Why are we raising our own chickens?

Well, the short answer is that I'm willing to try almost anything once and this seems like a good experience for my daughter and the chance to provide her with healthy, organic (and truly local) fresh food. The long answer is (by definition) a little more complicated. :-)

Part of the problem is that Americans see things like the video below every day and while they are horrified and moved emotionally--they're not actually moved. Americans are not moved to act or to make changes in their lifestyles and buying habits that could effect real change. I always shake my head when people say they care but feel like they can't make a change. Because, really, it's so easy.

This is the way that the poultry industry currently treats chickens:

If you aren't okay with that, all you have to do is stop buying your eggs at the grocery store. Almost every urban and suburban community in this country has a farmer's market, every rural route has at least one farm that sells fresh eggs--and other healthy, organic, locally raised, fresh foods. No, it may not be as close as your local Giant or Safeway and yes, you might have to plan out your food shopping a week at a time. No more speeding over to the local grocery store at 7pm on a Tuesday because you've run out of eggs. The good news is that fresh eggs last a while so you can buy a couple of dozen at a time.

Or, you can do what we're doing, and try to raise your own chickens. You don't have to start with fertile hatching eggs--most farms will sell chicks of various ages for just a couple of dollars each. You also don't need to spend a great deal of money on supplies. Our incubator was less than $20 and the cage I plan to use as a "brooder" to raise the chicks was a giveaway from someone's spring cleaning.

So whether you go the easy route and visit your local farmer's market once a week or go completely bonkers like us and try to hatch your own eggs, you have no excuse for buying eggs at the grocery store. You don't need to carry a sign to stage your own protest--let your money do the talking for you. Companies will listen.

Our hatching eggs have arrived!

Big thanks to Jenifer at Blue Daze Farm for sending out our little future chicks so quickly! The package arrived at the post office this morning bright and early. I called to make sure they would keep it there--instead of driving it around in a hot mail truck all day--and went to pick it up. I loved the little drawing and warnings on the side, but they freaked the post office ladies out a little. They were positive they had heard noises from the box and that the chicks were going to peck their way out at any moment. :-)

Opening the box was like Christmas morning! The inside was filled with pink packing peanuts, which I carefully sifted through to unearth the three very carefully packaged farm-fresh eggs inside. Each egg was individually wrapped in bubble wrap and sealed in its own little baggy for the ride. It looks like all of this care did the job, too, because the shells at least are in perfect condition.

As most of my friends know, I have a hard time distinguishing between green and blue so I won't venture to guess at the color of the eggs, although it's definitely one or the other. :-) The eggs are on the small size but feel unusually heavy--maybe because they're fertile or just because they're organic? I know the supposedly cage-free eggs at the grocery store are often just like the commercial eggs in everything but name and color. We had fertile eggs as a child (my grandmother's neighbor raised chickens) but I haven't really been exposed to them as an adult. I'm so excited that Gus will get the opportunity to (hopefully) see these eggs hatch and raise the chicks. I'm looking forward to one day having access to real organic fresh eggs that we know come from the healthiest--and most humane--environment possible.