Kids and chickens? What does this combination have to do with health and wellness?

Sure, I understand the value of human life, particularly your own offspring and especially when they behave. LOL. But the behaviors I observe between kids and chickens have some remarkable similarities.

Take my chickens this morning; for example, when I walked in to the coop with a plate of their favorite delicacy – food scraps like bread crusts, fat from yesterdays pork roast, and stale cereal, they came running as if they haven’t eaten in weeks.  Reminds me of my kids but replace the food scraps with French fries!

And the other day when I was out shoveling snow near the coop, I heard “bawk, baaawk, baaaaawk!” So, I ran in there thinking one of the chickens was dying. Lo and behold, one of the hens just laid an egg! She wanted the whole world to know about it. My kids squawk enthusiastically too; like when my son Mikey came home with no homework, and when my daughter Emily finally cleaned her room after a month of my nagging.

And I notice the chickens don’t share or take turns, just like my kids. Lay some food scraps down in the coop and you better stand back, you can count on a food fight.  Just like I’ve learned to never hand one of my kids a bag of potato chips. That never works unless you want to induce a Cain and Able situation. No, what must be done is to get three equal size bowls and very carefully measure out equal portions with precision. And I mean precision because they’ll be checking.

And just when you were hoping to sleep in after a previous hard day, the kids arise before you and raise a ruckus with loud cartoons, banging cereal bowls, and bickering about who gets the last orange. Yeah, the rooster does that too –“cock-a-doodle-do”, not once but more like 25 times as the sun starts its accent on the horizon.

The roosters name is Garth IV.  Yep, forth generation. We got the first Garth and his harem from 2 lovely ladies who lived together. They graciously donated them to our new farm life, but I felt bad because I noticed Garth was the only rooster they had. “Don’t worry about it.” they chuckled, “We’ve got no use for boys around here!”

Garth IV and some of his harem

Garth IV and some of his harem

So, I love our chickens just like I love my kids. We’ve got 6 hens besides Garth IV. They are fairly easy to care for. They basically need only water, food, and someone brave enough to shovel out the coop twice yearly (the manure goes right in the garden). And they reward us with these neat stories and best of all; those hens provide us 2-3 eggs each day.

Those chickens are a real blessing, just like the kids.

What blessings do you have in your life?

By the way, have you seen my 2 other web/blog sites?

For the general public – http://www.wholehealthhealing.com.

Specifically for doctors - http://www.reclaimthejoy.com.

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