Green Eggs and...Chickens?

Dr. Seuss would not be amused but I thought he was most confused about the whole green eggs and ham thing...green eggs?! I think not. To be painfully honest, I'd never seen a green egg until about three days ago. I always thought they were a fictional Suess-ism! This admission embarrasses me greatly because I have always thought myself a bit more than just a city girl. I was raised in Orange County, it's true; but, I had a horse for a while...and I worked at the Dairy Barn at UCDavis for a couple of semesters...and when I was born my parents had about a zillion different birds in our backyard. But, alas, I was still under the misconception that green eggs were a thing of children's books.

Now I know differently. I even know that green eggs have something to do with an enzyme excreted in the gall bladder (bile, maybe?) of some chickens, and that brown eggs are due to some special magic that happens in the liver of some other kind of chicken. Why am I telling you this? Well, as it happens some of the misadventures in my life are of my own doing (you don't say?) and I think I am about to create a GINORMOUS misadventure with chickens!

I have always wanted chickens. Not to eat, no no no! I don't eat pets, and you better believe my chickens will be pets. I don't even have said chickens yet and all three of them (yes, three) have names (more on that later).

My plan was to surprise Chris with baby chickens. Chris has the biggest heart in the world and he would never turn away an animal if it showed up on our doorstep - or in my purse, what?! But, after conferring with my folks (you can tell I do that a lot!) we decided that it was going to be one heck of a trick to hide a chicken coop from Chris and that we really should have a place to house the little chicks when they come home.

So, I called Chris' cell phone and said, "IloveyouIboughtchickensokbye." I should also add that he was in a different state when I made this phone call and I knew that he would have a few hours to get used to the idea before I had to explain this newest misadventure face to face! Thankfully, Chris knew what he was getting into when he married me and he just smiled, shrugged his shoulders, and asked who was going to build this coop, and feed the chickens, and take care of them, etc. to which I replied, "why, you, of course!" As is his usual way, he took the news well. I do plan on Chris and I being an equal avian partnership...but it's always fun to make him squirm just a little bit :)

So, we need a heat lamp, and a bird cage and we need to figure out what chickens eat, and how much they eat, and everything else about the world of chicken ownership before our babies are hatched on the 17th! Oh dear.

...More Misadventures!