Our friends have chickens.
My husband knew what was coming next. You see, I’ve been sort of pestering him half jokingly that we needed chickens. I’ve been pestering him for more than a year, actually.
Never mind that there are a lot of other household projects to get through. For example, we are about three hours away from finishing the basement and have been for a couple of weeks, the kitchen, living room and three bedrooms need to be painted, and there are tree stumps in the front yard that need to be addressed.
The two of us work full time (although I work at home) and there are numerous kid activities during the week. “When are we going to find time for chickens?” he asked.
“Well, I think they just sort of take care of themselves, as long as they have somewhere to live away from the foxes. Plus, it will be a great project for the kids.”
“What about the cost to house these chickens?” he asks.
“We’ll save a fortune on organic eggs, and I can just send you to the coop instead of the store when we need some,” I said. “I mean, the kids and I can collect eggs while you relax with a book. Oh, and we can probably sell any extra eggs.”
“Would this get me out of putting up fencing for a garden?” he asks.
The matter sort of drifted off for a few days until today. That is when the subject of chickens came up again. I think it had something to do with the fact that I kept sending him through the grocery cash register line for multiple transactions with coupons on a crowded Saturday.
“It might be nice someday to be able to just get through a shopping trip without having to pretend I was on that Extreme Couponing show,” I sighed when we had everything, grocery and kids, loaded into the car.
“How many chickens would we need?” my husband asked as he turned the key in the ignition.
“Oh, about four to six, I think.”
“Did you pick up milk?”
“Only two half gallons,” I replied, “The organic stuff was almost $6.
“I wonder if we are zoned for goats.” he said softly, looking ahead in the distance.
Goats!?! I wonder what our friends would think about that.