My current obsession are chickens. Here is my old hen, maybe 5 or 6 years old, I don't know!

I have her, and two young Easter Eggers, who lay kind of a pale brownish green eggs.

Of course, being me, I want different colored eggs! And having hatched a bunch for school, I started thinking, hmmm, I could hatch some for myself! And then I started looking at egg color and breeds, and well! I'm getting carried away.

I'm thinking Black Copper Maran, Welsummer, both of which lay a dark, dark, brown egg, one like chocolate, the other more brick colored. Then a blue cochin, that lays a light brown egg. Then I saw eggs on ebay for a blue cochin that's a Frizzle, or who has feathers that go curl like crazy. Cute!

Of course, since I can only have a limit of 6 chickens, and I always end up losing one or more during their time, either from mysterious circumstances or something, if I add those 3 kinds, and in a couple of years, after attrition, I can add other breeds that catch my eye.

If I hatch them, I figure I can sell the others, if I'm lucky to have them, on craigslist.

I just love hatching chicks. I'm amazed by it every year. More and more friends are adding chickens, as part of a healthier lifestyle, and being more self sufficient, and knowing that they're getting happy eggs from happy chickens, and not those poor, debeaked, crowded, sad chickens that lay the nice, clean eggs at the grocery store.

Mine are so funny. Where I weed, there they are. At least the youngs ones. I'm crouching, and often I'll see a chicken head under me, going for a bug. I was weeding today under the Pomegranite tree, and a big black widow, the size of a quarter, fell out from an empty pom rind. I'm silently calling for my chicken to come and eat it, and within a couple minutes, up comes my red hen, and goes directly for it, and kills/eats it! I LOVE my chickens!