Looking back - chickens

wakeupkitty.pal (68)in Freewriters • 2 years ago (edited)

The first chickens I had were a present from my uncle.
I had two, good enough for eggs, plenty of eggs. Back then I didn't know much about chickens.
Years later I kept chickens again and the first group provided me with many eggs. I gave those eggs to neighbours although they never gave me anything in return. I'm not sure if I would do that today. The circumstances have changed and the egg is a healthy plus if I don't eat them the wolves and cats will be happy to have eggs on their menu.
At the moment the eggs are expensive which means we cannot eat many.
For over three years I try to buy new chickens but the guy I ordered them with never responds. He says yes but no chickens arrived. It's indeed a bit tricky with wolves around so I hope I can keep the chickens alive, long enough alive.
I will divide the chickens into two different places and am thinking about buying an extra henhouse or perhaps what they call a 'bird garden'. I'm not sure if it's still available but I will figure it out this weekend. Chickens first and next I'll see what more is possible. I have plenty of gardens left to give them a great life. Once they are older or if they don't lay eggs I might eat them or feed them to the wolves. They need meat too and it's hard to get. Even the bones I used to buy for them I only saw twice this year which isn't much.
If I feed them eggs I give them egg scales too. It's important they have calcium. It won't hurt them since they can eat big bones within a few minutes.
I don't know what the chickens will look like and didn't ask. Big or small, an egg is an egg and if the chickens don't lay eggs once it's winter it's fine with me too. I intend to feed them in a natural way and bought some chicken food for that bit of extra energy.
The first two times I had chickens they looked great. The third and fourth times, the chickens looked skinny and had hardly any feathers. It took a few weeks before they looked better. This time, I am not so worried about it. The chickens will look better by themselves if they are happy and not too stressed.
In any case, I am looking forward to having chickens again and hope that we will at least have eggs then, as it does not look like there will be much yield from the garden at the moment. Maybe some cups of mint tea, some dill and with some luck in a few weeks two kinds of lettuce and in a few months potatoes and some peppers.

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