Chicken Chores

Since Chad was out of town Sunday afternoon until late Tuesday night Eden and I were responsible for taking care of all the hens (with lots of help from Papa Dan, of course!).  Chad had the incredible opportunity to attend a meeting near Dallas with several renowned and large-scale poultry farmers.  He got home at 11pm last night and we stayed up talking until 1:30am…which is WAY past my bedtime!  But he was too excited not to share some of what he learned.  He’s floating on air right now.  I’m so thankful him and his two buddies were able to go and get refreshed and inspired together.

Since we don’t have broilers this time of year it’s not too difficult to take care of the hens (around 400 or so).  In the mornings we fill up a barrel on the tractor with water and grab a couple bags of feed and head down to their house.  Once their food and water is full, we let them out of their house to roam inside the net fence, which is currently on a nice green wheat field. (Though they hardly stay inside the fence…grrr!)  We do the same thing with our old hens, which are down in the field where our vegetables are grown.  In the afternoon we gather eggs (around 15 dozen right now), and then at dark we shut them into their houses until morning to protect them from predators.  I’m so thankful my father-in-law helped me take care of them all, especially with Eden running around picking up hens and chicken poop (ahhhh!)!  She LOVES to help with chicken chores, and has since day one!

Eden’s new obsession of picking up chickens!

She carried the empty water buckets to the tractor where I was filling them up.  She’s such a big helper!

Of course I had to take an 8:30am tough farm wife selfie while waiting on the water barrel to fill up!  “I got this!”

This girl LOVES her chickens!

Washing Eggs

One thing I never imagined when I pictured my future life was my daily chore of washing eggs.  (Nor did I ever picture having over 400 hens either ha ha!)  I normally complain to high heavens about having to wash eggs!  I don’t know why I hate it so much!  It’s yucky…it hurts my already aching back to stand over the sink for 2 hours…and now I have to worry about keeping my eye on a toddler while my back is to her (if she’s not with Papa Dan).

But even though it’s still not my favorite thing in the world to do, something in me has changed a bit this week.  For one, I try to wash eggs in the morning while Eden is feeding cows with Papa Dan and Uncle Jake which is a huge help to me.  Plus, I’ve recently found this podcast called “The God Centered Mom” and it’s so good and refreshing, so I listen to it while I’m washing eggs.  And I’ve really been trying to find the positive in things, instead of always seeing the glass half empty (which comes very naturally, unfortunately).

For one, those eggs are our income.  A few weeks ago we were getting less than a dozen a day and having to turn away our local customers, and we were not even taking any to farmer’s market.  People were not happy!  Within two months we’ve gone from 4 eggs a day to 10-12 dozen a day!  The most eggs we’ve ever gathered in a day were 11 dozen last Summer when our first batch of 200 hens were laying at their peak.  Now our new hens are laying 10-12 dozen a day and they are just getting started!  My first reaction when Chad brings in the egg baskets every night is to moan and complain, but that’s so silly!  Those egg baskets symbolize part of our livelihood, and I should be very thankful our hens are being good girls right now.

Second, I should take pride in my role here on the farm.  I sometimes get very discouraged because I feel like I contribute very little to the farm since I’m focusing my attention more on Eden right now.  But guess what?!  Washing eggs is a huge contribution and I know Chad is so thankful I do it!  Washing, packing, weighing, and labeling eggs is a big chore that I can call my own here on the farm.  I’m not just a mom…I am a farmer too and it’s easy to forget that, especially in the Winter months when things are slower.

Thirdly, I get a great view out of my kitchen window and time to reflect while I’m at the kitchen sink each morning.  The picture of Eden sitting in the window is from last April when she was around 8 months old.  Before she was born I washed eggs alone in my house probably listening to Kelly and Michael Live in the background and staring blankly out the kitchen window.  Once Eden was old enough to sit up she sat in the window and watched me wash eggs every day.  It made that time so much more pleasant.  Now I miss so much the days when she was little enough to sit up there and coo and babble at me.  But now she’s a big girl and gets to get out of the house while I wash eggs.  As I mentioned earlier, I try to use that time to pray, reflect, and listen to something uplifting and encouraging whether it’s a podcast or music.  I purposefully keep the tv turned off during that time.

Eden helping me wash eggs at 8 months old. 🙂

It might sound so silly to have this whole post dedicated to the mundane task of washing eggs, but it’s a significant part of my day.  And since we moved to the farm three years ago I’m forced to look out my kitchen window each morning and see the seasons change and the birds flee and flit, and reflect on how far we’ve come as a farm and a family.

My daily goal is to be thankful, not just about washing eggs, but about every thing in my life, no matter how mundane and simple it may be.  God has blessed us so much and he uses those eggs each day to bless me and bring me back to right perspective.

My hope is that this will encourage you to be thankful for the simple things in your life.  I complain so much.  Instead of complaining about having to wash dishes, I should be thankful I have clean running water, and food to put on those dishes.  I know it’s so hard in our society today to be positive, but if we put down our phones and turn off our tv and take time to reflect we can do it together!