and we're learning as we go, but I highly recommend it.