Chickens or not?

I have a dilema.

Should I get chickens.

I promised myself that I'd get chickens the minute we moved into this house. But the move was so exhausting and getting a new kitchen installed within 24hrs of walking through the door and similtaniously getting the flu for three weeks put it on hold as all that delayed the unpacking.

Then followed the decorating, very slowly. The house was fine when we moved in so there was no urgency to change anything except maybe lighten it up a bit and of course tackle the diy artex that had beaten the previous two sets of residents.

Weeks turned into months and months have turned into two years and still I have no chickens.

I do, however, have a rather deluxe chicken house and a run but it is empty whilst I think about this.

To be honest, although I'm quite a busy, motivated person, I am also one for paring things down to make life as easy as possible. This is one reason I had for not giving the dogs breakfast, it's just one more thing to do (they ground me down on that one though).

Everyone I have spoken to with chickens says they are no trouble, that they look after themselves and cause virtually no problems. Hmmm, they must demand some sort of attention surely?

The big problem is the letting them in and out every morning and evening. It's not a huge job to do I suppose but it will HAVE to be done whether I like it or not. We dont have a problem with foxes round here but the chickens WILL have to be let out of their house in the morning, and what if I forget? I'm not likely to but all eventualities have to be explored.

Maybe I'm thinking too much, after all I'm all set up for chickens, they have a house and a run, and they are going to be able to wander around one half of the garden and out into the track and fields if they want to. I've even sorted out seperating them from the dogs, the garden is conviniently seperated into two even sections which willl ensure the chickens safety but I keep hesitating.

I think it's the thought of just one more thing to do each day....... hmmmmmm

Perhaps an automatic chicken house door closer would be the solution, they do them for cat bowls so why not chickens?

Hmmmm I'm not sure.

But I'll keep you posted.