So... good news. Our beautiful chickens have received the praise and admiration they deserve from their good looks (which most of you know they get from their dad). At Zingermans (where I work) there was a pet beauty contest. There were three catagories; Dog, Cat and other. Our chicks came away with a smashing defeat over all the other so called cute "other" pets. Also today was a beautiful day outside. The chicks are getting a little anxious to get outside. This weekend, we bought seed starting supplies. So we should in the next few days be ordering seeds and starting them in the basement. We are getting anxious to get them outside as well!
Grace and Peace,
Bill
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Answers
Bill and I have heard on numerous occasions the following: "Chickens!" or "Chickens?". This is usually followed by a look of confusion or laughter as people are not quite sure what to do the fact that we say we are raising a few chickens. Now, where I work in the rural part of Michigan, raising chickens is not questioned or looked at as completely strange. Apparently, this is a different case living in Ann Arbor. (or maybe its that people really just think Bill and I are strange....hmmm, have I been missing this the whole time?!) Anyway, I thought I would put to rest the burning desire you all have to know why we have chickens.
We have really felt compelled to raise chickens for two main reasons. One reason is that I have had a lot of health issues in the last few years (and now looking back, I can see that it truly has been more than the last few years and more like the last 15 years). After discovering that my daily headaches and often bi-weekly migraines (and numerous other health issues) were due the food I was ingesting, I have overhauled my diet and had to radically change what I eat. Now, I ate eggs before, but nothing like I do now. Currently I am on a dairy-free, wheat-free, yeast-free, and sugar-free diet. Therefore, one of the main staples I can eat is eggs. Eggs don't seem to bother my body and I quite enjoy them. Now, hopefully this restrictive diet will change (mostly for my sanity) in the future to be able to eat more things. But until that point, I am an egg eating machine!! ( I also must at this point give major kudos to Bill because without him I would have starved to death....he is a great chef!) Therefore, this leads me to the main point...if you have ever bought a carton of organic eggs, you too would think twice about raising your own chickens. Now if you haven't ever bought a carton of organic eggs, take a look next time you are in the grocery store and you will now know why we are raising our own chickens.
The second reason that we really wanted to lay eggs is for the environment's sake. You may think this is confusing and find yourself asking "what do chickens have to do with the environment?". Well, tons actually. But the main principles behind it include reducing our carbon imprint (think about what it takes to get an egg to your table...between production, travel, packaging, etc), reducing our reliance on major egg producing factories (have you read the horror stories about chicken farms?!), and eating and buying local (you can't get much more local than your backyard!). I am sure there are plenty more reasons, but I can't think of them right now. If I do in the future, I will redo the post. Again, leading to my point...Bill and I feel very strongly about the earth being God's creation and it is our responsibility to take care of His creation.
Well, if you ever have questions about either the diet (or why its so crazy!) and/or if you have questions about the environment and our responsibility to it, please feel free to ask. The Girls are doing great and are getting even bigger. I know I say that every time, but they really do grow significantly with each post I make. Bill tried to tell me that they didn't look like chickens today, but more like hawks. I think I stopped listening to him at that point because it sounded crazy, but it proves how much they have continued to change. I would also like to point out that the Girls should be outside in a home outside in the next two months and they should be laying eggs beginning in June if all goes like we were told.
Grace and Peace,
Amy
We have really felt compelled to raise chickens for two main reasons. One reason is that I have had a lot of health issues in the last few years (and now looking back, I can see that it truly has been more than the last few years and more like the last 15 years). After discovering that my daily headaches and often bi-weekly migraines (and numerous other health issues) were due the food I was ingesting, I have overhauled my diet and had to radically change what I eat. Now, I ate eggs before, but nothing like I do now. Currently I am on a dairy-free, wheat-free, yeast-free, and sugar-free diet. Therefore, one of the main staples I can eat is eggs. Eggs don't seem to bother my body and I quite enjoy them. Now, hopefully this restrictive diet will change (mostly for my sanity) in the future to be able to eat more things. But until that point, I am an egg eating machine!! ( I also must at this point give major kudos to Bill because without him I would have starved to death....he is a great chef!) Therefore, this leads me to the main point...if you have ever bought a carton of organic eggs, you too would think twice about raising your own chickens. Now if you haven't ever bought a carton of organic eggs, take a look next time you are in the grocery store and you will now know why we are raising our own chickens.
The second reason that we really wanted to lay eggs is for the environment's sake. You may think this is confusing and find yourself asking "what do chickens have to do with the environment?". Well, tons actually. But the main principles behind it include reducing our carbon imprint (think about what it takes to get an egg to your table...between production, travel, packaging, etc), reducing our reliance on major egg producing factories (have you read the horror stories about chicken farms?!), and eating and buying local (you can't get much more local than your backyard!). I am sure there are plenty more reasons, but I can't think of them right now. If I do in the future, I will redo the post. Again, leading to my point...Bill and I feel very strongly about the earth being God's creation and it is our responsibility to take care of His creation.
Well, if you ever have questions about either the diet (or why its so crazy!) and/or if you have questions about the environment and our responsibility to it, please feel free to ask. The Girls are doing great and are getting even bigger. I know I say that every time, but they really do grow significantly with each post I make. Bill tried to tell me that they didn't look like chickens today, but more like hawks. I think I stopped listening to him at that point because it sounded crazy, but it proves how much they have continued to change. I would also like to point out that the Girls should be outside in a home outside in the next two months and they should be laying eggs beginning in June if all goes like we were told.
Grace and Peace,
Amy
Sunday, March 2, 2008
new home and new looks
At the prompting of my sister who would like to keep up on her "niece-chicks", I knew I needed to add another post. Sorry for the delay in posting, but to use a terrible excuse, we didn't have any batteries for our camera. So my wonderful husband bought some the other day and here are the latest pictures.
The girls have grown...big time. Here are a few of their most recent pictures. Now, whenever I post pictures of the girls, I feel like it doesn't do them any justice. Like people probably look at them and go "I can't tell a difference from the last pictures". Hopefully you will be able to tell this time, as they actually look like miniature chickens these days. They are in their teenage stage, I think.
Now, there are two definite things I would like to point out from these pictures. One, the girls have a new home. Bill built a new home (more like a mansion compared to the condo they used to be in) for the girls about a week ago. This is only temporary as the cardboard boxes were way to small and we had to get them out of there, but at the same time pretty soon they will need even more space. Hopefully there will be another temporary upgrade in the future, and in the not so distant future, they will actually be outside in the coop that is yet to be built.
Second thing I would like to point out from these pictures...they have already learned how to get out of their new home. Already several times today I have walked in there and have had to pick up a few girls and put them back inside their home. Seriously, this is really not what I want to be doing with my Sunday afternoon. I imagine pretty soon I am going to be sitting on the couch reading or something and in will walk one of the girls just checking out the rest of the house. Bill and I (or should I just say Bill because I am not so hot with the creative engineering of coops) will have to figure out how to keep them in there. Ah, the joys of raising chickens! Thanks to everyone who has started saving their egg cartons for us. We really appreciate it and can't wait till the day that we get to start using them. (below are the views of the new home, please disregard how dirty it is as its "changing day" for their bedding and that is always one task that I wait for Bill to do together and he is currently at work!! isn't he lucky he has a patient wife?!?!)
The girls have grown...big time. Here are a few of their most recent pictures. Now, whenever I post pictures of the girls, I feel like it doesn't do them any justice. Like people probably look at them and go "I can't tell a difference from the last pictures". Hopefully you will be able to tell this time, as they actually look like miniature chickens these days. They are in their teenage stage, I think.
Now, there are two definite things I would like to point out from these pictures. One, the girls have a new home. Bill built a new home (more like a mansion compared to the condo they used to be in) for the girls about a week ago. This is only temporary as the cardboard boxes were way to small and we had to get them out of there, but at the same time pretty soon they will need even more space. Hopefully there will be another temporary upgrade in the future, and in the not so distant future, they will actually be outside in the coop that is yet to be built.
Second thing I would like to point out from these pictures...they have already learned how to get out of their new home. Already several times today I have walked in there and have had to pick up a few girls and put them back inside their home. Seriously, this is really not what I want to be doing with my Sunday afternoon. I imagine pretty soon I am going to be sitting on the couch reading or something and in will walk one of the girls just checking out the rest of the house. Bill and I (or should I just say Bill because I am not so hot with the creative engineering of coops) will have to figure out how to keep them in there. Ah, the joys of raising chickens! Thanks to everyone who has started saving their egg cartons for us. We really appreciate it and can't wait till the day that we get to start using them. (below are the views of the new home, please disregard how dirty it is as its "changing day" for their bedding and that is always one task that I wait for Bill to do together and he is currently at work!! isn't he lucky he has a patient wife?!?!)
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