Free Range or Caged?

When we moved to our little “farm” I thought it would be a neat experience to get some chickens. I had heard they were easy to keep, and the fact that we would get eggs made it easier to convince Bryce that another species of animal to take care of wasn’t a horrible idea. Bryce went to work and built me a nice little coop, we got some chicks from a friend and we were ready to collect eggs…. just like Laura Ingalls.

It all went so smoothly until “Little Red Banty” used her time out of the pen to create a nest of eggs that she was determined to hatch. We couldn’t resist letting her try out motherhood, so she had chicks, which made “Goldie” get the idea to have chicks...which meant I had to leave the pen open… which meant that instead of my easy  cooped up chickens I now have egg-hiding, cat-food-stealing, barn-floor-dirtying hens and four roosters whose continuing existence proves that I am no Laura Ingalls, or Ma Ingalls, or whoever had the job of killing roosters in that family.

A few weeks ago I decided that I was going to get control of the situation. I locked all of the hens and my favorite rooster in the pen, leaving three other roosters to fend for themselves (which was easy for them because I couldn’t resist giving them food when I fed their friends in the coop). I did get a few eggs for awhile, but now that my flock was used to freedom, they just seemed desperate to get out of there. So, again proving I am no real farm girl, I let them out. They hang out in the hay and burrow in the dirt and sit on the horse fence. Sometimes we find a bunch of feathers and one less chicken, but when all is said and done, they are FREE!

I could keep them safe in their pen all of the time. They would live a long life (for a chicken). They would not have to fear coyotes or foxes or me with a broom. They would have food and water and shelter, and I would have eggs. Good for me…but for them? I bet they would rather chance it on their own. I would.

We talked about man’s free will in Sunday School today. God could keep us all safe and fed and watered all of the time. He could have created us to make the smartest, safest, kindest decision in every situation. Instead, he gave us free-will. He made us FREE. We have to find our food and water and look out for predators, but we get to sit in the sun and choose our friends, and stretch our wings…and I’m glad.