When I walk up to the chicken coop, my rooster, Sven, makes a certain sound. It is his way of notifying the flock to “pay attention.” This isn’t a special “Sven” sound as my other roosters would do the same thing. He also makes a sound I call “Happy Chicken.” When I go into the run and leave treats for the flock, Sven will make this excited clucking that sounds like he is really pleased with what I brought them. That sound always makes me smile.

The decision to get chickens was totally mine. I’d been thinking about it for a while, and then in March 2020, when the world shut down, I realized I finally had time to start building my chicken coop. My husband was a good sport and supported me during the process, including allowing me to take over the garage while building the coop, assembling and leading the transport crew (it took four men to lift the coop into a trailer and move it to its final destination) and leveling the coop. Once I realized I would need some sort of fence to protect the chickens, he made multiple trips to Portland to pick up a dog run that I found on Craig’s List. And he spent a lot of energy digging below grade to ensure that no rodents could dig under the fence and get to our chickens.

Those of you who know me know how much I love process. I graduated from college with a degree in chemical engineering and took off to become a process engineer. I don’t know why, but my brain likes the order that comes from having a process. However, in college, I also earned the nickname “the creative chemical engineer.” So, while I do like process, I also like the freedom of being able to create. And I don’t think those two things are diametrically opposed.

An Interesting Response.

When I was first thinking about getting chickens, I would ask other chicken owners how many chickens they had. Strangely, the answer was almost always a pause and then, “I’m not sure. Let me think about that.” I found that response baffling. How do you not know how many chickens you have?

I followed that question with, “How many eggs do you get a day?” And again, the answer was less than concrete. They’d say, “It depends.”

I remember thinking that both of these responses were confusing.

Have you ever worked with someone who was a real suck-up when the boss was around, but after she disappeared, he would be mean and nasty to the rest of the team? It’s like working with two different people, neither of them particularly enjoyable.

If you have been reading my articles, you probably know that my beloved chickens are afraid of me. And they have been from Day 1.

The first day I brought my chickens home, they flew the coop. I guess I should have known that since they are birds, they can fly. I’m a little embarrassed to share that I went up to the coop during the first few days and tried to get them to come to me. I sat down on the grass not far from the coop with little pieces of pancake and said, “Here, little chicky” in my softest, sweetest voice. Well, it didn’t work. They stayed away from me.

Life in the coop is never dull. After our two broody hens hatched their eggs, another hen decided it was her turn to be broody. Then a fourth hen decided to join her. So, we now have two hens with peeps and two broody hens, and the other three are trying to fend off Hei Hei.

In the life of caring for chickens, there are only a handful of things that can happen: egg laying, rooster drama, illness, death (not always by a natural predator, sometimes, it’s a dog), broody hens, and flying the coop. I’ve had to address all of these issues in the past few years.
I entered this spring season feeling really good about what was happening up at the coop. We had plenty of hens laying lots of eggs, and an inquisitive rooster who hadn’t become aggressive (yet).