Raising Chickens: Homesteading with Kids

Our latest article on KIDS IN THE GARDEN: LEARNING AND GROWING is brought to you all the way from FRANCE!  La Famille Brown is a family who have journeyed out of the city and into the small French Village life.  They share their journeys of crafting, gardening, recipes and family adventures on their blog La Famille Brown.  Today, they are sharing with us more about raising chickens!  I have always wanted to have chickens and am hoping to someday.  Just make sure your homeowners association and city rules permit you to do so!  We are in town and our city just passed an ordinance that home-owners can have up to 6 hens in backyards.  This is a wonderful change for families who want the benefits that La Famille shares.  ~ Amanda

By La Famille Brown

Many people have pets in the home but have you thought about keeping pets in the garden?! Last year we moved to from London to a little French village and acquired a small garden away from our house. We are slowly turning it into a family friendly space, where our two boys aged 4 and 2 years can play, learn and grow flowers, fruit and vegetables. We have also decided to acquire our first family pets and keep chickens!

Chickens are great pets for kids and can help them to learn in so many different ways. We decided to build our own chicken coop and our 4 year old got straight to work drawing and designing his own. Both our boys have had fun with dad in the garden, clearing the space, chopping branches from low trees, and having a go with a hammer and nails. Mid-construction their imagination came alive and the coop became a post office with the nesting boxes their space for keeping the letters!

 

We will be getting chickens not only as pets to look after but also for their eggs. There are a number of different breeds and some are better layers than others. We will be encouraging our boys to collect the eggs in the morning and learn different ways of cooking with them. (Though I’m sure many will end up in cakes!!)

Living in the countryside helps our children to grow up learning where their food comes from. The tractors are currently in the fields getting the ground ready for planting, just as we are sowing seeds ready to plant in our vegetable patch when the ground warms up.

 

We will also be encouraging our boys to look after the chickens and help feed them. Chickens are apparently a fan of treats, some of which we will be able to make ourselves using seeds, berries or leftover food. Chickens are also sociable animals and can get bored, so we’ll be able to get creative and make them some ‘toys’ to play with. This could be anything from old CD’s strung up on trees, mirrors so they can have fun with their reflection, or balls for them to roll around!

Are you interested in keeping chickens? Our advice would be to go for it! You don’t need a huge amount of space and children will get so much out of it. There are lots of books to help you get started and you may be able to find a chicken keeping course in your area!

We love spending time outside as a family, exploring the beautiful French countryside and learning about our surroundings.

La Famille Brown – we are the Brown family who in 2013 decided to move from familiar life in London, UK, to a small village in the Tarn-et-Garonne region of South West France. Our blog follows our journey of French village life, setting up new businesses, and recipes, crafts and gardening adventures for all the family. Come and follow in our chicken keeping journey as we will learn how to take care of them, decide whether to give them names, and collect our first eggs!

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For more gardening articles at The Educators’ Spin On It, we recommend:

 

Community Gardens by Amandine Hom

Homesteading by Vanessa Vargas Wilson

Preschool Gardens by Dayna

Join us for Kids in the Garden; Learning and Growing

Plant a seed with your child on March 31st! #plantaseed