73 Comments

  • Reply MaryH June 30, 2013 at 4:20 pm

    OMG – f*ing hysterical! Mostly because it’s totally true! Having chickens has changed the whole direction of my life, and now I’m the one looking for land in a rural area so I can have more! When I looked at all of the blogs I subscribe to, they are all chicken- and farm- related!

    Thanks for this great video!

  • Reply Wendy July 1, 2013 at 4:28 am

    Oh dear. You are so right. When I first started listening, I was all defensive- What DANGER? Chickens are SO EASY!! What is this freak going to say?! Then you continued.

    Yeah. I have more chickens than I can count and I have two steers. I am DOWN THAT ROAD.

    You are my new BFF.

  • Reply Michelle Erbach July 1, 2013 at 3:46 pm

    I LOVE YOU!! This is f-ing HILARIOUS!! I think you and I are going to be great friends!!! You NAILED IT!! I was JUST talking this weekend how badly I want goats! I keep bees as well and I must say they were my gateway!

  • Reply Michelle Erbach July 1, 2013 at 3:48 pm

    Oh and you forgot about how you start keeping some in your house too!! *looks away whistling*

    • Reply Misty Schutt July 2, 2013 at 12:54 pm

      Keeping chickens in my basement until they are old enough for the hen yard? What a RIDICULOUS idea that I would never admit to anyone. 😉

    • Reply Daniel July 6, 2013 at 12:21 am

      Basement? I know someone *looks away whistling* with an 11 year old daughter who has an incubator in her bedroom right now. She wants to candle the eggs daily. Seems the young are not immune.

    • Reply LavenderMum July 6, 2013 at 5:04 am

      Ha ha ha!! This was absolutely brilliant! Although I can’t traffic in chickens yet (trying to be patient & work through county restrictions with other like-minded folks), my Quail are essentially “PWBs”–pets with benefits! Think about it: 1) adorable, healthy, little eggs & yes, yes I *do* let them know, “thank you SO MUCH for all your eggs, girls, great job today!” 2) look, I *could* stop raising them any time I want, but I’m not harming anybody else by having them be spoiled in my house when they’re just wee chicks so I can keep an eye on them, then letting them chill out in the garage with cooling fans listening to classical music in soft-sided playpens once they’re old enough, & 3) ok, & *maybe* my child has also asked about getting an incubator for his birthday–or Christmas, whichever comes first… /// All kidding aside, I’m glad to know my child understands food does not arrive in the world via a plastic bag or on a piece of styrofoam; that with a little bit of work each day, we are lucky enough to eat the healthiest, tastiest, & least expensive food in the neighborhood 😀 Thanks for your enjoyable writings!

    • Reply Sally Phelps April 15, 2015 at 7:59 pm

      I have you all beat, I have them in my kitchen. (Just until they are big enough to go outside of course!)

      • Reply Lori Morrison March 31, 2017 at 8:35 pm

        I have 16 chicks in my kitchen/ back porch right now! Silly little girls they are!

  • Reply Megan Colwell July 1, 2013 at 6:57 pm

    BAH! I’ve been wanting backyard hens too

  • Reply cluckcacklescratchnpeck July 1, 2013 at 7:56 pm

    This is SO me! I want ducks and goats now too, lol. Loved this video, truly hilarious.

  • Reply Nicola July 1, 2013 at 10:42 pm

    Thank you for the PSA. And thank goodness I didn’t drink that WHOLE soda before I started watching–I already had to change clothes once today, after getting muddy working on the compost bin (mixing in the old shavings from my girls’ coop, of course)

  • Reply the7msn July 2, 2013 at 2:14 pm

    This truly is the funniest video I have ever watched. Hope it goes viral.
    p.s. My gateway livestock was a pot-bellied pig. I did sell the house and move to the country, and now I still have the pig, the chickens, the donkeys, the horse. Slippery slope indeed!

  • Reply Kristy July 2, 2013 at 2:54 pm

    I represent this video!!! lol Got the chickens, horses,rabbits, donkeys, goat and just got the cow last week 🙂 Life is Good!!! Let’s not even talk about the garden ;)oh and my profile pic – NOT my kids…it’s my rooster. ♥♥♥this video.. farm addiction dysfunction genius!!!

  • Reply Trish July 2, 2013 at 3:41 pm

    It has gone viral… It’s over at http://tv.naturalnews.com/v.asp?v=EADC17C55558EC771C29B1DCA1C1EC92 and has received 88,000+ views…. I have personally tweeted, google+ and FB shared it 🙂 GREAT video and absolutely identify with it! Gateway Livestock is absolutely TRUTH!

  • Reply Terrie Lacy July 2, 2013 at 3:59 pm

    Great and true video! Thank you for validating all of us at backyardchickens.com

    Terrie Lacy, Admin

  • Reply Connie c July 2, 2013 at 5:36 pm

    I had to laugh at the “gateway farm animal”…that explains why I have ducks geese, rabbits and pigs… and have been perusing the ads for goats! My husband is annoyed, my grown children call me their Hippy-dippy mom! AND a year ago we moved to Iowa!

  • Reply Anonymous July 2, 2013 at 6:47 pm

    My 4 chickens has grown to twelve. And now I have goats… I just helped the farm vet with their neuter! I want a cow….

  • Reply Rea July 3, 2013 at 1:53 pm

    Yup, this is me, too. I had “underground” chickens in town. My man had to move us out to a 5 acre farm for my ever-expanding animal problem: Tomorrow is the anniversary of getting our milk cow (we now have a calf, too!) Loving your blog!

  • Reply pregan July 4, 2013 at 1:28 am

    I have watched this video over and over, and sent it to all my friends. It is fabulous. You are fabulous. Your chickens, although they represent the gateway to Dante’s ninth circle, are also fabulous. Thanks for posting this.

  • Reply katherine palau July 4, 2013 at 2:41 am

    I love this video, you are perfect in your delivery.
    I have a 20 acre ranch on the backside of a mountain where I have to watch my chickens when they free graze so they don’t get eaten by the resident bobcat. Sometimes I come out of my yurt and see him sitting outside their run watching them (he can’t get to them because the run and coop are built like a fortress). The hens cluck and flap and sputter and spin, but do they walk up the ramp to the coop to keep out of site of the bobcat? Never. I love my hens but sometimes they are clueless.

  • Reply SECRET PEPPER PERSON: July 4, 2013 at 12:17 pm

    I got my back yard chickens a year ago….June, Bobbie Joe, Beulah and Lula. Lately I’ve had a longing for a donkey…A DONKEY! Why? Because I have backyard chickens.

  • Reply Simon July 4, 2013 at 2:45 pm

    We are still laughing about he “gateway” livestock and the hen narratives. How true, how true, how true. Did I mention that there’s much truth in that term? Our little residential farmstead (we’re already in the midwest) already has grown from 13 hens (4 people eat a lot more than “a couple of hens” could crank out) to 13 hens, 3 bunnies, 2 dogs and 4 cats. We have no mice, thanks to the cats, and no intrusion issues thanks to the dogs. Everyone has a job. The bunnies dig holes in the backyard and the Bunnie’s owner trips in them when mowing the grass – so in her mind, they have an important job too. Teenagers.

  • Reply Blondee July 4, 2013 at 4:53 pm

    THANK YOU * THANK YOU * THANK YOU! I SOOOOOO needed this right now. Very well done – thanks. I hope you make more. Lifted my mood off the ground.

  • Reply Anonymous July 4, 2013 at 6:55 pm

    You are amazing……our city doesn’t allow chickens but why not I say? Time for a change. You have a talent that’s for sure! Don’t quit!

  • Reply Anonymous July 5, 2013 at 5:09 pm

    I just sent your link to my daughter, Elise Cooke, author of three books on frugal living, who also keeps laying hens in Walnut Creek, Ca. Since I recognized so much of her in your writing, I asked her about her response.

    Here is her reply “it was hilarious, at least I thought so until Pippy and Flossy told me that it’s just more anti-chicken bigotry and I’d better not laugh…. or else.”

  • Reply Anonymous July 6, 2013 at 6:46 pm

    This is so true. My five year old nephew was playing with my phone. “Aunt Becky, why do you have so many chicken videos on your iphone?” Oh, kiddo, let’s not talk about that.

  • Reply Anonymous July 7, 2013 at 6:08 am

    So funny! I’m originally from Brooklyn (now live in the west) and started with chickens…
    then sheep…
    meat chickens…
    pigs…
    then a cow…
    beef cattle…
    ducks…
    hoop houses, gardens,
    but when people ask me what to start with I tell them chickens. It *is* a gateway animal and the best with which to get them hooked.

  • Reply K La July 8, 2013 at 3:02 am

    Giggle giggle. No really, this is so true.

  • Reply Rebecca Lees July 8, 2013 at 8:48 am

    I LOVE the fact that you have a wooden seat in your chicken run. I am going to have to get one so I can hang out with my chickens more. I’m so glad I’ve found your blog, we have lots in common!… becleesjourney.blogspot.co.nz

  • Reply livingjourney July 9, 2013 at 1:51 am

    A friend posted this youtube onto my wall. This is me. I have three hens, and one rooster. I just got my Billy goat last weekend. Hubby is NOT that impressed, but I love them all! Grandson loves it too. Oh, to the yurt lady, I SO want one of them, or a teepee. Either would be cool. 😀

  • Reply victoria July 9, 2013 at 10:37 pm

    OHMYGOSH, this is ALL true! And in the name of all that is glorious in chickendom, I resemble that rant! Two days before I saw this video, I had caved in and admitted to my husband that I wanted a goat, and that it would INHUMANE to have just ONE goat, as s/he would need a “buddy” goat to hang with when the chickens were being dramatic about everything that they are dramatic about…He then said, “I think it would be cool to have a pig.” What I really meant was, if that pig is going to be in the house, it better get a bath EVERY DAY. My husband knows this is behind the “firm” no I gave him about the pig. Help! We only have a 1/4 acre! Our kids are beginning to go to college (two high schoolers and one college freshman this fall)…Is this what we’re doing instead of “empty nesting”? We’re “replacement nesting”? Wait, let me go check with Rachel, Ru-Paul, Rocket, and CB…They’ll know what to do…They’re chickens.

  • Reply naturegirl July 10, 2013 at 3:17 pm

    It took all I could do to sit down and write this. I, Victoria, have a problem. I am a….chickaholic. It all started so innocently. Just one or two, then 5 or 6. I hid it from my husband, all the lies. He would come inside and say, “Do have more chickens?” I would feign innocence and say “No honey, we have always had 10.” I even justified my habit by finding a way to write them off on my taxes. If I paint chickens, I can legally write them off as reference…right? Then it was the late night feedings, the naming, and then, Buffy, came into my life and sits on my shoulder while I paint. As a full time artist, I am allowed to be eccentric, right? I guess my friends don’t see it that way. The looks, the rolling of the eyes when I say, Buffy did the cutest thing…, now no one will answer my calls and they hide when I come to the door. Help me Mindy, before I buy more and completely isolate myself.
    You can see a really cute picture of Buffy at http://www.foxrunstudio.blogspot.com. NOOOOO….I can’t stop…..

    • Reply Misty Schutt July 10, 2013 at 5:54 pm

      The first step is admitting the addiction. Don’t you feel better now? 🙂 1) painting chickens is genius 2) your paintings are genius anyway. Thanks for sharing your blog link. You’re wonderful!

  • Reply Amy July 11, 2013 at 3:28 am

    Love love love your video. It could not have been more spot on. Please make more videos, so I can share them with everyone as evidence I am not the only one watching chickens in the rain and seriously thinking about a cow. Already moved to Mid-West. Monsanto was great, too! Flock On! Love from the Chicken Lawyer @ TheChickenLaywer.com.

    • Reply Anonymous July 11, 2013 at 3:30 am

      I can’t type. Not even going to pretend that was a chicken pun. TheChickenLawyer.com!

  • Reply Jodie July 12, 2013 at 3:43 am

    Awesome blog- and post- its made it to Australia- where I am sure it will go viral from this point on…… as it happens … I have chickens…my chickens got names… I started talking to them…. chicken pics are my most popular likes on Facebook… I went to cheese making classes… I am plotting with a friend on how to get a goat….. and I plan on moving to Tasmania (the island bit at the bottom of Australia) to complete my farming vision….. Thanks for sharing!

  • Reply Angela England August 20, 2013 at 1:09 am

    This was really hilarious and so totally perfect. I messaged you on Facebook but we have a Homestead Bloggers Network that you would should check into applying for. 🙂 http://homesteadbloggersnetwork.com

    Flocking together and all that…

  • Reply Holly Giles August 20, 2013 at 1:28 am

    This was so funny because it is so true!! Only chicken people would understand! Holly http://www.thegilesfrontier.blogspot.com

  • Reply Ed August 20, 2013 at 9:36 pm

    At first I was scared, then excited, then amused! Great video, your personality rocks! Anyone we have six girls and just had our first 2 egg day. Everyone on facebook and etc knows lol

  • Reply De Peaslee August 24, 2013 at 2:15 pm

    So true!!! lol ‘bawk!’

  • Reply Jo Rellime November 27, 2013 at 4:05 pm

    Bahahahaha … I think I love you!

  • Reply Willow Run Ranch June 29, 2014 at 3:49 pm

    Love it! It started with 4 chickens…now I have just under 100 and yes they have names…then, came the goats!! I would like a cow, but my husband, while affected, still remains in touch with common sense…for the most part.

    If chickens and goats are so great why not rabbits….then turkeys….now ducks…

    Yes. I have an addiction, but at least my town loving friends enjoy the benefits from and visits to the farm.

  • Reply Angela Fore January 20, 2015 at 12:39 am

    Preach it sister!!! As I am writing this I have two Bantam Chocolate Orpington babies sitting on the back of our couch. LOL! Our chickens have totally taken over our life and we wouldn’t have it any other way. My husband works overseas and when he calls me every night one of the first things he says is, “Tell me about what kind of day the girls had.” Yes sir, Real Men Love Chickens too!

    • Reply Misty Schutt January 24, 2015 at 3:18 pm

      You bet Real Men do, Angela! It is good to be a minion to a flock of huffy hens 🙂 If you have house hens you REALLY need to request membership to this FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/chickenistas/ It is a wonderfully run group of like-minded chicken people.

  • Reply Beth January 22, 2015 at 10:27 pm

    This is so true and I shared it with my friends so they could understand me! Thank you!

    • Reply Misty Schutt January 23, 2015 at 2:43 am

      Thanks for the share, Beth! I hope it helps 🙂

  • Reply iwonderandwonder January 24, 2015 at 8:04 pm

    Yes, it went a bit like that with me although I already had the cow and the other things. But when I got chickens, I thought “Hmmm, wouldn’t it be nice to have a few DUCKS” then I remembered how much I love turkeys. Soon I had a small herd of ducks who travelled in a circuit around my acreage and also into my neighbours ones, and a small flock of white turkeys that had a gobbler that I raised from a baby and who was my best buddy, waiting for me in the mornings on the deck, staring through the kitchen windows as he stood on the back of one of my outdoor chairs. If only they would wear nappies though!

  • Reply Anna Maria Gardner January 25, 2015 at 7:39 pm

    I feel better about my chicken (Clawdene) wearing her matching home made crop bra now…plus now I have a few ideas on how to use my donkey…

  • Reply skykinwrite January 27, 2015 at 6:09 pm

    What a delightful video! It HAS gone viral. And I know what you are saying about chickens. I’ve written a longish natural history of chickens starting with the sentence, “Previously I thought chickens only slightly smarter than their excrement …” Since then I have seen some pretty wondrous things. Chickens, I have learned, are INTELLIGENT … like all of God’s critters.
    . . . Y’all would be welcome in Alberton, MT. — AKA “Laughing Lady” Montana. We have been working on a local outlet for selling local eggs, milk, veggies, grain and honey. Laughing Lady is a small rural village in a mountain valley and people with kids are interested in fresh healthy food and that usually means keeping your own critters or knowing your farmer.

    • Reply Misty Schutt January 29, 2015 at 11:53 am

      You can believe when I’m next in Montana I will be casting a shadow on your door. Alberton, a.k.a. Laughing Lady, Montana is officially on my bucket list.

      Did you really write that book or are you just pulling my chicken leg?

  • Reply Danielle January 28, 2015 at 3:09 pm

    BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!! I love it and your humor! This is soooooo completely and utterly true! We started with chickens, then added ducks and turkeys. Then it was the beehives and then we sold our suburban home and moved to 5 acres to have goats and raise sheep and cows! I am in stitches over this video! We currently have no chickens or bees and my heart is heavy! I miss my goats.

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    • Reply Misty Schutt January 29, 2015 at 6:00 pm

      Thanks for the mention!

  • Reply Ashley January 30, 2015 at 9:15 pm

    It’s like you’ve been reading my mind 🙂 Chickens, goats, bees, ducks … the list is growing.

  • Reply Fran Jens February 5, 2015 at 6:15 pm

    Loved the chicken video

  • Reply Jeanene Burke February 6, 2015 at 6:20 pm

    Laughed so hard. It’s so true, though. Got chickens two years ago for my suburban backyard and I’m in escrow on three acres of rural, off-grid land so I can go hog wild in the future– well, goat-wild, well, I dunno… bacon…

  • Reply adriana February 7, 2015 at 4:04 pm

    This is hilarious! Thats totally my life! I told my city husband that i was only buying 1 chicken for eggs. I came home with 2. We had a quarter of an acre. Then i brought home 2 goats….they ended up being pregnant so i had 7 goats! Then i bought 1 rabbit…that turned into 9 rabbits! Then 27 chickens. Now i want turkeys, pigs, and an a2 a2 cow! We just moved on 4.5 acres…now were looking for more land to become more sustainable! I promise ill stop after the cow….or will i? Lol!

  • Reply Ashley Abednego February 25, 2015 at 4:42 pm

    Im hooked! You just described my life! I just bought a farm with some acerage moved from a downtown metro area! I still need that cow but I got the goats, turkeys, chickens, quail, pigs, a cat, and 2 dogs. Oh and I also need a donkey.

  • Reply lakeofbees2014 March 16, 2015 at 10:07 pm

    This is so true. Hens changed my life too. It’s how they look at you. There is something magic. They make you think about your food, your life and all the other things you normally avoid thinking of.

  • Reply chesterhillhighmuseum April 19, 2015 at 11:10 pm

    Absolutely loved your rant. I have two chickens and have not yet started getting more farm animals but I am growing lemons, limes, oranges, feijoas, tomatoes, lettuce, coriander, in my backyard in Sydney Australia. Would love a cow for fresh milk though….not allowed here but…..

  • Reply reluctantfarmgirl September 17, 2015 at 9:24 pm

    Gateway livestock? How perfect is that. I am New York born, now I live on 16 acres. I wanted “a couple of chickens” and ended up with 20! I just donated about 300 eggs to the food back. Then I got two pigs, and now I’ve added 4 goats. And yes, I think I’ll get a couple of beef cattle. Because nothing screams self sufficient like filet mignon. I’m gone. I’m no longer looking for the nearest Nordstroms, I’m looking for the nearest farm store. Thank you for making me laugh, yet summing it all up so perfectly!

  • Reply Serena Dracis, Author October 3, 2015 at 3:27 pm

    Oh my yes! I can’t talk my husband into goats because it would require a major renovation of our yard. But I’m working on it. Love your videos! 🙂

  • Reply Mary aka 'The Chicken Lady' October 19, 2015 at 1:40 pm

    Our backyard flock started as a homeschool project and 2 flocks later we’re addicted. We start the chicks out in the house (my dining room does chicken nursery duty until they’re feathered and ready to head outside. This way they know us, are handled by us and become easy to manage. They free range our backyard and mostly put themselves to ‘bed’… All except Bach.

    Bach’s always liked to hunker down under the raspberry bush and wait until my husband comes to collect her. These two are really pals. Now she’s gotten to the point of pecking at the sliding door around the time my husband gets home. He lets her in, she gets a few snacks: lettuce, a slice of bread, and whatever scraps of cat food she can get that the cat left on the floor. Then she heads into the living room for a quick snuggle with ‘the man’ as he watches the news. Our daughter is a bit jealous… She just got married 5 weeks ago and has accused us of replacing her in our affections with Bach. Too funny. Then she’ll put herself to bed and wait for him to come in to say goodnight before he locks her in for safekeeping. I love my chickens and can’t understand those who don’t. Loved you rant!!!

  • Reply Kelly January 28, 2016 at 4:48 pm

    My son (age 10 at the time) named our first 5 chickens. Goodly, Lovely, Angel, Neatly, and Perfect. I have NO idea where he got these names! Thanks for an excellent video.
    Kelly

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  • Reply ladydna August 25, 2017 at 6:38 am

    Way to funny. We don’t have chickens but my neighbors our at my house all the time. So we bought them food we named them and one feel in love with my husband. So am I living the chicken life vicariously lol

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