Member-only story
A Chicken Died Last Night
My struggle with self sufficiency
I have always been a “go my own way” kind of person. I like doing things a little differently than everyone else, and quite often that leads to failures large and small.
But many times it leads to victories where I find a new or better way of accomplishing some task, and that makes the failures worthwhile in my eyes.
I grew up in the Rockies. I was out in the wild whenever I was able to get there. This upbringing caused me to want to be prepared at all times. When you are alone in the wilderness all you have to rely on is yourself, and what you brought with you.
Several years ago my wife and I had the opportunity to purchase the homestead my family had moved on to in 1866. This would mean moving to the Midwest and missing the mountains terribly, but allow us to grow much more of our own food and raise animals like we wanted to.
We have been eking out a living with jobs in town, and working on different little projects on the homestead. One of my favorite is my chickens. I am not a pet person, but when a critter will give me eggs for breakfast I am all in.
We have had several types of chickens over the years, and I think the most we have had at one time has been 96. At that point we had a contact that we were able to sell our farm fresh…
