The Chicken and the Egg

Well it certainly has been a while since I wrote anything. Spring was kind of busy at the farm and while the urge to write was present the time did not present itself!
I was thinking though about how we say we will never do something. For example, I always said that I would NEVER raise chickens. This stemmed from when I was in college and had to visit many farm operations for my agriculture classe. Nothing, and I mean nothing, smells as bad as a chicken house. While I do love the way the chickens look and have found them to be a worthy decorating accent, I never wanted to have to clean up that mess. Well, Never say Never. This spring, probably as a result of working next to a feed and garden center, we could not resist the urge to take home about a dozen baby chicks and two baby ducklings. Following the adoption, we experienced a cold spell. While this is not unusual for our area, it is not healthy to put poultry babies in a cool environment. No problem, we will keep them in the office in the house. There, the dogs won't be able to get to them and we can keep the room extra warm. Not a problem until the cold spell became a cold month. My office became a barn. Chicken poop and duck splatters everywhere. Given an ounce of water, ducks can take quite a splash bath. Not to mention that while the weather was refusing to take the hint about spring, the babies were growing and out growing the office.

The conditions finally warrented the move to the farm, and into the chicken palace they all went. Not many days passed before a friend came by with about eighteen abandoned chickens, that were in need of homes. Of course, I leaped to the rescue and took in four full grown hens to add to the mix. This is when it got interesting. The day after we brought home the new hens, I went to the farm in the morning to feed and discovered two beautiful fresh eggs. My goal in life had been realized! Yes I had known where eggs come from before this day, but these eggs came from my chickens! This was pure joy for me. Even now months later I still love to see how many eggs the girls have given us. The baby chicks are full grown now and I am looking forward to the morning I go to the chicken palace and find that they have started to lay eggs too.

Life is funny that way. Sometimes the things we most resist end up bringing us lots of joy! Never say never.

Have you thanked a chicken lately?