I like chicken a lot because chicken is generous – that is to say, it’s obedient. It will do whatever you tell it to do.  ~ Maya Angelou

This Spring we finally picked up four female chicken. There they are two Andalusian Blues and two Ameraucana. From left to right Pride, Sapphire, Cobalt, and Glory. Turns out Glory might be a rooster, we shall soon see.

We talked about it for a while, Suzy and I. We’d heard that chickens would keep insects at bay, chase away rats by eating everything in the backyard, fertilize and mow the yard for us and so much more. The book, A Chicken in Every Yard by Robert & Hannah Litt.

Oh goody, a project. Third big project for this summer 2016. So we purchased a coup. That was an adventure in itself. Suzy thought the first one was too small so we doubled it. Then I saw my neighbors and wanted one that we could walk into rather than kneeling down to change the water and such. We will be putting a new one together in August. One of our neighbors will get the old one. (Old as in 4 months old.)

Our little guys spent 6 weeks in the garage and now are so happy with the run of the backyard. They put themselves to bed (roost) every night around 7:30 PM and we lock the coup up to keep predators out. We let them out every morning around 7:30 AM. Glory (probably the guy rooster) crows in the morning to remind us. You can see a 30 sec video of them here:

My dad grew up with chickens in his backyard. When we told him that we often sit in the backyard, reading and such, that we love to watch the chickens. He said that he had never thought of sitting with the chickens in his parents backyard in Kansas. We are so happy with these pets that we will probably get 4 more next year.

We did buy a pressure cleaner to help us keep the chicken shit off of the patio. It is in keeping with our all electric or battery lawn toolage. No schlepping and storying fuel for us. It’s a very handy tool to have and I have some other plans for it too.

The chickens are inquisitive, happy to eat from our hands, run to us when we call them, and on occasion will follow us around the backyard. We hope to start getting eggs from them when they are old enough. The average we’ve been told is 2 to 3 a week per bird. Yum!