18 Comments
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Brett Gallagher's avatar

Great to see a new flockster out there! What a beautiful place where you live. One of the best parts of having a flock of chickens has got to be the entertainment factor. My wife and I used to get a beer and sit and watch them at the end of the day (before kids). We called it chicken TV.

Camilla Dugonjic's avatar

Chicken TV! My favorite show :)

And so calming too! 🐔

Zulejka Javeršek Pačnik's avatar

Oh, you chickens are so pretty!!! The black one! I didn't know they were so dark! I loved the image of your kids in a hammock petting chicks, that sounds like something from a cozy children's book.

Camilla Dugonjic's avatar

We have quite a few really dark ones! And yeah the girls absolutely love them. It’s adorable. My little wannabe farmers (like their mother).

Samantha Burns's avatar

I've never been brave enough to take on chickens, but my sister had them in Connecticut and they were the best! Although coyotes got one or two of them :(

Katie P.'s avatar

It was a coyote, a hawk, and then the damn raccoons (RIP chickie McFluff nugget)

Camilla Dugonjic's avatar

ugh, that's ROUGH. We have foxes and martens here as well as a few predatory birds that are the main issues. Luckily Odin is constantly barking up towards the sky scaring them away. Unfortunately for my neighbors. Though one time the grandma next door said she appreciates his barking for that exact reason.

Camilla Dugonjic's avatar

Honestly I feel like a property becomes a home when the chickens are there. They’re pretty easy to manage too!

Lee Rammelt's avatar

I can’t get over the view from that compost heap never mind the glorious chick wandering around!

Camilla Dugonjic's avatar

hahah a heap with a view! :)

Alek Anaya's avatar

Love the chicken coop! Building mine was my favorite part of having chickens.

Camilla Dugonjic's avatar

I love that! We're going to have to build a new run in the next few months with more covered space, I think. We'll see. If you have any tips, let me know!

Havala Schumacher's avatar

Oh, the absolute joy of watching chickens sprint like (American) football players up the field to greet you and request snacks! All wrong proportions and fixed determination.

Camilla Dugonjic's avatar

Hahahah, great description. Spot on! I just watched mine line up on our grapevines to bend between their legs and grab the hanging grapes below. I was bummed I left the grapes this season until I spent 5 minutes enjoying their antics. So funny.

Katie P.'s avatar

I had chickens in Connecticut and it was the best!!! I miss my girls so much . Indiana was our spicy one who would always had secret nesting places. One winter we found 20 eggs frozen under a large bush!

But seriously, store bought eggs are never as good! Congrats on your new tiny dinosaurs!

Camilla Dugonjic's avatar

The eggs are so good. Genuinely, I cannot eat store bought eggs anymore (I can if I have to but I don’t enjoy the experience). Would you get them again??

Peter Gimpel's avatar

BS"D

In Umbria, at least, they use marker eggs - real chicken eggs marked with an X and left in the spot where they want the hens to lay. It seems that sometimes the X wears off and the by now overaged egg gets mixed in with the fresh ones. Once, I happened to order an omelette in a tavola calda restaurant (where they cook behind a counter), and when the chef cracked the egg, it exploded like a grenade.The stench was incredible! If the wooden egg works, stick with that!

Anna Leggett's avatar

What a lovely post! Reading that has got my day off to a good start! I love how your children sit with the chickens on their laps. And what beautiful surroundings. I've wondered about keeping chickens but with a garden of about a guarter or a third of an acre I'm not sure it's enough room. Plus I have a spaniel now and we have foxes round here and my garden isn't 100 per cent secure. Plus I worry about things like red mites. Anyway, for now I enjoy reading about other people's animals on their micro farms! 🐓🐖