HICKEYS CHICKEYSBook news

A true story by Jillian Hickey

HICKEYS CHICKEYS.Five Chickens.That's it.

How One Little Idea Changed Everything.

Gary wanted fresh eggs. Jillian reluctantly agreed to maybe five chickens. One stolen she shed, a backyard poultry compound and 32 feathered freeloaders later… here we are.

Meet the book How it started
5The original plan
31Chickens later
1Very patient dog

Clearly, the math got away from us.

01 — The origin story

It started with fresh eggs. It ended with a poultry uprising.

Jillian standing inside the chicken coop
The moment I realized I had become a crazy chicken lady!

Our family has always been super close. After Gary battled cancer in 2023 and powered through 40 rounds of radiation, we decided to start eating healthier. Sensible. Responsible. Completely harmless. Or so I thought.

Then Gary got what he called a brilliant idea: chickens. We would always have fresh eggs right in our own backyard. I said, “NO WAY!” I wanted absolutely nothing to do with chickens.

Little by little, he wore me down until I finally said, “MAYBE 5… MAYBE!!” Before I knew it, he had seized my she shed, built a chicken compound that could probably be seen from space, turned our backyard into a zoo and filled it with 32 feathered freeloaders.

That is how HICKEYS CHICKEYS began: one close family, one hopeful idea and one important lesson— never say “maybe” to a man with power tools.

“MAYBE 5… MAYBE!!”Famous last words from Jillian Hickey

The first HICKEYS CHICKEYS book

Five Chickens.
That's it.

How One Little Idea Changed Everything.

The true story of how one husband's innocent fresh-egg idea led to an over-the-top coop, a stolen she shed, a yard full of tiny dictators and a dog fighting a chicken for favorite-child status.

Coming soon · By Jillian Hickey
Cover of HICKEYS CHICKEYS. Five Chickens. That's it. How One Little Idea Changed Everything. by Jillian Hickey
02 — The cast

Meet the flock

Meet some of the main characters. Not everyone was available—some were crossing the road, and the rest refused to comment.

01

The tiny referee

Fluke

A friendly Bantam Cochin with a big personality and an even bigger fan club.

02

The cautious one

Foghorn

Handsome, watchful and still deciding whether the humans can be trusted.

03

The favorite child

Buddy

Buddy has always been the favorite child—the kids know. Since Fluke arrived, the two have been locked in a constant battle for the top spot.

04

All 29 of them

The girls

A colorful crew of professional snack inspectors, escape artists and very part-time employees.

Straight from the camera roll

From first peeps to the big coop

A colorful group of newly arrived chicks in their brooder
The beginning: tiny peeps everywhere.
A tiny yellow chick resting in a person's hand
The first hello.
The large Hickey family backyard chicken coop and run
Gary’s not-so-small chicken headquarters.
Jillian and Buddy checking on the chicks in their brooder
Everyone checks on the new arrivals.
The Hickey family chickens gathering inside their coop
Full house.
Gary mixing a custom batch of chicken food in a wheelbarrow
Gary mixes dinner—because apparently the flock has a personal chef.
03 — Behind the story

Real life at the Hickey house

Chickens or no chickens, calm was never really the family brand.

Gary smiling while carefully holding a tiny yellow chick
Gary, the man who started all of this.
Buddy the mini Labradoodle sitting beside a small chicken
Buddy meets the competition.
Two children in pajamas playing with a toy bow while Buddy watches
The madness doesn’t just happen in the coop.
A brown hen resting calmly in someone's arms
A little one-on-one flock time.
A boy standing beside a bright green vintage pickup with Tucson mountains behind him
Arizona life beyond the coop.
Two children cuddling Buddy on the couch
The original Buddy fan club.
04 — Meet the Hickeys

The humans responsible for this mess

Close, chaotic and dangerously willing to let Gary have ideas.

The man with ideas and power tools

Gary

Gary suggested a few chickens for fresh eggs. Then he annexed Jillian's she shed, built a poultry palace and filled the yard with birds. His projects have two settings: enormous and even bigger!!

“Gary is my best friend and the best thing that has ever happened to me. When I thank God for all of my blessings, I thank God for him.” — Jillian

The punchline department

Sloan

Sloan has always done everything on her own time, starting when she arrived at 35 weeks after Jillian's water broke early. She has faced a lot of health challenges in her short life, but none of them have dimmed her humor, her perfectly timed punchlines or her strong suspicion that she is actually in charge.

The household conscience

Mikey

Mikey is often more our parent than our child, especially when he catches us watching something we shouldn't and reminds us to “guard our hearts!” He loves God, he loves his country and he is unapologetically himself. Around here, somebody has to be the responsible adult.

The woman who said “NO WAY!”

Jillian

Jillian wanted zero chickens. Gary wanted chickens. The children were no help whatsoever. Then “MAYBE 5” somehow became 32 freeloading yard velociraptors with names, opinions and absolutely no respect for personal property.

She said “maybe five.” Gary heard “build the compound.”
Jillian smiling with Buddy the mini Labradoodle
05 — Meet the author

Jillian Hickey

Tucson mom, storyteller and unwilling CEO of a poultry circus.

Jillian Hickey is the author of HICKEYS CHICKEYS and the woman who made the catastrophic mistake of telling her husband, “MAYBE 5… MAYBE!!”

She now spends her days refereeing hens, breaking up the Buddy-versus-Fluke favorite-child rivalry and trying to remember what her she shed looked like before it was occupied. She writes the chaos down because if 32 feathered freeloaders are going to take over her yard, they can at least provide material. Buddy is still waiting for his editorial credit.

Follow along for flock updates, chicken logic, Buddy's opinions and the everyday family moments behind HICKEYS CHICKEYS.

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