The chicken came first

We have the answer to the age old question. 

The chickens have been a good source of entertainment around here.  We let them out once every day to run around the yard and uproot my flowers.  Three out of the four kids are wildly interested in the life cycle of the nasty little critters and love to help with the feeding and the care. 


Ada drops one eensy little piece of grain to the waiting crowd.



Brady claims to be a farmer.  He amazes me the way he gets right in there with the chicken chores and he loves to feed them right out of his hand.  They peck pretty hard, but he doesn't seem to mind.
Brady is actually the one who named the chickens:  Seven of them are named Walter and one is named Fruity. 



Jude likes to watch them run (and they do!!)



Drew could care less about the chickens.  And while the chickens aren't very smart, they do know enough to stay out of his way.



At one time we were getting 8 eggs/day and it occurred to Jude that we might turn this into a profitable venture for his piggy bank. 



This is Jude & Ada having a picnic in the tree fort.  You can see his egg sign in the background and his 3-dozen egg inventory.  He would yell at the passing cars, EGGS FOR SALE!!!!  Before the operation closed for that day, Jude had managed to sell a dozen eggs to the neighbor (who I had been supplying with free eggs) and knocked the other 2 dozen onto the ground as he was climbing down.  No worries, we have lots more where those came from. 

Jude's pricing structure was firm:
$4.00 for 18 eggs
$3.00 for 12 eggs
$2.00 if you are what he considers a "loved one". 
FREE EGGS ON HOLIDAYS

He had an opportunity to sell some eggs on Memorial Day.
Nice customer:  This is Memorial Day, do I get free eggs?
Jude:  Not THIS holiday.  Only on real holidays like Halloween and Christmas and baking day and Valentines Day. 

Sad news:  With the onset of the time change and the season change, the chickens are definitely out of sorts.  They still manage to eat 50 lbs. of chicken pellets every couple of weeks and they manage to poop 50 lbs. all over the yard, but the egg production has dropped off significantly.  Some days we get 1 or 2 eggs.  Some days we get NO eggs.  Jude has fallen into a lower income bracket. 

So it appears the chicken's government has shut down.  I've had some very frank discussions with them lately and have explained in detail just how the BBQ works.  It's called tough love, but they know I'm a pushover:)

I'll let you know if the situation corrects itself in the spring.  If not, we may have to change the sign to read "Chickens for Sale". 

Cheap - Cheap.