True confessions of a chicken enthusiast...

Our stud, Sir Lancelot, talking it up with one of the hens...

So...it has become clear to me in recent months that I am a chicken enthusiast.  We have been raising chickens 3 years now.  We started with meat birds...the white monsters that become so huge their legs break under the sheer weight of them.  While we were fortunate that our birds didn't have heart attacks or broken legs, we were heart broken at the possibility..and they didn't behave like chickens, they were too heavy to do much of anything, and their behinds were covered in chicken poo and straw, (because they are too heavy to roost like normal chickens).  After doing those birds we vowed "never again", and started looking into other varieties of chickens...we were on a chicken learning curve. 

After some investigating, we decided to go with dual purpose birds.  The breed we chose were the Buff Chanteclair...the Chanteclair breed was bred specifically for our Canadian climate...bred to withstand a harsh winter.  We were thrilled to discover that these lovely birds behaved like true chickens...they roosted, rooted for bugs, took dust baths, and didn't eat themselves to death.  They weren't as big as the meat birds, (about 4 pounds, instead of 10), but we got a lovely meal out of each bird.  We got 30 of them, and decided to keep 9 for our laying flock.  The birds started laying mid winter, and what a thrill for us!  The first time I used one of our eggs I was so proud...here we were eating the eggs of birds we were raising ourselves.  This is what most of our parents, grandparents and great great grandparents ate...seemingly so simple and yet, so extraordinary.

Our newest arrivals to the henhouse!!!

This spring we have discoverd that the Chanteclair is also extremely prone to boughts of broodiness...we have 5 out of 8 layers sitting on nests of eggs right now out in the coop, and last week we were blessed with 4 little chicks.  I feel such kinship with the mother hens, as I watch them with their little ones.  We really are not so different as mothers.  They mother with fierce protection and love...always teaching, always on the look out...

Ghost chicken???

Today at the co-op, while I was buying our laying mash an older gentlemen/farmer stopped me to have a chat...we were talking about our chickens and he says, "That's what I like to see...real people doing real things!"  Yes...keeping chickens certainly brings along a new element of REAL to our lives...this is how real food is made...this is where chicken comes from...if you have the itch, I strongly recommend getting some chickens of your own...I'm sure in no time you too will discover your inner chicken enthusiast!

Feathers and eggs,

Maureen