October 18, 2013
Leave it to Evan Janke to make a chicken pic look so dreamy. Lesson learned- white jeans + chicken coop = bad idea.
If you stand next to me for more than two minutes, it’s pretty likely that I’ll find a way to weave into our conversation my obsession— the newest members of our family, the chickens. Consider this an apology in advance, you’ve been warned.
After years of wanting chickens, I was excited when I finally had a coop of my own. However, my mind was zeroed in on fresh eggs. I’ve been totally surprised by my devotion—and this is before we’ve even had our first egg!
Photo by Evan Janke
“The girls” are beautiful birds and surprisingly congenial. As I was calling yelling for the dog, the chickens heard my voice and started squawking for me. It was pretty endearing and gave me the rush of those long gone “mama, mama,” toddler days with my daughters.
Photo by Evan Janke
Like any good mother hen, I wanted to make sure the chicks were on a proper diet, especially since they will start laying eggs soon (do you hear that girls?). My reliable crew at Island Seed and Feed helped my cause.
Technically, we don’t need to start adding things to their diet until after they begin laying eggs. But the process got me so geeked up I couldn’t help myself. I’m sticking to the organic chicken baby food mix with weekly doses of grass clippings (high in those omegas) and daily kitchen scraps.
I just couldn’t resist purchasing some of “Katherine’s Show Scratch” filled with goodies to make their feathers pretty like whole oats, whole wheat, black oil sun seeds, calf manna…and total confession, I also bought a small bag of oyster shells to start adding to their diet, too.
My babies liked their new food.
It’s a good thing chickens don’t wear clothes or we would be in trouble.
