How it all began…
Bird and Bee Farm in Rockdale TexasBird and Bee Farm
Chickens!
Chickens is were the Wagner Farm began! And you know what they say about chickens….chicken math! It is a real thing….2+2=3578! Just wait for it…
July 24, 2019: Byrdie her Nona (Grandmother), her fire engine red headed, spit fire KK (Nanny) and I hoped in our truck and drove over to Rockdale, Texas to begin our adventure with chickens! This is also where I learned that country music might not always be the best for 4 year olds to listen to all the time! Driving the backroads from Bryan-College Station towards Rockdale, it reminded me of the good ole’ days of back-roading with country music blaring! So I cranked up the radio only for Morgan Wallen’s “Whiskey Glasses” song to come. Byrdie knew every lyric including “pour me, pour me another round…line ‘em up and knock ‘em down” and “ahhh hell no” (said in a VERY country accent). I think my eyes about popped out of my head when I looked back at my Mom all the while KK was laughing as hard as possible!
Bird and Bee Farm did not disappoint! They were very hospitable and educational! Being our first chicken raising experience, we left feeling very confident in our future with birds! Their tour was very thorough and their patience for this very lively 4 year old was astounding!
One of the owners explaining to Byrdie about the chickens!
Byrdie and her first coop!
Responsibility!
Being a small business owner, we have had many staff members…but some of our hardest working team member have been 4H or FFA students! The life lessons these kids learn from taking care of another “heartbeat” speaks volumes! My hope from starting our small farm was to help Byrdie grow into a hard working young lady who can be a great contributing member to society!
Before you get into raising any kind of animal, be sure to do your research! There really is a lot to raising chickens! What do you feed them starting out, how often to clean the coop, how to introduce new chicks to your flock, the egg cycle, broody hens…do I have a rooster….and so much more! I can honestly say, I did not research as much as I should have before diving in head first! Am I glad we did it, absolutely! Would I do it over again, absolutely!
As time went on, Byrdie proved herself to be an excellent chicken mamma! She feeds and waters daily as well as is a big help during coop cleaning time! I don’t know a lot of 4 year olds who don’t mind shoveling chicken poop…actually I don’t know very many people in general who don’t mind cleaning a coop!