Don’t Count Your Chicks

Don’t count your chicks. 

While my former co-workers were beginning their school year with Convocation at The Star in Frisco, I was sitting in Euless City Hall learning about backyard chickens. 

Now I’m really not planning on having chickens in my backyard, as I don’t think my HOA would allow it. However, even if I could have chickens, I could only have two so as not to exceed the total number of four animals per household per city ordinance. 

However, since Brittany has been raising chickens I wanted to learn a little more about poultry life, and perhaps someday when Chuck retires and we move closer to Brittany and her family, we might entertain the idea.  

One interesting thing I learned about chickens is that they are basically on the bottom of the food chain. Pretty much anything that eats meat can make a meal out of chickens. Having a permanent structure that can provide shelter is critical, and even then there is no guarantee that your feathered friends won’t meet an untimely end. 

The other interesting thing I learned about chickens from both my daughter and my friend Michele is that fresh chicken eggs do not need to be refrigerated as long as they have not been washed. They can last for at least a month before needing refrigeration.

Brittany has raised her hens from baby chicks and is now beginning to reap the fruit of her labor. The girls can be found roaming freely during the cooler part of the day happily gobbling up grasshoppers. One evening Brittany was late in putting them up, and was surprised to find them all contentedly hanging out in their coop. 

In fact, anytime they sense danger they hightail it back to the coop. Recently they replaced their make-shift coop with an upscale real coop. Being creatures of habit, just like humans, they weren’t too happy about the change. 

It’s been a few days now, and I’m hoping they’ve all settled into their new digs.