How my Husband Became a Chicken Lover

I’m not a teacher, but since the quarantine began, I've been looking around online for things to do with our children that are educational and interesting. I've learned that many schools around the world are teaching kids about the farm-to-table process, and I thought it would be great to teach my boys more about this as well. I saw online that I could buy eggs to be hatched, along with an incubator, and have them shipped to my house! What a wonderful idea!

I knew my children would love this idea because my friend has chickens and ducks, and my boys love to go there and look for eggs. A few months ago Thomas started asking about getting chickens. He is at that age when kids start asking their parents for their own pet. My oldest son wants to be responsible.

Now, have I always liked chickens? No.

Did I like the idea of having 100% organic fresh eggs every day? Yes.

I especially like knowing what the chickens are fed. No GMO grains, plenty of greens, and bugs of course. This is the ideal way to feed chickens. Easy, right? My husband knew about my idea, but he wasn’t on board with ordering chickens online.

I decided to take the boys to check out a local feed and seed store instead. I wanted to see if they would get as excited about chicks as I thought they would. Oh, yes, they did. In fact we couldn’t leave the store without the chicks!

The lady at the store asked us how many we wanted. My son, Thomas, quickly answered, “I’m 5, so we should get 5 chicks.” We decided to surprise Daddy. We brought home 5 little chicks, named them, fed them, and left them to rest for a little bit in the yard while my sons and I went for a walk.

While we were walking, Daddy came home early from work and did what he always does. He let out the dogs. As we were getting back, I saw my husband's truck. I saw the dogs, Rodeo and Romeo, wandering around loose in the yard. The next thing I saw was feathers everywhere. OMG! Our dogs ate the chicks! The drama was indescribable that day.

My husband decided to make up for it. The next weekend, which was Mother’s Day weekend, he and the boys started building a chicken coop. The boys had so much fun doing the construction, but painting was their favorite part. Two weeks later David bought 8 little chicks.

Cock-a-doodle-doo and Kukuruza ("corn" in Russian) are Thomas’s favorites.

Coconut and Twinkie are David’s favorites.

Katleta ("meatballs" in Russian) and Alyenushka are my favorites.

Picatta and Frittata are Johnny’s favorites.

P.S. David now likes the chicks so much that he even purchased a copy of Chickens magazine!