The Story Of Anastasia Koo And How Chickens Changed Her Life
The Story Of Anastasia Koo And How Chickens Changed Her Life:
Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be a crazy chicken lady. But never in a million years would I have thought I’d say that chickens have been a lifesaver for my mental health! Throughout this pandemic and my Instagram account, I’ve realized that my flock is way more than just livestock to me. They provide a much-needed routine in this crazy world we live in, a rewarding relationship, and a rewarding experience in raising animals.
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| Chickens have been my lifesavers~ Anastasia |
As someone
with OCD and anxiety, I’ve always felt the need to have a degree of certainty
in my life. The pandemic, on the other hand, has thrown every sort of planning
out the window. The uncertainty day to day, and the fact that I was stood down
from my job meant that I was living day in day out with no clear plan or path
ahead of me. After getting my chickens, I was no longer sleeping through the
day with depression. I would wake up with excitement to feed my flock, because
seeing them run to me each morning all happy, waiting for their breakfast, was
enough to get my day started. I started doing housework more consistently, and
I even took up gardening, Never in a million years would I have thought I’d be
a gardener! I was doing the same thing each day. Ending the day collecting eggs
and tucking the flock in at sunset; making sure they were all there on the
roost. And it was comforting. I knew what needed to be done every day, and I
wasn’t thinking of the what-ifs and what the future held because all that
mattered was doing what I needed to do every day. Because of my chickens, I
started living life one day at a time, putting one foot in front of the other,
and I have never felt happier and stress-free.
The relationship and bond you build with your chickens is also something that I
really appreciated, and it is one of the biggest reasons why I love my flock.
Chickens are naturally prey animals. What that means is they have a very strong
flight instinct, as they are ‘lower on the food chain’ and have innate
instincts to avoid anything bigger than them. And yet despite this, my flock
will come up to me for cuddles, let me pick them up, eat food out of my hand,
and fly up to me with no qualms. The trust that they have in me, knowing that I
would never hurt them, even though they wouldn’t naturally be trusting of
humans, is what warms me up on the inside. I think about how these chickens
have learnt to trust me and I feel so at peace. There’s something about
chickens seeing the good in you, that makes you feel extremely blessed.
Last but
not least, the biggest aspect of keeping chickens that have contributed to my
mental wellbeing is how rewarding this whole journey has been. I could go on
forever about this, so I’ll try to keep it short! For starters when you think of
having chickens, most people would think of how easy it is to keep them there
and just feed them daily. But there’s so much more than that! Their social
hierarchy and interactions, their diet, things to look out for, and even how
the seasons affect their day to day, is just some of the things I’ve had to
learn on the go. Even though it sounds like a lot of work, nothing beats seeing
your healthy flock happily free-ranging or a baby chick born from your first
hatch. Things like the tangible reward of having a supply of egg pale in
comparison to this and more so the relationships I’ve built from having
chickens and @koo.farms. I’ve met amazing people all over the world and have
made friends with people I’d never thought I’d meet. These strong relationships and
rewards have constantly provided me with joy in my life.
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| I End each day collecting eggs~ Anastasia |
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