I never thought the day would come, but we officially have backyard chickens! In the past, the hubs was not entirely excited about the prospect of having feathered friends. But I must say, these girls have grown on him. You may remember my post about chicken-sitting for some friends of ours while they were away on vacation. Well, these same friends were moving, and their new backyard wasn't an ideal space for the girls. So they asked if we'd like to have them. Yes!
Since they blessed us with the coop, chickens, and fencing, my husband didn't have as much reluctance. I was intimidated at the thought of keeping alive raising chicks, but having fully grown chickens seems like a better start for us. If we can keep these gals happy and healthy, then when the time comes for new chicks, hopefully we won't be as intimidated. The little gardeners think it's pretty cool to have chickens they can feed and fresh eggs in our own backyard. There were lots of promises of getting up early to feed the chickens and taking care of them, but so far, sleep has won out. 
There was only been a bit of mild chicken excitement around the house. Early last week I looked out the window to see one of the girls casually walking around the yard. Apparently, they could fly on top of the coop and then hop over the fence, so once I placed her back in, we had to start thinking about how to avoid any more escape plans. Placing our coop in the middle of the fenced-in area seems to have solved any potential escapees, but I'm still checking on them during the day.
In honor of all of the hard work our girls are doing in providing us with eggs, I'll be posting my recipe for Kale and Havarti quiche on Wednesday... it's delicious and easy!
In the meantime, check out my recipe for Avocado Toast with Poached Egg; it's a delicious and healthy breakfast (lunch or dinner) and fresh eggs make such a difference.
I'd love to know if you have any tips for taking care of backyard chickens. We're very much newbies at this! Happy Gardening (and chicken-raising)!
We have suburban chickens and we love them! My girls love garden scraps-especially watermelon scraps! You will be amazed at how they clean those rinds down to nothing! 🙂 Have fun!
Yes! I actually had a watermelon growing that split open, so I gave it to the girls, and they were happy as clams.
If you cut the long flight feathers on one wing, that will stop the escaping 😉
The 2 darker girls look like they could be Wyandottes....they are awesome layers & can lay up to 200 eggs per year !!
Great to know! I wondered what type of chickens we had. A friend has actually offered to come and show us how to clip their wings, so we may be doing that in the future. Thanks for stopping by!
Awesome! Great way to reduce unfortunate garden waste with the split watermelon. Also, we have 2 golden laced wyandottes just like your 2 dark girls. We also have a buff brahma, which has a dark "necklace" around her head and neck, but a buff body, similar to your lighter chicken. They are so fun!
We certainly are enjoying our girls. Our lighter colored one tends to stay on the eggs. She'll go several days without coming out of the coop, so we have to take her out. I can't believe she goes that long without eating.
She might be some kind of Orpington because from what I read, they go broody very easily. That's a good thing if you would like to add more chickens to your flock by bringing in fertilized eggs. I discourage sitting on my eggs though, because I have had some break and that's a big mess to clean. Lol.