I’ve never thought of myself as a chicken keeper, especially after being born and raised in a big city (Houston) and living there most of my life.  Perhaps part of relocating to Greenville, South Carolina things changed for me.  Life here is different, slower, organic and very much home grown.  After begging my love to build me a chicken coop we selected our first 8 chicks and so began my journey as a back yard chicken keeper.

As a pet they are quite easy, you can leave them for several days (provided they have their fresh water and feed) and amazingly enough they are very domesticated.  This sweet little Buff Orpington pictured above has become our “house chicken” she will come inside after a meal and clean up around the kitchen island.  Not only do they provide eggs, their poo is great for our garden ferterlizer and now we have one that cleans the floor for me!

It is their eggs though, these glorious golden yolked eggs that are just the icing on the cake.  Every day almost like magic, I collect a handful of eggs and immediately crack them open for breakfast.  It doesn’t get much better than that.

I’m not sure how to explain it but, it is grounding in a way.  Waking up, settling into a quiet morning after gathering flowers, herbs and my own eggs from our garden.

our girls are now two years old, and we do plan on getting more chicks in the next month or so.  They will be ready to lay come mid summer, perfect timing for ripe tomatoes and basil from the garden as well.