I Lived With Chickens for 24 Hours

For the next 24 hours, I'm gonna live with my 100-some-odd chickens. This is goodbye because once I cross this line, I can't come out. Nope. You're gonna give me a hug? Oh, people can come and support me and come in and out as they please. I just can't leave.

All right, have fun.

Here goes nothing. Oh, oh, okay, now what? What shall we do first? Get into my chicken suit, huh? Should we kick it off with that? Well, okay. I'm your new roommate. All right, let's broadfork while it's cool. We're gonna aerate, hydrate the soil by digging, by puncturing deeper than the chickens can get without turning the soil and hurting it. You see, these chickens are on a future garden bed. We've put down compost, They've helped— actually, they help make it, they help spread it, they're adding fertilizer with their manure. And after these chickens are done, it goes through a process, and then we plant a garden like that. And that's why our gardens do so well— the animal garden miracle, y'all. Okay, now we wiggle back and forth until it goes all the way in. Okay, ready? Yeah. All right, watch out now. Pull down. Whoa, don't get on the ground! There we go. Yeah, that'll aerate this place.

Got thirsty this morning.

Clap the wings, clap the wings. Scratch, scratch like a chicken, like a chicken. Scratch, scratch. We're working like a chicken right now. Going deeper than they can, but they're really appreciating it. They're going on top. Who knows what they're eating? Small biota life. Look, they love it. They love that I've done this for them. Watch them scratch. Come on, somebody scratch for me. You can't resist it, I know. Nobody's scratching at the moment. Everybody's hunting them some free food, easy food.

Oh, somebody's scratching.

Look, they scratch and then they move back and they're hunting food. That's what they naturally do all day, dawn till dusk. They're out here working, tilling this garden. You guys want to see what they've done? This is where they've been for a while. This is what it looked like before, after, before, after. This is the second time I've already picked this pitchfork up and nobody's even used it yet. So to stay healthy, we're going to use an eco hand sanitizer. Okay, maybe I can get a couple more strips in before it gets too hot. How y'all good?

How you liking it?

Good, I'm liking it okay. I'm an hour in, I'm not bored yet. Seriously, are there 3 hens in there? There are 3. Oh, they're pecking me too. Hey, I'm one of you, I'm one of you now. There are 3 hens in there, they're broody, they're biologically ready to sit for 21 days, hatch out fertile eggs. Problem is, it's like August, guys. We don't need any chicks right now.

They think you're a big chicken invading them.

Is that why I'm getting some respect?

Maybe.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Help has arrived! The Hollers from the Holler Homestead are here. He's gonna milk the cow for me. They're grinning already. I'll do anything to make people smile.

Feeling all right?

I'm feeling a little crazy. The relief is here.

Great.

Ben, you can take my place. You know this is tag team, right?

Oh, is that what it is?

Did you bring that cooking stove? Yeah. Okay, we're gonna cook some eggs later. Yeah, we'll just wait till I put on the hat then. Oh, I think I saw something about this hat.

Embrace the awkwardness. You're, uh, you're special.

I'm special. Thank you, Holler Homestead, for coming and milking the cow. You guys want to be sure to check out their homestead channel. They're setting up a brand new homestead here in North Carolina. What an exciting story. You're going to want to check that out. I'll leave a link to them down in the description. Let's finish broadforking this. Well, I see a bunch of them have already gone in from the heat. It's not so high yet, 10 o'clock. I probably don't have much more time before it gets too hot. I just realized I need to spread this compost out over the entire area. A lot of it needs to go right here, some of it needs to go up there. I think that's the real hard work, so I need to do that now. Oh my, there's a public person. That's the FedEx driver. You must think we're nuts. I'm gonna keep my face turned away. Shame. Maybe he didn't see me.

A lot of discussion out here with all these chickens.

Oh, I know, they're talking all the time, Grandma. What you doing?

We're going to build the chicken tractor.

Okay, so the Chickshaw, the Chickshaw Mini-Me. Yep, Grandma's building a mini version of this. Gonna get started with chickens. This is gonna be your first time having chickens?

Yep. Yeah.

Are you excited?

Yes. Yeah, fresh eggs.

Okay, good. Exciting. Good. Look, the chickens are already spreading what I've been— I've thrown out. They turn it into this wonderful compost to shred it. They just shred it, look, and it just turns into this wonderful, amazing soil. And look, I've uncovered it and they're just finding all kinds of food in there. What is it you're eating? All right, back to the grind. There is a smell, guys. If you have a smell on the farm, you have mismanagement. That has gotten too wet. Spreading this out is going to help it get some air and therefore take away some of that smell, balance it out a little bit better. I need to move this chickshaw because I need to throw the rest of that right here because I think that's going to need it. And this gets the night droppings from all the chickens. Their poop just goes straight through the floor, and so it's just a nitrogen bomb. And a nitrogen bomb is a great thing as long as you don't overdo it. I'm about 2 hours in, still don't feel like a chicken. Still haven't gotten bored. That's good. Seems like there's plenty to do. Big Daddy, you coming down to heckle me? Huh? He said, where's my hat? I got it for you. It's down here waiting on you. Yeah, I'm feeling a little tired. Let's get some water. Take a break. I washed my hands. I'm gonna wash my hands every time before going in this cooler. It's not cool, it's just you're gonna keep it from getting hot, I guess. Let's have a seat, do observation. All right, what am I gonna do for another 22 hours? It's getting kind of sleepy sitting there. You guys don't stop. That's all they do. You just go around pecking and scratching. Oh, somebody's laying an egg. Were you about to lay an egg, or did you lay an egg? She laid an egg. Still warm. That'll be breakfast later. I caught one of them laying an egg one time. Isn't that crazy?

Ouch.

It's like they cackle when it's over to say, look what I've done, look what I've done. It's coming right up to me. What do you guys do all day? Hmm, do you ever get bored? Do you ever get bored? That's what I'm asking. Nope. Excuse me, gotta go, very busy. Ready for some breakfast? I'm ready for anything, anything but this. Oh, 4. How many eggs you want? How many you got? 2 each good? We got 4 eggs. All right, I'll wash these. I'll bring the stove. Ben's washing the eggs. I swear I hear that truck. Got nothing else to do but to listen for things. It's the truck. Reedy Fork Farm is here. Hey George, come see me later. I cleared my compost pile. I'm letting it air out a bit, and then we're going to move this A-frame over so we spread the love. Spread the love. George, I'm just your regular, uh, typical Customer. Yep, that's right. Try explaining to you I'm in with the chickens for 24 hours. Brought us some feed. Brought you some feed. Chick feed. Chick feed and chick feed. Yep. Okay, you have to bring me a sample before you leave. We'll taste it together. Hey, Arun! Hey, you come to heckle? Look at you. Look at me. You rooster or Yes, I'm a rock and roll. You don't lay eggs?

Yeah. Nope.

Okay. Hey, what are you laughing at?

Have you decided that you wanted to become a chicken?

Not quite yet.

Losing you to the chicken?

Not quite yet. I've had enough visitors.

It was that kitchen remodel. It did him in.

That made me go crazy. George was asking me why I was doing this. Yeah, it was that kitchen remodel, George. Anybody crazy? We're on meat. We're on meat.

This is week 4.

They're unloading the feed now, I think, you know, 11:15 maybe. Probably gonna be crazy hot this afternoon, so let's, let's see if we can't broadfork a little bit more. Look, all the little chicks— why are the chicks in? That's funny. Probably because there's more feed in there. They've gone in. Some of the old ladies are out, but most of the old ladies are under the shed. Told you they would get under the house and get some shade. Just come hang out? You still don't think I'm crazy, Lily? No. Is that because you, of all the people, have spent the most time out here with me? You kind of like this idea? Yeah. Does that make you crazy?

No.

Okay, good. I like a confident woman. Oh, he's back. You gonna try You want to try some with me, George? Yeah, I'll try a little. Not quite what I want for lunch, but you could eat it if you had to. Yep. Oh yeah, good. Real dry, crunchy. We're not expecting to lay eggs off of it either though, right? No. You ground up yourself? Yes, we do all of it. You even grew it yourself? Some of the grains we grow ourselves. Yep, we don't grow all of them, but we do do some of them. And you grind it yourself? We grind it ourselves and all our own custom mixes there. Okay, let me have that. Feed the rest to the chickens. All right, unless of course you want it. No, that's all right. Hey, you're back!

I am, and I think you need this. Hey! Oh yeah, and then I'm gonna add one because Justin said you have to add one.

Yep, you gotta invent a move. Something about crossing this line. Are you sure? Are you sure? Ben's not so sure.

I said vague. I guess I was asking for it.

With the chicken lady shoes?

Chicken lady shoes.

You got the crazy chicken lady shoes. What's worse than a crazy chicken lady? Crazy chicken man.

Chicken dance.

There you go, there he's getting into it. Yeah, Ben's got it in him. What's going on here?

Oh, you gotta— he's crossed the line. Oh, okay. I just had to be chicken dancing.

Come on.

I'm not crossing.

She's not. She's afraid. She's trying to cross the line. If anybody knows how to come and cook some food outside, then— I've gotten a little practice in the past, uh, what, year and a half now?

Just a little bit. Yep.

You warming it up? Is this the camp stove that went all across America? Yes, this is the camp stove. Yay!

Sorry for the chickens.

Just got the— it doesn't get any fresher than that, Ben. It doesn't. Straight out of the coop, straight in the pan.

Yep.

Jonah, go ahead and crush those eggshells and give them back to the dinos. Good calcium. I mean, this is a party right now. It's like Meg's afraid to come in.

I ain't coming in.

He does something to you. I've never seen Ben dance. The twins came in. Chicken dance. Oh, I thought he was gonna break it out. Oh, somehow I didn't get to him.

Get in here.

Are you gonna have to dance? Here she goes. Oh, she feels it. You feel it? You feel it yet? You feel the bite? Come on. Oh, there it is, there it is. Oh, come on now. Chicken's your spirit animal. Oh, you won't be able to resist. Yeah. Okay, Ben, is this Whole30 approved? Yes, it is. This looks so good. Avocado. I didn't know I was getting all this. Yay!

Hey, you were like the best fed chicken I've ever seen. All right, you got flap, and then you start scratching. You try to do it at the same time.

You can do it all. It's really hard.

It's like get a peck, babe, then you gotta get the neck in.

There you go.

And then if you want to get crazy, the finale.

You've been in here too long.

That's a good one.

That's bad. That's hers. I like that. Arun, you're missing the party. Yeah, I was thinking I can join this party for 48 hours. Yeah, you decided to come party. Yeah, something happens when you cross that line, bro. You start to think like a chicken. Oh, but I don't want to lay eggs. Okay, you guys gave me some of your feed. I'm gonna give you some of mine. I have some leftovers here. Okay, onions, cabbage, avocado. They love it. These guys are so amazing, not just for laying eggs. But for eating kitchen scraps, turning what would be trash into treasure, into wonderful eggs, great tasting meat. They're in here, they're helping turn compost, they're spreading it, they're shredding it, they're manuring in here. So they're partnering us with the garden. I would keep these guys even if they didn't lay eggs. Ben, could you do this? I don't think so. Why not? This is a little much. He's been in here, he's ready to go. It's like, all right, he's like, what now? Don't we have stuff to do? Homestead.

Don't we need to go back home? Right, we got stuff to do.

We got a video to go edit.

Yeah, there you go.

Hey Ben, I'm 40. Can I not have a midlife crisis?

This is what happens. This is what you're looking forward to.

This is what I'm looking forward to. If we stay on the path we're on, I'm going to be sleeping with the chickens. Straight trajectory, buddy. Well, notice what happened when Ben showed up. Got this nice 10 by 10. We got a table, we got a cook. Cook service. Oh yeah, yeah. You leaving me back?

Yeah, I gotta get stuff done. Yeah, in the real world instead of the chicken world. Okay, like you.

All right, you want some birds? Let's have some birds. That'll do. That effectively doubles our chickens. All right, good. Thank you, thank you guys for coming and keeping me human. Just broadforked that corner. I gotta take a break, but you know what, these chickens do stop. Like, there's a ton of them underneath the coop out there resting. So they go scratch and peck, scratch and peck, and then they go rest. So I'm gonna rest a little bit.

Yes, he was boring.

What'd you say?

He was boring.

So boring. How's the farm?

Good. Hollers are leaving, so kind of boring.

Oh, do you want to work on the Chickshaw with me? Go get your drill gun.

What bit do you need?

This guy. You guys might be wondering, why do I have a goose in the middle? The rest of everybody. She is a natural guard for these guys. We have a bad hawk problem, and if we were to leave especially smaller birds out, especially these guys, a hawk would come and get them. But she guards. She's looking up, she's quacking, she's flapping her wings. Overall guard for these chickens. Gotta only have one and gotta raise them with chickens, and then they think they're a chicken. Now here's another peculiar thing chickens do to take a bath. They take what you call a dust bath and they wallow around in the dirt, and that keeps the mites off of them. Big Daddy coming back to heckle me. It's off. Why, you want to come in here? No, you gotta do the chicken dance. You come in here. He's running the other way. She's got her head through the crate into the other bin. What do you want? She's trying to probably get these eggs over and under her. The things you don't see when you go back inside and live a human life. Get rid of that. Look how that warped. It's too heavy. They weren't supposed to perch on it. They were just supposed to use it as a landing bar. All right, I got the other side drilled in. Let's give them their privacy back. Hey Gideon, if you're coming down here, you gotta go find your shoes. Lunch. Surprisingly, the chickens haven't bothered me in the shade. They're very happy with their situation. That makes me happy. Look here, did you find your shoes? What you been doing today?

Nothing.

Nothing? Me too. Just finished lunch. It's 3:06, so 7 hours.

Your knees, your stockings are coming down.

Oh boy. All right, how much time did we just kill?

30 minutes.

30 minutes. How much more time we got to kill?

It's 3:06 when I came up. It's 3:37.

All right, I'm going to bed as early as possible and sleeping in as long as possible with that rooster. I know I'm probably not going to be able to go to sleep, and I'll probably wake up at 5:45 with the cock-a-doodle-doo. Hey, I did get rid of 8 of them. Hey!

Oh, to give to Benjamin?

Yeah, I gave 8 of them to Benjamin.

That's awesome.

I will say I didn't tell him I was really giving them away because I don't want 8 more alarm clocks out here.

What time are you coming out at? 8:45? 8:30? Did you go in?

I'm pretty sure it was 8:00. No, was it 6:45? Yeah, I'm pretty sure. No, I think it was 8:35.

It was 8:30.

It was 8:30-ish. Okay, we'll go with 8:30. Yeah, gonna be a doobit big dance with me. Everybody gonna come get me at 8:30 and do a big dance? She's leaving me. That beautiful woman's leaving me. This is definitely going to be the hardest part. I knew it. 3:45 afternoon, blazing hot. I'm gonna make the best of it. Where's my book? Look who's come to see me. I've just been reading. You want me to read to you?

Yeah.

This is when the guy found the— when one scientist found the red jungle fowl, which is what the chicken, the modern chicken, came from.

Hey Anna.

Hey hey, what you up to?

Uh, pick a zucchini. Grabbing some eggs.

Okay, there is lots of eggs. Just two?

Uh, there— I haven't checked these.

Okay, she needs five. Don't let me down, ladies. Don't let me down. Yay! To hold your dress out. Look at all those eggs. Let's see the score. Look at those zucchini. It's almost 5 o'clock. All the kids are out visiting me. Y'all think I'm nuts? Yeah, we're gonna set up this cot because what else are we gonna do?

Hey guys!

Oh yeah, yeah, zip the screen up. I hope you took your shoes off.

I did.

Okay, is it comfortable? Do I need a mat on that or is it soft?

You can't get in here.

I'm gonna get in there. I'm sleeping in there tonight.

No, but you're not comfortable.

Is it uncomfortable? Oh, it is? You think I need a mat or not?

I think you might need a sleeping bag.

Hey, is that supper?

Yeah, pig nose.

What is pig nose?

That is pig head.

Is it really?

Yeah, big pig head.

Okay, I'm savage like these chickens. Jowl. Jowl bacon. Yeah, that sounds better. We'll go with that. All right, one of the harder things about being out here is not boredom, which by the way, I should read you a quote from one of these scientific explorers. Boredom is immoral. Once he told a friend, all a man has to do is see. So really, here it is, 5:30. I've been in here 9 hours, 9 waking hours, and it really hasn't been all that boring. And if I got bored, all I got to do is just watch these crazy creatures. Probably the hardest part is being away from the family. I'm about to take this glorious meal, most— a lot of it grown from our farm, dare I say most of it, all by myself. Shall I share with chickens? They would I love this.

It's like fatty ham.

6:15. I'm going on 10 hours out here. Have eaten, have a little bit of leftovers. Do you guys want to see how the chicken's like a cousin, the turkey? Vicious. We've eaten, it was great. It's cooled off a bit because the cloud coverage, and it's 6:20. Let's hit the Broad Fork again. Look who's here, Jason! From Sow the Land YouTube channel. Grow food, build stuff, repeat. Okay, you're keeping me sane, buddy. Yeah, human contact. Let's put some wheels on this A-frame and move it.

Hey, looky here, we're just checking out—

bounce your eyes, Lorraine. I know I'm looking good.

He's sweating.

Look, she's not coming in. You know, if you come in, something happens. Something happens.

I'm coming in.

Do the dust bath, do the dust bath, everybody do the dust bath.

I came up with Lay the egg. Lay the egg. I like laying the egg.

Now, Lorraine, you got to come up with one.

Now you got to think. Okay, give me some time.

You and Jason. Thanks, uh, Jason, for helping me move it. It was well overdue. This is ripe. So if you ever have smell on the farm, you have mismanagement. Most likely you need— you need to either move the chickens, or in this case, since we have them on a job We got to put some carbon down. This is one great source of carbon right here. This is unsprayed hay that got, uh, wet. Okay, Jason, it doesn't make— take much to make them happy either, does it? Wow, they're happy. Smells so much better already. Yeah, it does. Everybody's done laying for today, I'm sure. We're gonna get Get these out. Maybe this will break them of their broody, who knows. Is it still sinking? Yeah. So the guinea pigs got in there once. I don't know if we can reach that. We might need to turn it on its side, get these chickens out, turn it on its side, repair the floor. But we have to get the bottom of the coop. All right, flip it this way.

Yay!

Is that gonna work? No. See our problem? The guinea hogs got in there once. Right here. And they just totally crushed that. Can we patch that somehow? Oh, zip tie! Oh, zip tie! That's a great idea. Look at those broody hens. Right back in there. Simple zip tie. All of the world. Why would you look outside yourself when you have all of the world inside? Got some help broadforking in the cool of the evening. 8 o'clock, 12 and a half more hours to go. Most of that's going to be asleep, and boy, I'm tired acting like a chicken all day. I want to sleep good. You guys don't make a lot of noise at night, do you? Go, uh, frontwards and backwards on it. Yep, all the way down. There you go, there you go. Now bring it all the way. Keep going, keep going. There you go, perfect. How many of these roosters you want, buddy? Let's just get 2. You got a butchering tomorrow, so So yeah, it would be neat to compare these heritage birds against your Cornish Cross birds. We got Cornish Cross and we got some Freedom Rangers. Nice. So yeah, you can compare. Okay. Wow, there's your prize for helping me with that, uh, those zip ties. I work for cheap. To see the sunset though, this is so nice. This is something I might have missed being inside. There it is, guys.

You see it now?

Wow, guys. If you don't already know that, that was Jason from Southern Land. He's got an awesome YouTube channel where he and his family are doing an amazing job growing much of their own food, tight budget, doing some amazing things. I think that would be worth checking out. I'll leave the link for his show as long as well as the Holler Show down in the description. Hey, I think that's our mechanic Mark. I don't want him to see— I don't want him to see me like this, so I'm gonna hide. I think he missed me. I don't know if that was him or not. Is this good night?

This is good night, Chicken Man.

You're doing good, honey, handling all these babies by yourself. Oh, I get a hug! Oh, and a kiss! If I'm the Chicken Man, you're the Chicken Woman.

Yeah, check out my shoes.

Good night, guys. You behave for your mom, she let you stay up. All right, Jonah, you shut me in?

Yeah. How is it?

It's awesome.

Oh, it stinks in there.

All right, good night, buddy. Rhythms and it wakes me up with its gurgling.

I'm just gonna turn it off.

I don't want to get out of bed.

I'm in my underwear.

Let's just shut this thing off. I'll re-siphon it in the morning if I have to. Let's see what the chickens are doing. So that's what the chickens are doing. They're just perched in there. They're just chilling. But boy, there's plenty of room left. Gosh, you guys could take everybody else in here. Okay, that's better. Listen. Isn't that beautiful? That's nice nighttime sound. It's 6:30. I've been in here 22 hours. Is the last 2 hours gonna be the hardest stretch?

Probably.

It's hard to sleep through nature's alarm clock.

Good morning.

Remember me? We're gonna do the exact Same thing they did yesterday. They're gonna do it again and again and again. If I've learned anything from this, it's gaining a bigger appreciation for just how hard and consistent these gals work. Coming on 7:30, the last hour. This is definitely the hardest. Exhausted. Even though I slept last night, I'm exhausted. Tired of being the chicken. No offense. I haven't seen any humans since 9-ish, 10 hours. Jenna will be coming out any minute to do the chore, should be anyway. Everybody's coming out to dance with me, hopefully before 8:30 so I can leave right at 8:30. A little less than an hour. I'm gonna get this broadfork done, I better do it now. Plus I'm getting cold. I just finished. I got 40 minutes left. It's driving me crazy a little bit. Probably just not knowing what's going on. Where's Jana? It's chore time. It's bath chore time. I'm just sitting here watching for ya.

I know, I saw you. I was afraid this was gonna happen.

What? Pretty sure this is the closest these chickens have gotten this whole 24-hour challenge. I'd like to think they're getting used to me, but I'm pretty sure they want to eat me. I'm still here, I'm still alive. They're eyeing me. The word on the street is Jonah's out doing chores. Now I'm deciding, if they don't get here by 8:30, I still might jump out. They probably— then, but they may want to be here for that. I don't know. Did we want to dance in here? But we could dance out there. We could dance. What counts is that I Made it 24 hours, right? Not a minute later. Hey, come on down! There he comes, there he comes! Oh, there's two, there's two! Oh my, hey, good morning! Good morning! You guys gonna go feed the Icelandic chickens? We got more chickens over there on pasture, following the cows, scratching the cow patties. This is our breakfast posse. They, uh, lay us eggs, but they also till and prepare and work in our gardens. That's our pasture posse, and they spread the cow manure, eat the fly larvae from that cow manure, and break pest cycles. As you can see, if you haven't learned anything, these guys love to work. Hey, good to see you! Hey, I get to have human contact! Yeah, good morning! Everybody's coming to dance. Hopefully Mom can rouse Mr. Brown.

I'm not in— he's already up. Good. I'm making some apples.

Hopefully she— he can find his shoes.

I saw his cowgirl cowboy boots.

There's the rest of them. Here they come. They're not gonna leave me hanging. They're not gonna leave me hanging. I got 10 more minutes. Grandma and Big Daddy are coming too.

For the finale. Well, at least Grandma is.

They gonna do the dance?

I don't know. I told them about the dance.

They might change their mind now.

I looked out in the morning this morning. Yeah? This is you. Staring. Staring at that.

Good impression. I think that's true.

When are you coming?

For sure.

Where's he at? Come on, buddy. He's being shy, I think.

How'd y'all sleep?

Oh, like a rock.

Like a rock, man. All the bed all to yourself, huh?

How'd you sleep?

I slept pretty good. Come on in, Grandma. Do the chicken dance with us.

Nobody never done no chicken dance.

Oh, we'll teach you. It's the worse you are, the better.

Okay, come on. Okay, y'all, we got to do it. Everybody dance. Everybody take a bow. Everybody take a bow.

Go, go, go.

I don't know what it's still calling or something. Yeah, done.

Oh, there's somebody right there. Yeah, she left. If only somebody drove by at 8:30 in the morning. What is going on? There's always the music to this, but if somebody— there's no music out here right now.

Yesterday, Jess and I are sitting out there. Yeah, the table and the tent. Jess is like, it's like we're at a farmer's market.

We were looking that way and somebody drove by. It's like we were set up at a farmer's market.

But you were in a new chicken suit.

I wonder what they found.

And he was wearing a chicken suit.