Henry, Chesna, George, and Ratchet

Did you know we have four chickens? We do, and since they are a daily part of my family's life I thought I'd post about it.

Originally I didn't want to name them in case we planned on having them for dinner, but they are such funny birds to watch, and each have their own personality, that it couldn't be helped.

Henry and Chesna were our first two that we got from friends at the beginning of the year.

Henry is the head of the chickens and very much so. She pooped on my dryer in the garage once, which made me mad, but she lays the best eggs so I forgave her. Most of them have boys names because they act like boys - pooping every where and such.

Chesna is the only chicken we didn't name. My sister, Nora, named her and got the name from a name book. We think it suits because it fits perfectly in a Christmas song.

"Chesna roasting on an open fire. . ."

Chesna is the only fro-head and is the most sassy of them all - if a chicken may allowed to be sassy.
Next is George. We George and Ratchet this summer from a different friend than we got the first two, and they really needed a better home. They were living in a chicken pen of about 60 chickens all cooped up, never to be free because they had a wild coyote problem. They lost a lot of feathers from bigger chickens pecking at them and from the stress of the coyote.

Whenever I open the chicken pen to let them run loose George is always the first to run back for the fresh chicken feed I give them. George has no feathers on her bum.
Mr. Freeman named Ratchet. Silly name, but it works. Ratchet is the only red feathered of our chickens. She single handedly ate a whole corner of my newly planted winter grass.So, as you can see, all my chickens have their own little personalities and it's fun to watch them on a boring day. Elliot and Avery really love them and are proud of having chickens.

Urban chickens is quite popular these days. There are many pluses to owning chickens such as knowing where your eggs come from and building a compost for a garden, plus they're really cheap to feed. If you are interested in having chickens in your backyard you can find answers to your questions here and here.