How I Became A Chicken Tender

As a little girl growing up, I've always had a love for animals of any kind. I always wanted to become a Veterinarian. All my life I've had dogs, a rabbit, birds, and a hamster. I never had chickens but my neighbors did. They would always run into our yard and our dogs would bark at them. Well, this is how I became a first time chicken owner with the help of my grandpa. My best friend Bo had got loose from her chain one day and ran to the front yard. When I looked out the door she had something in her mouth. I went to see what it was and it was a baby chicken around 6 weeks old. I took the chicken from her mouth and took it under my wing. She had no scratches or punctures or anything thank goodness. The neighbor threatened to kill my dog so we put her back on the chain. I was in middle school. I found an old bird cage and put the chicken in that with food and water. It was a game chicken. I named her Baby. She was a beautiful brown color. My grandpa took an old dog house and turned it into a chicken coop and added a fence around it too. She was my first ever chicken. My grandpa taught me how to take care of her and so I did. Everyday I took her out the bird cage and held her, talked to her, and let her eat some grass. The cage was on the screened in back porch. As she got older, she went into the coop and run. I loved collecting the eggs everyday. One day our local feed store had Easter chickens and I begged my grandpa for them. We ended up buying 2 of them that day. They were so little. One was Goldey and the black one I named Midnight. When they got older we put them in the same pen with Baby. They learned to all get along and were happy. Everyday we let them out to run around and eat grass. I loved my chickens until one day my dad got a dog and he killed them. I was heartbroken but knew the dog was just acting on instinct and being just a dog. 

Fast forward to 2018, I'm married with 2 kids and by this point, I have 3 dogs, 2 parakeets, and a betta fish. My oldest was in a 4H program in school and loved chickens. I did too since I grew up with them. One day my husband and I went to our local Tractor Supply and got 4 baby chicks. We only wanted hens but ended up with a rooster. He was mean and aggressive so I ended up giving him away when he was a year old. Later that year we ended up buying 4 more and again one turned out to be a rooster. He was a friendly rooster but wasnt what we wanted so I gave him away to a good home. In 2019, we bought 4 more chickens but one sadly passed away overnight so Tractor Supply gave us another chick. I still ended up with 4 chicks and again one turned out to be a rooster. I had him for a little while but then found his forever home. My husband wanted a silkie hen so we found a lady local to us who breeds them and we bought a silkie from her. Her name is Pip. Pip gets along fine with the other bantam hens and just recently had her own little chick about 4 weeks ago. I have 11 hens total plus the baby chick. Hoping to get more chicks this year if all goes well with the coop we are building. I love the chicken life. I am a chicken tender.