Did any of you get a recall notice from the FDA notifying you that your eggs might be carrying salmonella? We didn't at our house. We're still making cookie dough and eating it raw by the handfuls because we have become egg-independent.
Oh, it all started innocently enough. There was no foresight on my part when I stopped in at Dan's Feed Bin in Superior and saw the most adorable chicks for sale. All it took was one suggestion from my 11-year-old son: "Mom! You've always wanted chickens ... let's get some!"
I spent a few seconds fantasizing: I saw a flock of white chickens with perky red combs jerking, happily clucking and moving across our green grass in bucolic fashion. There I was, standing on the porch with a hand-thrown pottery bowl holding half a dozen fresh brown eggs.
Then I remembered that my husband said that he didn't want chickens.
When he said no, did that mean "No, I don't really want chickens for myself, but if you feel like getting chickens, then be my guest!" Or did no mean "No, I abhor all fowl. Don't make our home a smelly barnyard"?
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When I discovered the chicks were only $3 each, I decided that he probably meant the former. Will and I bought chicken feed, some sawdust for bedding and four beautiful little chicks -- two white, two brown.
Of course everyone (including Gus, the bird dog) was thrilled when I brought the babies home.
Ernie? Not so much. He had grown up on a hobby farm and had matured out of the fowl hobby.
We kept the chicks in a huge Tupperware bin, giving them daily field trips to the garden. The kids and I totally bonded with the chicks, so much so that the chicks would stand up and start chirping when they heard our voices.
When they began to destroy the garden, I started looking for a coop in earnest. When I bought the chicks I figured I'd just be able to find a coop on Craigslist. However, chicken coops are thousands of dollars!
I'd already worked myself into a hole with the "we don't have to buy eggs anymore" argument for owning chickens. It'd be cheaper to save a day's dog food and give the chicks to the dogs and forget the whole thing.
This was when Ernie stepped in and volunteered, with the help of the boys, to make a coop for me. We settled on a movable chicken coop and ordered up the plans. The next week Ernie spent several hundreds of dollars at Menards and began the construction. It took about 20 hours and Ernie and the boys presented the chickens and me with a beautiful little chicken tractor.
All was well until my friend Theresa, from Duluth City Chickens, stopped by one afternoon to see my brood. She watched silently for only a moment before she said, "You know those white ones are meat birds, right?"
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Oddly enough, I had secretly been watching their legs and visualizing drumsticks on the grill. I was ashamed of myself, but I couldn't help but notice how those white chickens looked like the ones I buy frozen from Farmer Doug.
Theresa explained that meat birds are bred to live a short life on this earth and a long one in the freezer.
I knew I couldn't eat Sweetlips and the Colonel (the two white hens), but Theresa -- ever a friend when in need -- assured me that she didn't mind eating my pets and would trade me two of her laying hens for my two meat hens.
I must interject and remind my more-sensitive readers that one mustn't ever get too attached to pet chickens. Their mortality rate is high and they are, after all, made to be eaten.
With my new set of chickens gleefully munching away on our table waste, I am happily snubbing my nose at the not-so-healthy egg farms of America. Other than the $300 I've spent to reduce what I'm paying for eggs, I'm completely satisfied with my foray into chicken ownership.
If you would like to meet Gloria, Betty and Georjette (my chickens) or you're interested in pursuing this as a hobby, visit the Harvest Festival held at Bayfront on Saturday, Sept. 11. Along with chicken information there will be exhibits, a farmers' market, food, live music, activities for children and a bunch more stuff. There is an entrance fee for adults ($4). For more info check out http://lssfa.org/HFFRONTPAGE.html .
Monthly Budgeteer columnist S.E. Livingston is a wife, mother and teacher who writes for family and education newsletters in northern Minnesota (and lives in Duluth). E-mail her at selivingston68@yahoo.com .
