Comments on: Growing up with chickens: 5 things city kids learn by keeping a backyard flock

By: The Garden Coop

The Garden Coop — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:29:50 +0000

Lyn, how you do this is going to be unique to each family. With our first backyard flock, our kids bonded to the chickens a lot more than with subsequent flocks. So when their egg laying tapered off, we didn’t personally slaughter or eat them. Instead, we offered them up to a local family looking for stewing hens. It was a sad day giving them up, but everyone was quite matter-of-fact about the whole thing and allowed the kids to go through their emotions about it. We also linked the retiring of the old flock with the planning for the next one, and that seemed to help a lot.

By: Lyn

Lyn — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:58:31 +0000

Our chicks arrive in the mail at the end of April. We are working on our coop/brooder and studying up on how to raise chickens. My children 11, 9 and 7 have already picked names for our new flock. And I know there will be attachment to chicken personalities and bonding. But, we have also had the conversation of how long a chicken lives and that “Hot Sauce” the Rhode Island Red might become dinner one day. It does not sit well with my children that we must someday eat the pet chicken. Any advice, book passages or process to help them accept this is the life cycle of a chicken? I’m hoping, as we journey through raising chickens they will come to better understand why this is necessary.

By: eliska stojankova

eliska stojankova — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:19:54 +0000

Hi, thanks for your pages, I share your opinions. We live in village in Czech Rep., just few people around keeping chicken here, mainly old ones. But lots of people like our idea hope they will inspired one day )
We feeding them by sprouted wheat and our leftovers from kitchen and garden, they are tamed and walking everywhere we go when they out.
Sending some pictures here

By: Danijela Q

Danijela Q — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 21:45:40 +0000

This serves as an important lesson in reality. Thank you so much!
Danijela Q

By: Matt Jarvis

Matt Jarvis — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:30:18 +0000

Very nicely done!

Although we don’t have any young ones around, I’ll print this out and show it to friends I come across in the future… probably also put the link out there on Facebook for a lot more people to see.

Again – good job!

Matt

By: Michelle

Michelle — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:38:33 +0000

This article is a great lesson on “life lessons.” I hope many other people have the opportunity to read this and learn that children and animals are a partnership and can be an asset to one another when guided by enlightend adults that care. When you know better you tend to do better. Knowledge is power.

Thank you so much for sharing.

MML

By: Vanessa

Vanessa — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:07:56 +0000

Great article. Thanks so much for the insightful words!