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Several of my neighbors have chickens, last winter I found one missing its head on my lawn. Another morning while walking down to get the paper, a fox was having its way with one near my blueberry bushes. My wife thought I should add this to my radio/organic hobbies but with sons (and a soon to be grandson) living far away, I am away from home for periods - plus there are plenty of folks that sell their eggs here. Also, the fox, fishers, coyotes, hawks, and perhaps now bobcats about the area have also been a deterrent.
It's great you got your kids involved with it, both our adult sons now grow/cook/ferment/can because they were introduced as children. I'm thinking you and I are both Nutmeggers, if you are ever traveling through Durham and want to swap eggs for our canned goods (jams, jellies, pickles, applesauce, etc.) I'm game, drop me a line. We grow berries, grapes, and whatever the wildlife doesn't grab for some of our products. I use to swap our canned goods by mail to a guy in the North East Kingdom of Vermont for a year's worth of maple syrup. My wife is co-chair of the Canning Department at the Durham Fair, I'm been involved with the department since 2000.