The Chickens and the Eggs

In an effort to become a healthier person (let's not talk about the fact that for dinner tonight I made jumbo chocolate chip cookies) about a year and a half ago, I totally revamped my diet and exercise routine. I was tired of the non-stop cardio and 1200 calorie diet. So I started doing some research. I started weight lifting as my primary source of exercise and I started eating much differently. One of those differences was a huge upswing in my protein intake. One of my favorite sources of protein quickly became eggs. Which I guess is lucky because I guess people really get burnt out on eggs as a main source of protein? I don't know, I don't get it. Anyway, I started eating about 12-14 eggs a day, mostly in egg white form. As you can imagine, the amount of eggs I had to buy each week was huge.

Then one day, Mike had a conversation with his cousin. His chicken-owning cousin. And a week later we were building a chicken coop. In February, we purchased 10 baby chicks. We kept them in a small pen in our basement for a few months until they were big enough to be moved outside. Unfortunately, the move outside resulted in one casualty when a dog got a hold of one of our pretty white ones. (Don't even ask, I'm still traumatized.) So now we sit at 9 chickens. We finally started getting eggs in July, and we currently get about 8 eggs a day. My habit of eating eggs has dropped, so I don't eat quite has many as I used to, but I still manage to keep up with the daily layings of my chickens.

I am not really much of an animal person at all. Pets are pretty much disgusting and I like the zoo because animals are in cages. (Oh, I can hear the uproar of my opinions already...) But I can tell you, I freaking love my chickens. And not just because they give me yummy treats each day in the form of eggs. It's like having 9 little babies that I get to keep out in a cage in the backyard, and not even my backyard, my in-laws backyard (city code and all that....) and I get to go feed them and hold them when I please but other than that, very few demands! Aw, the best kind of pet!

And here are some pictures of my 9 feathered babies.

 

And for those wondering, we did name a few of them. We've got Sharon (the white one), Fiero (the orange one, also the one in the picture Mike is holding above....she's the friendliest of the 9), we have Ariel (a black chicken with red feathers on her head). The black and white chickens are our racists. They kinda stick to themselves and their kind and are the least friendly of the bunch. The rest look too much alike so they don't get names.