Realist Idealist vs Industrial Eggs

LA Times's columnist "The Realist Idealist" rejects the cruel, industrial, mass produced egg so she went out to humane, earth-friendly home chicken raising. Excerpts:

That's when I inadvertently became the Inspector Clouseau of urban farming, bumbling my way through the process at unnecessary expense. Raising the birds yourself isn't about saving money, it's about detaching oneself from the industrial food supply and enjoying the products of your pets -- the fantastic-tasting eggs and an unfathomable amount of fertilizer.

I spent, $100 for two birds at L.A.'s North Central animal shelter, $379 for the hutch and run, $31 for a feeding system and $34 for a few month's worth of grit and mash. I could gobble the most expensive, free-range, organically fed, hand-massaged Whole Foods eggs for years and still not spend the $500-plus I put out for my rig.

Cats and dogs aren't the main problems; raccoons, opossums and hawks are. My hutch and run weren't prepared for these intruders, which is why I ended up living with chickens in my bedroom ... After all the time and money I'd spent, the last thing I wanted was a clawed beast feasting on my expensive new friends.

She is my hero! The next idea is a cow in her bed, so she can enjoy natural milk each morning. Not that synthetic-hormone fed genetically-engineered inbred-cow exudant. And the warm, fresh, natural, unfathomable fertilizer!