I have officially been a chicken keeper for two years today. It is hard to believe that on this day in 2011 I brought home 6 peeping chicks that I could easily hold in my hand. It is easy to say that any event changed one's life, but I feel very strongly that raising chickens has changed mine, and continues to change it. I feel that in the future I will be pressed with a hard decision- what do I do with my hens when they stop laying? Would I be able to eat them? If I can't eat these birds, what makes the ones at supermarkets any different? Any one of them could have been as smart as Betty, as soft as Pat, as brave as Nugget. (However, if they were all annoying like Cookie, maybe it wouldn't be so hard :) ) I feel that many of the changes have helped me become a better person. I feel more in touch with my food than I ever have. I pay attention to what is in what I am eating. What was the cost, not monetarily, of the production of it.
I hope to continue chicken keeping for the rest of my life and continue to see the changes that it makes on me.
