My chickens

When I refer to myself as a farmgirl, it is probably a slap in the face to real farm girls who are up at dawn, rain or shine, birthing lambs, milking cows, mucking stalls and the list goes on and on. I admire those women, my grandmother was one of those women.

I am only a part time, selective farmgirl.

My early childhood was spent on a farm. My dads parents were crop farmers. We lived in a farmhouse and although my dad was a builder, he worked the farm. As kids, the 3 of us pitched in. Grandma had chickens and a veggie stand and sold eggs. She could stretch a dollar farther than anyone. She died shortly after my parents Divorce. I miss her and how my life is now, I sure could have learned a lot.

Mom moved us out west and we spent the summers on grandpas farm while my dad was working. Making forts in the barns, the swing in the hayloft, playing in the grain slio's. He died when I was a teen. I loved that man. Tough to everyone else but a softie to his grandkids.

I moved back home to Michigan soon after Graduating. The west never felt like home to me. I gained a life long friend while there so no regrets.

About 10 years ago my husband and I got the opportunity to buy 4 acres of land with woods, a pond and sugar creek running through it, in a great school district. We built our house, made the pond bigger and I wanted a garden and chickens.

When I planned on getting chickens I didn't want to spend much $$ on a coop and then decide I hated having chickens then having an expensive empty coop reminding me of my folly. We revamped a old playhouse my dad built us when we were kids. Used leftover supplies we had from our house and spent nothing on the coop.

We let the chickens free range during the day and have lost some to predators over the years. We've come to accept the losses because the chickens love the freedom. Had anyone told me how much I would end up loving my chickens I would have never believed them. They are funny to watch, they eat bugs and seeds in the yard. The eggs are just the icing on the cake. They are little works of art in a beautiful shell that taste better than any store bought egg. The chickens do ruin flowerbeds and poop in the yard though. When I go outside, my girls all come running, watching a chicken run is one of the funniest things on the planet. My sister calls me the chicken whisperer. I even buy Backyard poultry magazine when I go to Tractor Supply! I can't beleive I even want to read about other peoples chickens. This is nuts!! I have accepted my chicken love and no longer try to hide it.

This is Lucky, she is my favorite, she is actually quite a bitch to the other girls and was very skittish to me early on. She lays beautiful green shelled eggs. She was ill last winter and I brought her into the house. (Another thing my hubby doesn't get. Yet we are deeply in love.) I kept her in the laundry tub and got her back to health. We bonded.

For those of you who have chickens and love them, I too know the deep deep feelings of chicken love. For those of you who don't have chickens and think I am loony, I agree. But all I can say is don't knock it till you try it.