We have been raising chickens only since 2013, 4 years this upcoming May. Starting with large Australoups who have a translucent purple green sheen above their black feathers, producers of large nearly daily, brown eggs; incorporating large Red Rangers, who are raised as meat birds with a few kept for giving us very large brown eggs, our ability to attend toward their needs and sensitivity in what we have undertaken, has become a profound lesson for our household. My son enjoys walking around outside the coop during the day, and if he is lucky, one or two will come close and calmly stay near him. A few times he has been able to pick them up and pet and caress. But hens squawking mean his visit is over. When I go to feed them these hens also become close and when filled of a variety of our meals (winter time oatmeal with ground down egg shells is great for keeping up egg production), they scatter and even fly a few feet above the ground to make sure I can’t reach them.