Anyone walking or driving along West Flaming Gorge Way last week would have noticed some friendly and feathery faces on the sidewalk. Rick and Amy Breininger brought two of their eight chickens downtown May 11 so people could learn more about raising chickens and selling fresh eggs in Green River.
Amy and Rick got started raising chickens years ago when one of Amy’s friends was moving to Arizona and couldn’t bring her chickens, so she asked Amy if she would take them.
“I went home and I said ‘so how do you feel about fresh eggs?’” Amy said, describing how she told Rick.
Since Rick was semi-retired at the time, Amy thought taking care of chickens could give him something to do. Taking the chickens kept them both busy right from the start, when they had to dig out the coop that was frozen to the winter ground.
“Thus began our adventure with chickens,” Amy said.
The adventures have continued ever since.
Once the group of chickens they started with wasn’t around any longer, Amy and Rick decided to get a batch of mail-order chicks, which they’ve had for about two years.
Another chicken in Rick and Amy’s brood, and one of the chickens they brought downtown last week, is actually a local rescue. Chicky, a black and white Ancona chicken, got loose from a truck that stopped at Maverick. Green River animal control had to chase her for a few hours before they caught her, according to Amy. The Breiningers ended up adopting her to join their other chickens.
“They’re fun,” Amy said of the birds. “There’s times we just take our chairs outside when it’s a nice day and we just sit and watch the chickens run around.”
In addition to enjoying the fun of owning chickens, the Breiningers love eating fresh eggs. Amy said her scrambled eggs are better and fluffier than any she’s had from a restaurant, and some brownies she recently made with the fresh eggs were some of the best she’s ever had.
While they eat plenty of eggs themselves, Amy and Rick can’t quite keep up with eating the approximately six eggs a day they get from their birds. So they decided to ask their friend Aaron Slaton if they could sell some of their eggs through the Daily Knead where Slaton works. He gladly agreed.
“It tastes so much better,” Slaton said of the eggs. “And fresh is always nice. And locally grown is a lot more nutritious, too.”
“The eggs you get in the store are usually several weeks old,” Rick said.
The Breiningers and Slaton are also members of the Wild Sage Market Co-op — the group working to start a locally owned grocery store selling local products. The co-op would give the Breiningers even more opportunity to sell their eggs, as well as benefitting the local economy, according to Rick.
Rick and Amy are also aware the ongoing controversy over whether or not to allow raising chickens within city limits in Rock Springs. As Green River residents, the Breiningers are thankful for their ability to raise chickens, and they said their neighbors either don’t care about the birds or are supportive of them.
Rick noted they keep everything clean, and Amy added they always give their neighbors fresh eggs.
“I think the people that are against it don’t understand,” Rick said.
While raising chickens requires effort and research into things like keeping the chickens warm during winter and giving them a comfortable coop to live in, the process has been worth it for the Breiningers.
“I never thought I’d have chickens, but it’s been enjoyable,” Rick said.
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