I think that it would be nice to live the life of a chicken. Think about it - you wake up, stretch, get something to eat from the feeder that the nice humans put out for you, get something to drink from the waterer that they also left out for you, scratch the ground looking for seeds and bugs to eat, be let out of the coop to walk around ALL DAY scratching the ground some more for bugs and seeds, make a pit stop in the coop to lay an egg, take a dust bath, then make your way back to the coop in the evening to go to sleep. How easy it must be to be a chicken. No kids to take care of, no bills to pay, no laundry to do, no house to clean. I envy my chickens.
We plotted out the garden and tilled it. My poor husband is working 12-hour shifts, driving 2+ hours back and forth to work, and still manages to work on the garden during the week. I sure do love that man. The chickens love him too - he has dug up this HUGE rectangle of heaven for them! So many worms and beetles and seeds for them! And of course, we just have to take a break and enjoy watching them forage for food.
To say the least, we have now sequestered them to the back pasture where they can hunt for their own bugs. (As a treat today, I tossed the compost pile and found what seemed to be 100+ worms.) They seem to be taking to their new coop pretty well, although the egg count has dropped. Maybe it's just stress. I hate to think that they've found a new place to lay their eggs!
