Soooo tempting...how do I fed ex a chicken? I'm sure the internet will tell me...

We have 4 backyard chickens...they all have names..there were 6 when we started but one became lunch for a hawk, and the other died when I went away for a week...no cause of death determined...however, as much as I love love love the fresh eggs, ours are free range...im mean FREE RANGE....like around our yard...pooping on the deck...yeah, free to do whatever they want..becasue its SO MEAN to make them stay enclosed when we have ACRES for them to roam on...but alas, they still POOP ON THE DECK AND THE LAWN..they beg at the patio door to come in in the rain because they have discovered that we have tasty treats in the house and its definitly way cooler to look pathetic in the rain...IM NOT LETTING THEM IN >>>THEY HAVE A HOUSE>>>a really cool house...so, do I love them? No, do I like them, yes....but winter, when they are not laying and just pooping...ugh...makes me want to wring their necks...literally...;) Good luck!

The overwintering is something you may want to investigate.
Aside from that -- when the cute itty bitty chicks arrive...they ARE SO CUTE!!!

My mum suggests letting them listen to classical music to keep them calm and healthy and also that lemongrass essential oil is good for keeping the smell under control.

Chickens can smell VERY BAD. Consider yourself warned.

I'm still in the pro backyard (cooped, cooped for sure) chicken camp.

ya know if I had the bucks I would so send chickens...if only because your hubby would never find me LOL. And because think of the PHOTO opportunities...Leta avoiding them like the plague, Marlo chasing them..Coco trying to herd them and Chuck balancing one on his head...and that is just off the top of my head...You NEED chickens!!!!

Chicks might be great, but... do you really need more shit in your life? :P

This has to be one of those "it's better to ask forgiveness than permission" scenarios. Get yoself some chickens, lady!

Dear Jon,

Please hold your ground. Chickens are malicious. Your wife will bitterly regret having any in her care. It bears repeating: Chickens are malicious. You can see it in their eyes.

um, Heather? Chickens have their good points, but there is something to think about before getting any: all sorts of animals like to eat them. You may wish to consider what you would say to Leta when you discover the bloody remains of Ramona Quimby or The Avon World Sales Leader after a raccoon eats their heads off. I've seen it up close and it ain't pretty. And we know you have raccoons around, now don't we?

Just order yourself some chicks, use Jon's credit card and order under his name. Then he can punch *himself* in the groin.

(Sorry, Jon, I'm a chicken fan. They're a hell of a lot easier than dogs, honestly. And they give you presents. Most days of the week my breakfast is two fresh eggs from my own little banty hens, over easy on a piece of whole wheat toast. Yum.)

I’m not sure why I care so much, but I’m really upset Jon won’t let you have a little chicken coop in the backyard. Think of the learning experience your children could have! Farm animals are completely different from pets, and would open up a whole new world to your kids. Sure, Leta probably wouldn’t go near the chickens, but she’d still learn a great deal.

Chickens can't be worse than ducks. We had those growing up in the suburbs (I'm sure our neighbors loved us). At least chickens can give you eggs. They'll be pets that the girls will never forget and Coco could heard them. Win Win for everyone.

I would worry more about how Coco would take to the chickens rather than Jon...

I grew up in So Cal on what was once (and no longer) the worlds largest farm (so the owners claimed). Though they were not the primary livestock, there were tens of thousands of chickens. Chickens were also pets for me until such time as my sister was pecked in the eye by a territorial and frightened hen. (My sister is okay now, but 9 year old girls weep an awful lot when they have to wear an eye patch.) The chicken disappeared and was a ranch hands dinner the very same night with my father's blessing

Pro: Eggs, Con: Poop on eggs, Pro: insects in garden eaten, Con: plants in garden eaten, Pro: free high nitrogen manure, Con: free high nitrogen manure where you had intended to walk, sit, dine, and would not ever want to have high nitrogen manure, Pro: They eat grain, Con: They eat grain like miniature hogs spilling it everywhere and the grain comes in 40-50 sacks that must be lugged from feed store to car to house and stored where the mice and rats and moisture will not get at them, Pro: Children learn about another type of animals besides dogs, Con: Read about sister getting eye pecked, Pro: raising your own chicken meat, Con: Killing your own chicken meat, Con: did I mention the stink and the rats and the mice and poop and the pecking and the plant eating?

They cluck and crow and fight and stink. They are funnier than all get out. They die for seemingly no apparent reason. They draw raccoons, foxes, and sometimes dogs. They carry any number of bacterial and fungal yuckness and are known to have both fleas and lice. They require special housing if you want them to survive the night and to lay eggs and a person to clean out the chicken poop covered everything within the housing. They single the weak out in their midst and peck and claw and eventually kill that member of the flock for sport.

Sorry Heather, I have to go with Jon on this. Chickens suck.

Get ready. A dozen yellow baby chicks are en route to you as we speak! You're welcome.

I'm with Jon. Our neighbors had chickens last summer, what a mess. He only put up a fence on the north side of his yard and left the south open, like he thought the chickens couldn't get out. Besides the chicken shit all over my walk and driveway and yard, we would occasionally find an abandoned egg and we were constantly chasing them out of our yard. Hubs says if the get more this summer he is going to get a bee-bee gun.