In case you haven’t heard, we love our three crazy messy dogs. Our children claim we spoil them. But we insist that every dog deserves love, and we give ours so much because we can’t give every dog love. Some days, as I’m petting my puppies and telling them all the things I adore about them in a soothing tone, even I have to admit we’ve gone to extreme lengths to give our animals a good life. But I’m the only one in the family who confesses to overindulging the pets. John insists our dogs are spoiled to perfection.
Lately our fur babies have been shoved to the side. Look out, dogs—we’ve got chickens now! I’ve started calling ourselves The Crazy Chicken People, and John doesn’t disagree. C’mon, you might say.
How can you go overboard with your chickens?
Do we dress them up? No, we definitely don’t do that, mostly because I can’t catch them. Do we stick them in diapers and let them roam the house? Oh, absolutely not! Dogs and chickens must maintain a safe distance apart. Not to mention, the house is already overrun with canines—let’s not add poultry to the mix. We’re not that crazy…yet. But give us time.
So how did we earn this self-imposed title? If you saw our chicken Taj Mahal, you’d understand. It started out as a simple coop with a door, to shut our babies inside and keep them safe from predators. We added a small covered run, then made it bigger by 117 square feet. Next John added perches inside the coop, and I found a three-step metal ladder to put inside the covered run. The chickens love jumping on top or standing underneath it. So far so good—at that point we were just good chicken owners.
John added a second door to the run leading to our backyard. He fenced off a section, so the chickens could free range. Aren’t those the best eggs, the ones from free range chickens? It’s all about the eggs, really. Then we stepped a little closer to the edge of insanity.
We added two chairs in the free range area, so we can hang out with the chickens more comfortably. We’re concerned about leaving them all by themselves, for fear of hawks swooping in. We started bringing our coffee outside, so naturally we needed a table to put our mugs of steaming caffeine. With the colder weather hitting us, John moved our fire pit inside the area to take off the chill. I suggested a coffee bar, so we could refill our mugs more easily. We seriously considered the logistics before abandoning the project. We opted instead for a carafe of coffee to go on our table. Let’s not forget the wooden pallet sitting on four cinder blocks for poultry pleasure.
John plans to add a six foot ladder for the chickens to enjoy, and a covered dust bath. He’s also considering more perches in the coop for night time slumber. Somewhere in the future we’ll add a swing (or two) and a soldier larvae dispenser. Have we gone off the deep end? Perhaps. But we also have a sign on the coop that reads, “Spoiled Hens Lay Better Eggs.” As I said, it’s all about the eggs.
Jann Goar Franklin graduated Russellville High School in 1985 and lives in Grand Cane, Louisiana. She also writes books, which are for sale at www.jannfranklin.com. You can reach her at jann@jannfranklin.com