Will chickens help my depression?

[chickenzoo]

Chickens are highly food motivated....if one was up in a tree...it would come back down when it sees its friends chopping down on goodies without her....

 

[chickenbusiness]

Yes, God even gave chickens a way that they can chill out and be in peace even when fear arises. If you will notice when you hold a chick it's head goes back and even if in terror or struggles it gets calm, quiet, and has total peace.

My mother after being begged to come and live with me finally did. A short story she passed away 9 mths. later after fighting breast cancer for 10 yrs. and being cancer free 5 of those years. She passed away in my home. Our family was the caregivers, in which she fought to be her own caregiver until the final few days. She took care of herself a mind over matter factor and she did a great job of it. She loved gardening. She just loved it! She has a green thumb, filled a green house full of plants from seeds. She loved her chickens that she had in her previous years, love them.

As soon as spring came we planted the biggest garden ever at least one half of an acre. It prospered and it prospers still today. The next year in Dec. the month that she died I brought home an incubator and eating eggs that a Farm Supply Store was selling. The eggs were farm eggs unrefrigerated, two chicks hatched. My daughter, granddaugther and I were on our way toward raising chickens.

My husbands tells it well, in the freezing month of December my wife, daughter, and granddaughter popped open the trunk and out came an incubator and a dozen of eggs, I knew then I was to be a chicken farmer. Yes, Yes, chickens help you to laugh, and love. Hatching chicks brings life in which God created. The schools hatch chicks in the 2nd grade, and then again in 9th-10th grade. The difference these chicks makes in a child's and young adults life is tremendous. More than learning of how to be a Future Farmer of America. It bring life and laughter sometimes maybe just a little bit at a time. Always remember every ounce counts.

Please all pray for my granddaughter. I will let you know when the battle is won and victory is hers. Please if you wonder about chicks and depression PM me I will send you some eggs. I had to call and travel to find some eggs in December to hatch. I did not know of BYC then. Yes, chickens help with depression.

 

[chickenbusiness]

Chickens are highly food motivated....if one was up in a tree...it would come back down when it sees its friends chopping down on goodies without her....

It is a blessing to pull into the driveway and see the chickens if they are out coming to greet you and to see if you have some little crumbs for them. You know they are Happy to see you. You make a difference to many.

 

[JohnPeel]

That was such a sad, but ultimately lovely story. Thank you. I would never have thought that you could just get eggs and hatch them just like that. Your family sounds lovely.

 

[chickenzoo]

Oh yes John.....whatever you do......Don't hatch chicks....
You will be forever cursed with what we.call Chicken Math.
1+1=30. lol. Hatching fuzzy little.puffs.of cheeping fluff is quite.addictive.. : I once had 2.incubator that held 250 eggs each....... Good heavens......

 

[JohnPeel]

Well, I know it is a month early for letting the chooks out to freerange, but we just couldnt help ourselves today. We were sat on the patio having a coffee, and they were all in the little pen area with their funny faces looking at us.

As I was working in the garden all day, we decided to open the gate to the pen and let them go. We have only had them a few weeks and I was worried that it may be too early and they will take off as I have not clipped there wings.

Well, they hung around, scratching all overy the place. They went upto 30 yards from the coop. 4 Of them stayed together and moved around the garden checking everything out, and the other 2 just kept close to the coop, eating grass.

Just before dark they all went back into the pen, so I got them into the run and locked them up for the night. I was so happy that they didn't leg it. I am in the garden again in the morning, so I will let them out again. I think that is it now, they will be able to freerange whenever we are in.

 

[missnu01]

I find that anything that has me outside and playing in the sun and dirt helps me way more than the meds...although now they say I have dysthymic Disorder as opposed to depression...I have tried all kinds of medications and none of them really help, but some make me worse. So I stopped taking meds awhile back and most of the time I have a handle on myself, and then again sometimes I just get so low that I feel like I'll never come up again. Same thing happens when on the meds...so why take them? I also can't afford to go to weekly or bi-weekly office visits and there is no quick cure...no cure at all really. But you learn how to deal and do the best you can. I just wish there was no such thing as winter...If I could be outside everyday of the year I feel like I would suffer a lot fewer times that I can't handle--ya know? I feel like i have learned to function with depression and that is what counts. Gardening and chickens help because it is something I have to get up and get moving to do. Once I get going I feel a lot better usually.

 

[missnu01]

Well, I know it is a month early for letting the chooks out to freerange, but we just couldnt help ourselves today. We were sat on the patio having a coffee, and they were all in the little pen area with their funny faces looking at us.

As I was working in the garden all day, we decided to open the gate to the pen and let them go. We have only had them a few weeks and I was worried that it may be too early and they will take off as I have not clipped there wings.

Well, they hung around, scratching all overy the place. They went upto 30 yards from the coop. 4 Of them stayed together and moved around the garden checking everything out, and the other 2 just kept close to the coop, eating grass.

Just before dark they all went back into the pen, so I got them into the run and locked them up for the night. I was so happy that they didn't leg it. I am in the garden again in the morning, so I will let them out again. I think that is it now, they will be able to freerange whenever we are in.

I don't clip my chickens wings and we let them free range all over. They come back to the coop when it starts looking dusky without fail...wait wait wait...we have had a few instances where chickens have been shut out of the coop, so they just go sleep in the garage.

 

[JohnPeel]

I stopped taking meds awhile back and most of the time I have a handle on myself, and then again sometimes I just get so low that I feel like I'll never come up again. Same thing happens when on the meds...so why take them?

I know what you mean. I have really given my condition some serious thought, as we all do, and I too have wondered about the meds. When I feel really low, it is not that I just feel really low. There is something I think about that makes me feel really low. It might not be the same thing each time, but there is a thing. And like you, even though I take med, I still thing of something that makes me feel low.

Do some people feel low without feeling low about anything, or is there always something to feel low about? Hmm! It would be interesting to hear if anyone here feels low without there being anything to feel low about.

 

[missnu01]

I know what you mean. I have really given my condition some serious thought, as we all do, and I too have wondered about the meds. When I feel really low, it is not that I just feel really low. There is something I think about that makes me feel really low. It might not be the same thing each time, but there is a thing. And like you, even though I take med, I still thing of something that makes me feel low.

Do some people feel low without feeling low about anything, or is there always something to feel low about? Hmm! It would be interesting to hear if anyone here feels low without there being anything to feel low about.

I get low for no reason...one day I am alright, and then I start losing interest and focus in things, and then I just start getting really irritable, and I am tired all the time, and I just feel like I can't do anything right and everyone around me is being an A-hole. No rhyme or reason to it. It just happens...I am always kinda Eeyore low, but int he really low times my whole body hurts and I don't want to see anyone or talk to people or do anything really. I start feeling like everything in my life is wrong and will never be right. I get those taking the meds or not...usually every 6 months or so, sometimes only once a year. I can handle the everyday depression, but the really low times are rough. I do always know in the back of my mind that it is just the depression and I end up alright...Sometimes therapy helps just to talk and get it out there and have someone tell me that I am not crazy and what not. But I had the same issues while on meds, that is why I stopped taking them. I can deal with the day to day issues, and the meds don't help with the super low times anyway and that is when I need help. I have taken more than a few meds that made me even lower...I start sad and end up hysterical...so on and so forth. So I gave up on conventional science helping me. I do find that keeping myself busy helps a lot. The more things I have that I can't put off that make me get up and put on a brave face helps more than any meds ever did...
I have also found a few things that help me a whole lot that I won't go into on here, but you just have to search around and see if you can't find something that makes you feel better until you can feel better on your own.