When i was very young, one of my fondest memories were my family's chickens. We had a fairly nice sized plethora of hens on our farm and reaped the benefits of a rooster free hen society and the byproducts they produced. Mainly eggs. I have yet to have eggs that fresh since then. For me, the eggs were just a bonus. The real joy was tending to them. I had a name for every hen in our modest little pen. They were usually functional names, like spot, or whitey. I would go to the wheatfields next to the coop and pick wheatgrass for them to eat and watch the excitement as i dispensed their snack. They had a spell over me. I learned their rudimentary chicken language and could tell when they were very content and when they werent quite happy. I loved to hear them 'sing' in the yard when they were let out for the day to pick and scratch the fields. Its funny how such a supposedly 'dumb' animal can have such a wonderful effect on someone. They made me feel better about the world. Some days i wish the rest of the world was as simple as a chicken coop.

Hi, not wanting to sound like a preachy vegan type, have you ever considered going vegan?