Getting chickens was never my plan. My grandparents had huge poultry houses, a commercial operation.... I remember as a little girl hating the smell, being terrified of the chickens, those icky white feathered, often pecked bald, squawking, stinky, noisy creatures. When I had to go in the chicken house for some reason, I cringed with fear and disgust, and swore when I grew up, I was never ever going to have chickens.

Even as an adult, at various points, I was exposed to chickens, but they never tugged at my heart. Not even the tiny baby fluff balls. The reaching underneath the sitting hen to grab eggs was enough to make my heart stop with terror. No way was I ever going to have chickens.

Then, along came this little girl who wanted baby chickens. And her dad said NO FARM ANIMALS. So like all crazy old women who become Grandma's, I said sure, why not. And... from there the story grows exponentially.

Tractor Supply sells your run of the mill baby chicks every spring, so we headed to town to naively buy a 'couple' of babies for Rylie to enjoy. Turns out Tractor Supply only sells them in lots of 6. Turns out, baby chicks need somewhere to live, and food, and water, and a heat lamp, and pine shavings, and and and.... a couple hundred bucks poorer, we left the store with 6 babies, various lineages, a bunny, and all the assorted stuffs needed to raise both. My husband just kind of shook his head and laughed. He knew this was a short temporary journey and was already tasting the homemade chicken and dumplings stewing in the pot.

Those little fluff balls grew up to be beautiful chickens, 2 black ones, 3 red ones and a strange tannish hawk looking beauty. Their small 'cage' we'd bought was no longer big enough, so my hubbie begrudingly built a larger area, still smelling chicken simmering in the kitchen. Then the girls became "the girls" and all got names and personalities. Then an egg appeared one day!! A magical, beautiful, spectacular greenish blue tiny egg. I insisted we build nesting boxes and expand their space! We had EGGS!!

Now, we are almost a year into this temporary project. Three of my original girlies are gone. Two died in distress trying to lay eggs. One just disappeared one day, probably becoming dinner for a hawk. But the three who remained made it through the winter, faithfully laying egg after beautiful egg, each one thrilling me just as much as the one before.

And now... it is chick days at Tractor Supply again and 6 new babies adorn my garage. Don't worry.... I only spent just over $200 this year on the start up costs. I think that bring my cost per egg to about $97.50 each :) and my husband has given up any fantasties about chicken stew.