Becoming a Chicken Mama

Becoming a chicken mama can be quite rewarding. First, you bring home these little baby chicks, feed them, and care for them. Then months down the road these babies will eventually grow up and provide you with fresh eggs. It’s like a little gift every day!

I am proud to say I am a Chicken Mama. If you’re already a chicken mama I’m sure you know how wonderful it really is. If your dream is to become a chicken mama and get chickens, don’t give up! I hope this blog post inspires you to fulfill your chicken mama dreams.

If you ask me, Chickens are probably one of the best pets to have. Not only are they easy pets to care for but they also will provide you with fresh eggs. It’s like you’re getting a little gift from them every day. I sure do love being a chicken mama and I know you will too!

If you’ve been following or watching any of my Youtube Videos you probably already know that we got chickens about 2 1/2 years ago. Right when Covid hit we decided to jump in with both feet, build a coop, and get chickens. I know I haven’t really shared anything about our chicken journey on this blog yet. Why you may ask? Cooking and trying to create recipes have stolen the show haha. I hope to change that.

Last week I did my first-ever podcast about chickens. I guess you can say it inspired me to share a little more about what it’s like to have backyard chickens on my blog. It really brought me back to the time before chickens and just how overwhelming it was.

I didn’t grow up in the country or on a farm so I didn’t know the first thing about caring for chickens. But after doing a lot of research and taking a chicken-keeping class it helped me feel more prepared.

I was excited and nervous all at the same time. Just like being a mom, you really don’t know what it will be like until your baby is in your arms. I was beyond excited that we were finally going to get chickens!

Picking up our Baby Chicks

Growing up I cared for a lot of animals, with my mom’s help of course. We had cats, dogs, guinea pigs, cameleons, and birds, but never chickens. My husband never grew up with animals so I had to convince him a little, ok it took years but what do you do when you want to convince someone? You educate yourself.

My first step was to sign up for a chicken-keeping class. I wrote down lots of information and then presented it to my husband and without hesitation, he said YES!! I think deep down he knew he couldn’t say no. I was so in love with the idea of getting chickens.

We did some more research on caring for chickens and all the different breeds. We also investigated getting a permit through our city. With our city they allow us to have 4 chickens. At the time we had 4 people in our family so it worked out perfectly, We all got to pick out our very own chicken and name it. The naming part took a while. But we had so much fun with it.

We began to build our coop as soon as we figured out the permit through our city. We ordered our chicks through our local urban farm store Eggplant Supply. Oh, I love that store. For all you, Minnesota peeps this store sells everything you need for chickens and gardening. We ended up pushing the date out a bit to allow us some wiggle room to get further along on building our coop.

It was a little stressful knowing we didn’t actually have a coop built when we picked up our chicks but we also knew we’d have at least 6-8 more weeks until the chickens moved out of the brooder box and into the coop. That made us feel a little better. The stress was maybe a good thing, in normal situations, house projects seem to take a bit longer haha.

The Finished Coop

The night before we picked up our chickens I couldn’t sleep. I was so excited and so were the kids. I never thought my dreams would become a reality but they did. That is another reminder to keep pushing for what you truly want!

For me, that’s how I felt about having children. Sometimes you know when you are meant to have more. I always dreamed of having 3. When I thought I would just settle on 2 I kept getting signs to have 1 more. I am so happy I’ve finally got my three! Always trust your gut! The mom instinct is spot on!

Getting chickens was also a gut feeling. Our family needed a pet. Especially during covid times. These chickens were my kid’s first pet, and ours in a really long time. The last pet was about 15 years ago when my husband and I had a guinea pig. So yes we were beyond excited for our chickens!

So yes, I am a mom to many. My 3 babies and my 4 chickens. I’m so proud to be a mom to both. Having chickens in the city isn’t really the norm. It’s a real treat when you see another coop in the neighborhood.

Do you now understand the name of my blog? City Foodie Farm? City=where I live. Foodie =because I love food and Farm= because I truly inspire to be a farmer, on a small scale of course. So adding chickens was my way into being an urban farmer lol.

Maybe in a different life, I would have had more land with endless gardens and many different breeds of chickens and a rooster of course. Sadly, we can’t have roosters in the city. Also, having a lot more space would be nice.

But, honestly right now with a 1-year-old, keeping up with what I have is enough, but I can dream, right? I actually got a little taste of farm life when I was a teenager while working on a herb farm. No animals, just taking care of the fields, but I loved it!! I think it really sparked my love for gardening! Talk about coming full circle.

Currently, I enjoy the challenge of utilizing my small city lot for whatever I can grow, and I love taking advantage of farmer’s markets in the summer because let’s face it sometimes you can’t grow everything you want. It all depends on how much sun you have.

Living near the city does have its perks with all the unique restaurants, and shops nearby. Also, the fact that everything is 5 mins away. Even though I think I’ll always have a little desire to live in the country. I am pretty content where we live now because our roots are pretty deep.

So here’s a recap of the steps to help you become a Chicken Mama:

1. Find out if your city allows chickens, how many, and if you must apply for a permit.
2. Convince whoever you live with to get chickens.
3. Take a chicken class or do some research to understand how to care for your chickens
4. Order your chicks, research the breeds
5. Build or buy a coop. You’ll also need a brooder box with chicken supplies before picking up your chicks.
6. Today is the day to pick up your chicks!! Hooray!!!!

Here are some places to find more info on all the chicken breeds:

https://poultrykeeper.com/chicken-breeds/

https://www.backyardchickencoops.com.au/blogs/learning-centre/top-20-chicken-breeds-for-your-backyard-coop

The A-Z of Chicken Breeds and Choosing the Perfect One

You know you’re growing if you feel scared to do something new. Getting chickens was scary at first but it was a great opportunity for our family to learn and grow. Looking back, getting chickens was the right decision and I would do it all over again. Chickens are just like any pet, they add to your life and who you are.

I hope to elaborate more about chickens in future blog posts. I really hope this post has helped you in your journey of becoming a Chicken Mama!

❤️April

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