Adventures with Backyard Chickens

When people toss around the phrase “Empty Nest Syndrome” never in a million years did I think I would be filling that nest with actual birds…chickens to be exact.

I have looked at the cute little chicks in the local farm stores for a couple of years now and wondered about bringing them home so I could raise my own farm-fresh eggs. I even bought a book called “Backyard Chickens” by Martha Wyse, which I didn’t actually read until I was on the airplane during spring break. My husband Tom read it too and what we discovered was that there is a lot involved in raising chickens and that it is not something to be taken lightly. This book describes the good, bad, and ugly in regards to raising chickens (Pasty butt condition anyone?)  So after reading the book we decided that maybe chicken farming wasn’t for us. Then Tom talked to a guy at work who said “It’s easy! Just build a coop and let ‘em go!” And we were off. Now we have this really excellent coop and Tom has made a big feeder and watering tower.

We are learning as we go along. First of all we learned that if the coop box says “5-7 chickens” what it really means is “3-4 chickens” because while 7 chicks fit nicely in our coop, when they got to be what we call “teenagers” it became quite crowded and we had to adopt-out 3 of our girls. http://www.backyardchickens.com/ is a good one. I learned that you can sprinkle a neat mix of herbs in their roosts to keep the bugs away while old-fashioned fly paper is a necessary evil for the ones who continue to come around. I also planted mint and lavender around the coop, which should help too. And did you know that you can train chickens to come when called? You can! You use chicken treats (a.k.a. birdseed and dried meal worms). However, if you are going to feed the girls treats you need to remember that they have to have grit to digest it. This revelation resulted in a panic-stricken run to Gruler’s to get a bag of grit. Also, chickens, like children, get bored and peck at each other if not kept entertained.

Second, chickens smell and they attract flies…lots of flies. Fortunately there are hundreds of blogs that literally answer any chicken-related question you might have.

Probably the most surprising thing we learned was that we wouldn’t bring home the chicks and wa-la! We’d have eggs. Nope, they apparently don’t start laying for about 6 months. I’m still not sure what pullets, brooders, or bantams are, but I’m learning. We are enjoying our new adventure with Gerrie, Betty, Lola, and The Brown One. Even though they haven’t filled our empty nest with eggs yet, they are helping to ease the transition into sending our boys into the world with a new adventure.

When did I Stop Taking Pictures?

Order senior pictures-check.

Reserve township hall-check.

Order invitations and mail-check.

Finish party menu and order food-check.

Make a memory book and posters of embarrassing pictures-wait…almost a check?

Sammy will be graduating on May 31^st and I am doing the usual Mom stuff of party planning and decorating. I have made a special memory book as a graduation gift for both of my boys with various pictures of them growing up. Sammy was looking through his book and said, “Why are there only pictures of me until I’m like, 12 years old?” Um. Well? That’s a good question.

            “Because that’s when we stopped taking pictures of you.” There. I said it. I actually didn’t stop taking pictures of him, or Robby for that matter. I just stopped using a camera. The invention of the camera phone has taken the place of my scrap booking hobby and the picture-taking of each and every moment along with it. I used to take pictures just because I had a great idea for a “layout.”

            “Oh! Let’s go to the playground! I have some really cute paper and stickers to go along with the pictures!”  Now I wonder if it’s really worth using up the phone memory before I capture that precious memory.

From the time I got a camera phone and shortly after that, a Facebook account, I have really taken a minimal amount of pictures other than the “Oh isn’t the cat cute?” random ones. At sporting events I have let the moms with the good cameras take the action shots that I pulled off of Facebook every now and then. I have a few pictures of our trip to Florida in 2012…on my phone, pictures of Robby’s graduation…on my phone, and things I’ve crocheted or, again, cute pictures of my cats, (also on my phone). When it was time to get pictures of Sammy pulled together for this album, there really weren’t many from the past 4 years. I don’t even print pictures anymore unless I absolutely need to. I email, Facebook, and text pictures if I want people to see them. Facebook is my new scrapbook. Look at pictures of my life and then scroll down and look at pictures of other people’s lives…and their dinners.

I remember when I got really heavy into my scrapbooking phase I panicked thinking that I would have to do it for the rest of my life, because I couldn’t just have these fabulous scrapbooks and then go back to the old fashioned pocket albums! I thought I had really gotten myself locked into something that would simply never end. Little did I know that with the invention of that wonderful thing called a camera phone, that my inventory of stickers, stamps, ribbons, and beautiful paper would collect dust in the basement. So get used to it boys. If you want to see anymore pictures of yourselves you’ll have to check my Facebook account under “Pictures of You.”