What I Didn't Know About Chickens

If I had known then what I know now, would I have still started raising chickens?  Probably.  I've always kinda been a farm girl at heart.  Never grew up on a farm.  Never owned anything more than a dog, cat, mice, and fish. But visits to my aunt's farm when I was young sparked a deep love of farm life for me.  I always loved horses.  I rode them, showed them, but never owned one.  My degree has a specialty in equine science.  My heart is on the farm.

Enter the day we were able to purchase some land.  A small 5-acre tract.  Oh, the dreams I had.  Here we are 11 years later and still just chickens and a nice sized garden.  But, again, the dream continues.  I so would love to have goats and probably rabbits in addition to our chickens.  I keep reminding myself it was 7 years before I was able to start with the chickens, so in time, maybe.

They say chickens are the gateway drug to farming and I can believe it.  They are so addicting.  I never knew how attached you could get to the feathered beasts.  We definitely have our favorites and there are a few of our originals that will always be with our flock until they pass of old age.  But for the most part, I still want to raise them for eggs and meat.

If I had known how addicting it would be to raise them I still think I would be raising them.  There is a funny thing in the chicken world called "chicken math."  It's when you can't stop adding to your flock.  We all get the bug.  It's kinda funny, but not when you realize you need to diminish your flock a little when it has gotten a little bigger than you planned!  It's just so fun to raise those cute babies and seeing what cute mixes you can come up with.  I learn about a new breed and then wish I had one.  Hmmm.

But I have learned a lot and have much more to learn.  They are fun and funny to be around and they really do make great pets.  I will explain more in another post. The enjoyment and peace I get from being around them more than make it worth raising them.  And you get eggs and meat to boot!  Do you raise chickens?  Ever thought about it if you don't?