Cock -a-doodle- doo!

We have been saying for quite some time that we were going to get chickens. I tried to avoid the subject, since for some reason, the thought of cracking open a farm fresh chicken egg makes me a tiny bit squeamish. (What if a baby chick rolls out?)

But, I've had to try very hard to push my personal feelings aside, as we did get chickens, build a coop, and we are now official brown and white egg eaters. I've even eaten them over easy...a pretty big step for me. I know, it's completely a mental game, and obviously, those eggs from the store come out of the chickens the same way my home grown ones do.
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Just another step for the Taylor's toward a little more healthy and self sufficient lifestyle.

HOWEVER...They fly the coop...and we haven't enclosed the top of their 5 foot fence...but, Bill won't let them out of the coop, until early afternoon, and they have laid over a dozen eggs, because we finally realized that they were laying eggs all over the haystack, garage, and flower beds. FUN!!! :) (Every Day is Easter at our house!)

It's hilarious to see them fly over the fence, and run for the house as fast as they can, to start scratching and digging for bugs under the shrubs.  NOT so hilarious... the chicken poop on our front porch, and the bark on the grass. It's got to be fixed soon.

After telling me how mean the chickens were, and my lack of compassion, the boys took matters into their own hands, and broke out the soccer shin guards and gloves to protect themselves.

We did have one rooster in the bunch, who grew from just being a little bigger than the rest at first, to his 'teenager' practice crowing and being mean to the kids, to full out loud wake us up in the wee hours of the morning crowing. Since 4:50 is not our summertime waking hour of choice, something had to be done.  With a little help from Grandpa and a dangerously dull meat cleaver, Mr. Rooster was put out of his misery, as were we.  But, I have to say, I'd become a little accustomed to his call after a couple of months - and I missed it, when he was gone. And...young rooster meat...nasty, tough as nails, and not worth the effort!! I'll still be buying my chicken breasts at Broulims!