Cassady's Mother Cluckin' Chicken Tenders

So the price of eggs has you wondering if backyard chickens are the way to go?

Abby and Cyrus Turner, the mother and son who call themselves Chicken Tenders, say, if you’re just looking for free eggs, you haven’t done the math. “If you look over their whole life,” Abby said, “I’m sure we paid more for the chickens’ food. We do still buy eggs, but these ones taste much better.”

Chickens start to lay eggs when they’re four months old. “It’s a very exciting day. You don’t know where they’ll lay,” Abby said. Will you find an egg behind a flower pot? On top of waylaid shoes? “They’re now two and a half years old and they lay fewer in the winter. When it gets warmer they’ll lay a little more,” she said.

The community aspect is their favorite part of raising hens. “The best thing is people bringing their kids by and talking to them,” Abby said. And dogs smell the hens before their owners can see them.

It all started in the middle of COVID when there was a lot of free time and not a lot to do. Cyrus explained, “I wanted a pet. Mom wanted eggs.”

Abby, who’d grown up with chickens, acquired a coop and equipment from a Bexley resident. They split a group of six chicks with Abby’s sister. As chicks are unable to regulate their body temperature, they lived inside the house in a giant cardboard box with a light to keep the temperature balanced.

Helping the chicks learn how to perch is critical for feet development. “When they can get to the top of whatever they’re in, you put them in something bigger,” Abby said. “Growing up my mom kept them in the laundry room and knew it was time to move them outside when she could smell them from the kitchen.”

They’ve been outside since the summer of 2020, though part of the duties Cyrus shares with his sister is closing them up in the coop at night for insulation and protection from predators. “Early on there was a skunk. We’ve had a Cooper’s hawk many times, but only a few very close encounters. Now we have a netting. Raccoons and possums eat chickens. And cats! We’ve had enough animals come through the yard that I’m shocked we haven’t lost one.” Abby adds, “The squirrels in the yard annoy the chickens. Most of the time when we hear the chickens making noise, it’s because of a squirrel.”

The chickens have distinct sounds they make, Abby explained: an egg song they make when they lay an egg, mindless muttering and a distress sound. The Turners say the chickens have distinct personalities. Attila the Hen is the larger boss chicken who pecks at ankles. The other two, Mother Clucker and Nugget are “simple chickens living their life.” They all had a habit of climbing up into the low trees, but Nugget, who passed away this winter, would only climb a couple of inches off the ground.

Abby wants people to know that having chickens is a great way to have kids pay attention to chores, like feeding, offering water and opening and closing the coop. But that chickens are also super destructive to a yard – the grass in the chickens’ area was gone in a week!

Come say "hello!" to the chickens at the southeast corner of Cassidy and Dale in Central Bexley.