Our first experience with chickens was 5 years ago. We got some Rhode Island Red hens from some of our friends. Some coyotes got all of them. After that I lost interest in chickens. "They where just for eating" I thought. Then we moved to South Dakota. We bought some Bantam chicks from a feed store. We raised them so we could eat they're meat... but we just couldn't kill them after we had just raised them. They became our pets. All of the chickens exept one died from various reasons. One got trampled by our horse, the other drowned in the stock tank. After that I thought chickens where "just for eating". I finally got another one.. A Barred Rock named Serena. She is still my favorite chicken. After that I kept getting more and more chickens until I was overrun with them! I'll add more later..