Top 5 – Reasons why we got chickens

Just over a week ago we made the trip from Coburg to Cranbourne South and as well as visiting the fabulous Australia Garden we also stopped in at Craig’s Farm and bought 3 ‘day old’ (well actually they are 4 days old but still very young) chicks.  They are very cute.  Their names are Banksia, Buttercup and Bottle Brush.  My 3 year old named the first one after being very pleased with the sound of the word Banksia and spent most of his time in the gardens saying it very loudly indeed.  Miss 6 named Buttercup and given I think alliteration is essential when naming pets Bottle Brush was christened.  In retrospect I wish we’d thought of Bouganvillea but Bottle Brush was the first B flower name my partner came up with.

Here they are, outside for the first time, but still protected by the cage my partner believes they should be in at all times.  Don’t tell him but Mr 3 and I took them out today and just let them run around.  He, he, he.  I can rely on him to never read my blog, but unfortunately I can’t rely on Mr 3 not telling him so I may still be in trouble for bad chick parenting….

So why did we decide to get chickens?  Here are my top 5 reasons:

• I think its good for kids to have pets but I am neither a cat nor dog person.  I am of the firm belief that pets should be functional as well as fun to care for.  Chickens are clearly functional (I am very much looking forward to eggs) and I think they will also make fabulous low maintenance pets.
• I hate supermarket shopping, to the point that the last time I went to Woolworths I abandoned my trolley full of shopping after the cashier was rude to the woman 2 people in front of me in the queue.  Anyway the only time I ever find myself at the supermarket is when I completely run out of things for dinner and the market is shut for the day.  Now I will have eggs on hand so the hope is I will always have something for dinner.
• Free manure – the benefits of this are obvious – but its fair to say that I’m envisioning very large tomatoes indeed….
• Fresh eggs – I’m really excited about having eggs so fresh they will poach beautifully.  My understanding is that the fresher the egg the better it poaches and these eggs will be very fresh indeed.
• Entertainment value – I have already spent quite a bit of time watching the chicks, observing their behaviour and deriving enjoyment from seeing how they interact.  Image how exciting it will be when they actually get to leave their box and do something useful like eating all the bugs I find around the garden.