At Last…Cracking an Age-Old Riddle!

I think it was either the famous philosopher Plato or Aristotle who asked the question that has been debated for centuries:

WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?

Now, chickens may not be the smartest creatures roaming the planet, but — “To get to other side.” — really does them a disservice.

The real reason the chicken crossed the road is so obvious: “To get to the chicken coop!”

Duh!

In my last blog post, I talked about how great of an opportunity it is to do something that will have so many great benefits. Besides being really entertaining, really easy and inexpensive, and besides providing delicious tasting eggs, raising chickens is a gateway to simpler, more meaningful and grounded life.

Raising chickens will help you on your journey to become self-reliant. It will help you create a guaranteed pesticide free, non-genetically modified and healthy food source. And it will provide you with an activity that cuts through hustle, bustle and wired world we live in and connect back to something more soul-soothing.

And judging from the response the article got, I can tell there’s a lot of people out there who agree with me. This is by far the largest response I have gotten to something I’ve written! Around 90 “likes” (even my wife was impressed and sees me in a whole new light ), and more than 20 thoughtful comments.

Some of the highlights include the following:

• Emily Denny Reiter-McKenney: “My dad is the one who taught me all about raising chickens, so having chickens again in my life allows me to have my dad with me again, even though he has passed away.”
• Alex Clamp: “Absolutley love your article! Living in a neighborhood I forgot how much I missed living out where I could appreciate the simple things. So got up one day and said the heck with it. Built a chicken condo and moved six girls in!”
• Robert Dirmeyer: “Excellent article because of its focus on birds that opens a portal to the larger issues. This article should be put on the op-ed of every American newspaper.”

Andrew for President….anyone? I promise a chicken in every American’s coop!

And my vote for the most unusual comment goes to Ashe Wolf W. She used to raise approximately 100 chickens, but because of a divorce went to zero. So, now, in HER APARTMENT, she is raising two. “I secretly raise 2 hens in my bedroom. Yes I said bedroom.”

One of them perches on her laptop screen!!!

PICTURE PLEASE!!!!

That’s the great thing about raising chickens — it isn’t just for farmers living in the country. Anyone anywhere can do it, even inside an apartment! Across the country — from the city of New York to the suburbs all over California:

Chicken Fever is Sweeping America.

If you haven’t been swept up in it, perhaps you are trying to overcome one of the most common obstacles out there….BUILDING A CHICKEN COOP!

Remember, you don’t need to be a “ROCKET SCIENTIST” to get one up. (In fact, a rocket scientist will probably over-complicate the whole thing!)

In fact, one of the leading chicken experts, Christine Heinrichs, says you may very well be able to scrounge up some materials to build yourself a functional — and hopefully super snazzy! — coop. “Use what you’ve got or reused materials, there’s a lot of construction reuse organizations,” Christine said in an interview to My Snazzy. “And check in with them, talk to them about what they’ve got.”

The other thing that people often don’t realize is just how little maintenance is required. Look, chickens are pooping machines. And you would think that keeping their living quarter clean would be tough.

What if I told you that there was a poop maintenance system that required coop cleaning just ONCE OR TWICE A YEAR and could actually help chickens during the cold winters? That would be pretty cool, huh?

Well, there is. It’s called the “Deep Litter Method.” Basically, it works like this. A coop needs some type of floor litter to absorb the chicken poop. A great material that Christine Heinrichs recommends is the super cheap and accessible pine shavings.

So basically, you put pine shavings down on the ground, which absorbs the poop. Over time, the poop and shavings get stomped down by the chickens and begin to compost. Every week or so, you just add more pine shavings to the top.

And the awesome thing is that:

1. You can use the compost for fertilizing your garden
2. The composting process releases heat, which in the winter time, will help keep your chickens warm!

You see, it’s actually quite easy, and anyone can do it. That includes YOU.

But there is one big thing with raising chickens that you’ll really, really need to watch out for. And that “thing” is what I’ll talk about in the next post!

P.S. What are you using for coop litter? And if you aren’t raising chickens (yet!), why do YOU think the chicken crossed the road ?