I love having chickens in my yard for the abundance of farm fresh, organic eggs they lay but absolutely hate the work that goes along with it. Feeding them, watering them, cleaning their coop (yuck), and especially having to keep them free of danger. Jimmy and I decided to start raising chickens about a year ago and let’s just say we have been pretty bad at it. We started with 16 chicks, cute yellow fuzz balls they were, and now less than a year later we are down to only 9. Chicken #16 died secondary to survival of the fittest. It was born with a crooked beak and naturally grew up to be smaller and weaker than the others. Eventually Chicken #16 was killed off by Chicken #15, a mean nasty rooster. Chicken #15 was then sentenced to the death penalty- released to be tortured to death by my sister’s 6 month old yellow lab. A few months went by and we decided to let our chickens experience free range life by letting them out of the coop for a few hours during the day… BIG MISTAKE! All of Chicken #14’s feathers were found plucked behind a bush, body gone. Chicken #13 went M.I.A. Chicken #12 was also picked off by a predator- prime suspect was the fox that would occasionally circle the coop at dawn. Then, I witnessed a coyote run off with Chicken #11 (yes, a coyote in New Gretna!) Finally Chicken #10, another mean nasty rooster brutally attacked me. Needless to say, for him it was death by Jimmy’s handgun. Anyway, it’s been about 5 months now with no casualties… Chickens #1-9 have been holding strong. Maybe we are starting to get the hang of this whole chicken farming thing.

Recipe

12 eggs

1/4 c. mayo

1 T. dijon mustard

fresh dill, about 2 T. chopped plus extra for garnish

lots of S&P

 Hardboil the eggs, peel shells, and cut each in half longways. Remove yolks from egg whites. In a mixing bowl, mash yolks very well using a fork. Stir in the mayo, mustard, chopped dill, and S&P. Pipe or spoon yolk mixture back into whites. Served chilled.