Is it really so silly to love my chickens? It can't be just me!

[6of6chicks]

I think it's completely normal to love anything that you take responsibility for, whether that's kids, animals, a garden - whatever. I love my dogs as much as I love the people in my life. I didn't know just HOW much I loved them until I lost my first dog to cancer. "Devastated" doesn't even begin to describe how I felt.

I am also NOT a bird person. Not in the slightest. I debated getting chickens for a few years ONLY because I live in the country, have an organic garden that is bigger than my house, and generally saw it as the next step towards a homesteading way of life. I saw it purely from a self-sufficiency point of view and totally intended to eat the birds as well as the eggs!

Well...after spending a month building the coop & run (by myself, one screw & board at a time!), then caring for those little balls of fluff in the cardboard box, and then worrying when they moved to the coop & obsessively checking on them ALL the time - and now to hanging out on a chicken website, obsessing about making my coop & run the safest and happiest place on earth for my chickens (including constant improvements to the coop & homemade chicken toys!) - let's just say I think somewhere along the way I fell in love with my birds!

So I totally get it. It's natural to love what you care for, and to take extra care of what you love. I don't know if I will ever actually eat my birds (will face that when the time comes), but I can guarantee that if I do it will be through a few tears!

 

[sled483]

Completely understand. I'm the crazy bird lady. These are my first ever chicks. I had no idea how attached I could get to them. They are one of the best pets I have ever owned.

Because of this I have built a Fort Knox coop and run. I'm going to try letting them run around in my fenced in back yard today. I posted in another forum today about doing this. I can't handle the idea of a predator getting one of them. And so scared something is going to go wrong. But I always had it in my head that they would run around in the back yard. We'll see if my heart can take the stress.

I could not cull any of my birds myself either. I just don't have it in me. I'd have to hire someone and then pretend they are going to live on a big farm.