Right now, we have fourteen hens of various breeds and also a few guinea hens. (We lost two chickens at the end of this past summer due to heat stress. If you get chickens, be prepared to become a chicken vet because they do develop health issues from time to time.) We're planning to get a rooster or two, though. I'd like to breed them and sell the babies locally to make a little extra money and help people to avoid buying from big hatcheries. But that will be a whole new learning process, handling the roosters and making sure the chicks fare well. Right now I'm just selling eggs to a few people at work and storing the rest.

Our chickens get to free-range a few hours per day, but we also feed them organic layer feed, worms, and fruit and vegetable scraps. My husband farms worms during the summer, which the chickens go crazy for. At some point I'd like to start making my own feed at home, but time doesn't allow it right now.

How many do you have and what are you feeding yours? How are they doing?