What will the Neighbors think?

Ryan (my husband of seventeen years) wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of having a flock of smelly birds wandering around our back yard.  “They’re not very smart you know,” he quipped.  “But they’re soooo adorable,” I argued.

Besides that, we are already over committed with raising our three children, and trying to have rich personal lives ourselves.  Ryan enjoys photography, teaching kids karate, and all things computer.  I teach indoor cycling, just formed a book club, I spend countless hours in the kids’ classrooms, and I’m working at developing a social life in Salt Lake City.  We moved here about a year ago, and it’s been a crazy time of transition.

The kids talked about writing persuasive essays to convince their dad that he needed the responsibility of a bunch of chickens on top of the never-ending to-do list. 

At our family meeting Ryan came up with a substantial list of things that would need to be resolved before we could make a commitment to chickens: 

• What will the neighbors think?
  
• Is Tanner allergic to chickens?
• Does the city allow chickens to be raised in a back yard?
• Who is going to clean the smelly chicken coop?
  
• What about avian bird flu and other diseases?
  
• Who will watch them when we are out of town?

Somehow, after getting these important questions answered, Ryan warmed up to the idea.  The enthusiasm in the household for sweet, quirky, hens must have been contagious.

I knew Ryan was on board, several weeks later, when we happened to run into a friend of ours at 5:30 in the morning as we were headed for the gym.  I’m not too verbal at that hour, so though I was delighted to see Fred I didn’t have much to say.  But I heard Ryan say to him in kind of an excited tone, “We got chickens!”  Through my early morning grogginess I smiled.  Ryan was on board! 

My Very Own Hobby

As a stay-at-home mom with so much time focused on kids, I was excited about the idea of having a hobby of my own – chickens!  Perfect.  They are cute, quirky, friendly, and to top it all off they lay wholesome, fresh eggs of various colors.  How great is that? 

I envisioned myself researching the topic, holding tiny fluff balls in my palm, admiring them as they grew feathers, and perhaps someday even selling eggs to the excessively expensive gourmet market down the ally way.  (It’s called Liberty Heights Fresh, but we like to call it “Fresh Heist” because it’s so expensive.)

The chickens would be all about me.  My hobby.  Something just for me.  So much of my life revolves around kids and family activities that the idea of my own thing energized and delighted me.

Well, it didn’t take long until my hen hobby started morphing into something more.  The kids were so excited about the prospect of chickens that they could hardly contain themselves.  Tanner (age 12) quickly found dozens of chicken related web sites – his favorite being mypetchickens.com.  Thea (age 9) our vegetarian who doesn’t really care for eggs, started to be more interested in them when she realized they could come from her own backyard hens.  Maya (age 6) was taken by the idea of holding a fuzzy little creature as it peeped away.

Darn it.  This was supposed to be my thing.  I didn’t really want to share it.  And yet, I struggled because I wanted my family to experience the joys of chickens and to share in my newfound passion.   Reluctantly, I realized that this was one of those passions destined to become a family affair. 

Only one problem.  What about my husband Ryan?  He wasn’t the slightest bit interested in chickens, unless we were talking about his very favorite meal, barbecued chicken.

An Idea is Hatched

It’s funny how just a simple, ordinary experience can have an extraordinary impact, forever changing your life and those around you.  I tell the kids that every morning when they wake up they don’t know what kinds of interesting, exciting surprises await them.  Sometimes I forget that is true for me too.

We certainly didn’t think anything would come of walking to our Unitarian church one day this past winter.  Snow was starting to melt, the sun was out, so on the spur of the moment I asked Tanner (12) and Thea  (9) if they wanted to join me for a walk to church.

We stumbled upon some chickens in someone’s backyard as we headed up the hill.  Later, on the way home, Thea asked if we could take a route that would take us by the chickens again.  Much to our delight, the owner of the chickens was there, so we struck up a conversation, admiring her three happy hens. 

As a young girl, my family raised chickens on a small farm, so I was intrigued with the idea of hens growing old in a city neighborhood. It was a fun treat to see and enjoy our neighbor’s pet chickens, but we didn’t think about it much more.

Then, as we were just about home, it hit me, “We could have chickens!”  We already have an old, chicken coop in the back yard.  Ryan and I often joke about it, because it is wasted space, just storing junk, which we need to haul away.

And so, by taking that walk, on an ordinary day, the idea of raising chickens was hatched.

Welcome to ChickenScratches.net

Several months ago, six darling baby chicks joined our family.  It didn’t take long for me to realize that these birds bring us many day-to-day life lessons.  With a little nudging from my husband, and the technical skills of my 12-year-old son (who set up the site and is managing it) chickenscratches.net was born.  My hope is that it adds joy to your day, and new things to contemplate during this journey called life.