spreading the joy

                                                    

For me the greatest way to enjoy a hobby is to share it with someone else.  My friends Christie and Brent, had been talking about getting chickens for nearly as long as I had.  Well, maybe Christie had been talking about getting chickens for as long as I had.  Poor Brent is sometimes just the labor behind the dreams and schemes that we ladies come up with.  (He is a great sport!)  This was the year to make the jump to chicken farming at the Remy household.  

I purchased enough chicks for us each to have a dozen chickens this year and raised them in a brooder in my garage while the Remys finished their coop.  Check out that coop!  Isn't it great?!  I have some serious coop envy!  Brent scored this shed from a neighbor who had just moved in to an old farmhouse down the road and wasn't going to use it for anything.  It is perfect for their chickens.  He also fenced in a large area for the chickens to peck and putter around in so they are able to scratch and eat bugs to their hearts content.

  

I took their flock over to the on Sunday night and they kept them inside until the next Saturday, just to make sure they associated their new surroundings as "home".  At first they were very leery of their new domain but they have since adapted brilliantly and Christie said they have inspected all of their exercise yard thoroughly.

It is such a great feeling when you are able to share something that you are so passionate about.  I can't wait for that telephone call saying one of their hens just laid it's first egg.  It's such a feeling of accomplishment knowing you nurtured and raised the beasts that bless you with food.  It's a feeling only comparable to the feeling you get when you are able to teach someone else to do the same.