Project Backyard Chickens
How Raising Chickens Enhanced My Life Beyond Measure
Camera: Google Pixel. My four Rhode Island Red chicks at about a month old. I had placed them on this tree in our backyard in Michigan, because I read that chickens adapted to be on trees and that it was good for their feet to grasp onto branches.
When the pandemic started, and everyone was finding things to do at home and pursuing their hobbies and whatnot, my hobby of choice was to raise backyard chickens. It was the summer of 2020, and let’s face it, everyone’s screen time increased tremendously that summer. I personally spent lots of time on YouTube, watching videos on people’s aquariums, terrariums, nature videos, book reviews, cabin builders, and homesteaders. Some of the homesteaders I watched on YouTube often talked about their chickens. It seemed like it was no big deal at all for them to keep these awesome-looking birds. Although I’ve kept a long list of animals throughout my life, I have never kept chickens. But pretty soon, after hours of research and watching YouTube videos on how to properly raise backyard chickens, I was determined to do so.
For me, raising backyard chickens was not just a passion project- it was the single most fulfilling project I had ever undertaken. It gave me, my family, and my friends the largest amount of joy, wonder, peace, and laughter. When done properly, keeping chickens can be an absolutely wonderful addition to anyone’s life. Having 100% control over the quality of the eggs and the meat you produce is just great. You are in control of how the chicks are raised into adult birds. You choose what they are fed and what sort of lifestyle they are provided. This can all lead to fresh, natural eggs and meat of extraordinarily high quality, the humane and environment-friendly raising of animals for food, and the positive experience of keeping pets.
It also lets you experience what it’s like to turn animals into food. This is something very few of us in modern society get the opportunity to experience. Some of us have become so disconnected from reality and nature that they forget that an animal has to die for us to eat meat. I believe it is of utmost importance that human beings routinely take part in the responsibility of taking an animal’s life in the most humane way possible in order to produce food. Whether it be done through fishing, hunting, or owning livestock, it is something that must be done to experience what it means to be a human on planet Earth. Although taking an animal’s life is an act that I don’t think I will ever be fully comfortable with, I have become considerably better at it. I am confident that I can do it again in any situation to feed my family and/or loved ones, as long as it can be done in a humane manner. Ensuring that the animal suffers as little as possible is very important to me.
The thought of actually raising chickens myself first came about that summer as I was going through those YouTube rabbit holes on how to keep them. I did considerable research on Google as well, even taking notes and drawing out sketches of my plan. When you decide to keep animals, you must realize that these creatures will be at your mercy. Meaning that if you don’t properly care for them, they are the ones who will suffer the consequences. I recommend anyone thinking of raising chickens for the first time to do copious amounts of research prior to purchasing live chickens. Try to make the research portion of the project as fun as possible! Bust out the notebook and pencils if you want! That’s what I did!
I sketched out a blueprint of a very simple chicken coop and went to Home Depot to buy the materials needed to construct it. I bought wood planks in the exact measurements I needed, as well as nails and chicken wire. Back home, as I was pounding nails into the planks with a hammer, my mind became fully present. Like millions of people during that summer on lockdown, I was going through a lot in my life. I had become fat in a very short amount of time (at one point, I weighed 221 pounds! I am now down to 187 pounds), which didn’t have the best effect on my self-confidence, was coming back from a serious downward mental spiral and chaotic breakup with a girl, and had just flunked my semester at Wayne State University due to mental health complications (I am grateful that I am now not only mentally stable but have greater control over my mind than ever before).
I was not passionate about the computer science degree I was currently pursuing at WSU. I debated transferring to Michigan State University to pursue a degree in Zoology or Ecology. The thing was, I only had two semesters left at WSU, and I didn’t want to waste the years I had already put into acquiring this CS degree. At the time, I simply did not know which direction to head, and I won’t lie, this was a scary place to be in.
On top of all that, the Covid pandemic hit a few months prior. During lockdown, there really wasn’t much to do unless you made things happen. Which I did- I chose to build a chicken coop! And thank God I did! If it weren’t for this project, my anxiety and negative thoughts would have kept fueling my demons. Building the coop and researching how to raise chickens was the exact therapy I needed. Once the coop was built, I got to work on the run. A chicken run is essentially a fenced-in area connected to a chicken coop. It allows poultry to roam outside, exercise, get natural sunlight, and forage, all while being safe from predators. Overall, building the coop and run was actually quite time-consuming. But, considering everything I was going through, I decided to totally immerse myself into this chicken-keeping project I had gotten myself into and go hard. And boy, did I love it.
When the day came to purchase live chicks, I was beyond excited. I felt like a kid again. I had just completed setting up a chick brooder with the proper heat lamp and bedding. Then, I drove to Tractor Supply Company (TSC) and purchased four Rhode Island Red chicks. I sent Snapchats of them to my friends, who were positively shocked and excited about my decision.
Once I was home, I gently placed the four chicks into the brooder. There was a small dish of water and a chick feeder I purchased from TSC. I soon realized that the water dish was not going to work out, as the chicks kept pooping in it and filling it up with shavings. I replaced it with a vertical waterer from TSC. I learned so many little things like this over the process of raising poultry. I’ll have to share more in future posts and videos.
Before I knew it, my chicks were no longer chicks- they were little chickens! At about 3-4 weeks of age, I decided to let them try something other than the fortified grain (Purina medicated Start & Grow). I gave them bits of fruit and small mealworms and crickets I bought from reputable sources, which they inhaled. I could literally see their predatory instincts kick in whenever I offered them live food. They would play keep-away from each other! Pretty soon, I decided to let them play outside for a few hours a day under my supervision. Yup. I became a chicken dad!
This is one of the first days I let them outside. It was a balmy 80+ degrees, so I figured it was okay to let them be away from their heat lamp. I placed all four of them on this little window sill of the chicken coop I was building, as I continued working on the coop and run. It was like they were cheering me on! I didn’t keep them out for too long, because there was a real chance for them to get snagged by a red-tailed hawk I’ve been seeing!
Words cannot fully express how much I enjoyed this entire project. How much I enjoyed sitting on my lawn chair with a cup of coffee I had just brewed, watching my chickens playing with each other, catching bugs, and taking dust baths. Watching them scarf down their food when I refilled their bowls with chicken feed, seeds, and grit. Watching them hunt for live mealworms I purchased and scattered throughout the chicken run. Seeing their reactions to tasting different plant species, from mint and grass to dandelions and chives. I was witnessing these young birds interact with their environment. They were not in a cage- they were outside, on the Earth, with sunshine on their bodies. After a week or two of being outside, they created a dust bath area in the chicken run I had built for them by digging up the grass. They then took turns to use this dust bath, which was absolutely hilarious and adorable.
I’ve always felt a mixture of peace and wonder when observing animals in their natural environment. Recently, I watched an episode of Andrew Huberman’s podcast with Robert Greene as the guest. In this podcast, Huberman and Greene discussed finding one’s purpose in life. They talked about going back to one’s childhood to find the answer. When I think about what I did as a child, a lot of it involved caring for and observing animals. I observed birds outside, picked up stones to observe the insects beneath, went to pet shops, watched wildlife documentaries, kept numerous animals and begged my parents to repeatedly take me to the Detroit Zoo. At my grandparents’ house near 9-mile road in Warren, a place where my mom often dropped me off before she went to work, I used to have an aquarium out on the porch with guppies and a turtle. I’d watch tiny guppy babies appearing inside this aquarium, seemingly out of thin air. I was too young to know why this was happening, but I was certainly fascinated by it! I’d watch as the turtle would hunt and eat some of the adult guppies, usually the slower ones, reducing their population down to levels that the aquarium could handle while also performing basic natural selection. It was a micro-ecosystem.
I was so fascinated by my turtle and colorful guppies that I’d tell my family and friends about it. I’d tell them whether they wanted to hear about it or not. I just couldn’t help myself! I had to share the beauty of what I was discovering! Even today, I love sharing my knowledge of wildlife with people. I’ll gladly bring out my 4-ft corn snake, Peaches, and talk about snakes to anyone willing to listen. If you’ve watched some of my videos on my YouTube channel, you’ll know that I love to do this through creating videos as well. This need to share what we have an intense passion for was specifically discussed in Andrew Huberman’s podcast with Robert Greene. I recommend everyone struggling to find their unique purpose in this world to give it a watch.
I know that my purpose is to help wild creatures and wild places. However, I am still struggling to find my specific purpose on how I want to go about doing this. There are so many ways to help animals, from starting animal shelters to becoming a wildlife rehabilitator. I know that the things I am most passionate about are animals, natural systems, art, and cooking. Thus, given these passions, the way I should help animals that makes the most sense is through sustainable animal agriculture. Working with ecosystems to produce the best food on the planet.
Many farmers that get into farming do so mainly for the money. I want to get into farming because I want to help animals and natural systems. Industrial agriculture is the number one cause of environmental degradation and species loss in the world. Most industrial farmers don’t even know how to properly take care of their animals let alone work with ecosystems. Nor do they care to spend time with their animals. They just wait for the paychecks to come in. For me, raising the animals themselves is by far the most rewarding process of the entire operation. Giving them the most natural life possible. The livestock species I have raised to date are chickens, quails, ducks, and turkeys. Poultry power! Idk… just wanted to type that out at the end of this paragraph.
When I’m raising livestock, I’m raising animals for a purpose. As a child, I kept numerous different species of animals, from betta fish to leopard geckos. But there was no purpose behind this besides my own enjoyment. Raising farm animals however, such as chickens, serves a very important purpose: food production. Food is the only product that every single human being alive today requires multiple times a day. Helping to fulfill this massive requirement of our species is something I take great pride in. That is why I’ve transitioned away from simply keeping pets to keeping livestock and working with ecosystems. I still keep pets that I do not plan on ever eating, just not nearly as many as I used to.
How we produce food will determine our fate on planet Earth. I do not use any chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, or antibiotics. I know that the short-term benefits derived from using these substances do not outweigh the long-term damage they cause to the environment. Instead, I work with the ecology of my backyard as best I can.
The process of taking care of animals is something that I enjoy immensely. I learn so much about the animals that I otherwise would not have known about. In fact, when raising chicks, I feel like a scientist from Jurassic Park taking care of raptors. I used to obsessively watch videos from the YouTube channel crocdoc2. Whenever I watch his videos, especially the ones with his monitor lizards, I find myself thinking that this is something I must do in my life. Raise dinosaurs. That is exactly how it felt raising chicks. If you stop and observe chickens closely, their eyes, their movement, and especially their feet, you will realize that chickens are amazingly prehistoric organisms. From their clawed feet to their feathered bodies, their morphology is both beautiful and fascinating.
Some people think that chickens are dumb. In fact, these same people are quick to call most non-human creatures dumb or stupid. But this is because they themselves are too dumb to see how smart the non-human creatures are. As we progress in the field of wildlife science, I think one of the questions we must constantly be thinking of is one posed by Paul Rosolie in his appearance on the Lex Fridman Podcast: “Are we smart enough to see how smart animals are?” The fact is that intelligence is not just a unit of measure. There are numerous forms of intelligence, and the more observant you are, the more aware you will be to notice different forms of intelligence in all creatures, large and small.
As I struggle to find my truth and my specific purpose in life, I remain steadfast. I don’t know what the road ahead looks like. I don’t know if I’ll be someone like Paul Rosolie, protecting thousands of acres of Amazonian jungle, or a big-time podcast host like Andrew Huberman or Lex Fridman, or a massive YouTuber like Ali Abdaal or Marques Brownlee, or a best-selling author like Michael Crichton or Christopher Paolini, or all of these things (These are some of the people I take inspiration from as I trudge forward). But I do know one thing. I am not here to give up. One day at a time, I will continue to follow my heart and work hard to improve fast.
What is your truth? What is your specific purpose in life? If you haven’t found it yet, what do you think it might be? Feel free to share down below!
Thank you for reading this blog. Stay tuned for more by subscribing to my blog with your email!
