Let's Get This Party Started

Hello everybody!  This is my first official post so I guess that makes it my introduceyourself post.  My husband herpetologyguy has done some fun posts about herpetology and general animal care.  I work in the same field but I primarily focus on the cute and fuzzy creatures.  Below is my "trick sheep" Luna from work.  She's part of the cute and fuzzy that I get to work with everyday.  

So to tell you a little bit about myself I have way too many "pets" at home.  This is partially... okay, if you ask my husband, fully my fault... Even most of the "herptiles" in our home have been things that I have pushed for after he mentions "oh hey I know a guy looking for homes for some frogs..."  

I may have a problem... The majority of my animals actually live(d) in my backyard.  I have, much to my husband's delight, slowly reduced the number of backyard critters.  We now have only 7  feathered creatures (we used to have many more and some fluffy ones too... but that's a tale for another time).  These creatures are my lovely ladies and they provide me with yummy eggs and the occasional headache.  

This is their home.  Yes, it has two stories. (I affectionately call it Fort Clucker but my husband won't let me make a sign... yet).  They used to be able to roam the yard but we had to make a few modifications/fortifications against squirrels (stealing food and possibly my precious eggs) and neighbors (who aren't happy when the occasional chicken manages to get into their yard).  

My whole chicken story started because of my food troubles.  I pretty much don't get to eat anything fun (except for right now while I'm pregnant - don't ask me how it works because I don't understand it and I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth).  One thing that I had to cut out of my diet was eggs, and I LOVE eggs.  After awhile I did get pretty good at egg free baking but then I had to cut gluten out of my diet too.  Let me tell you egg free gluten free baking is not fun.  

Photo and Credit

Now, I can't remember where I originally heard it from but somehow I started doing research into chickens, their eggs, soy, chicken feed, and all things in between.  I had always wanted chickens but until I got my own house with my own backyard it wasn't really an option.  (Chickens definitely don't pass my Alma Mater's "has to fit in a 5 gallon tank" pet rule)  So after much researching I figured out that I likely couldn't eat eggs because all commercially "grown" eggs come from chickens fed a soy diet.  (My reactions to eggs had always been the same reaction I get from eating soy products so it ended up making enough sense for me) So the theory behind it is that chickens don't process soy well so any excess soy gets put into their egg yolks which we then eat.

Photo and Credit

This began my lovely mother-in-law's (jwaser) own backyard experiment.  She had chickens and started feeding them a soy-free diet.  And like magic I could eat eggs and have no side effects!  This obviously lead to me needing to get my own chickens.

I'm going to try and put out some posts about my experiences working on different farms and having a little "backyard farm" of my own but now you at least know a little bit about me!