@Greenfox : Why do people farm any animal, because the economic benefit from derived products is more then the cost of feed and maintenance, In the case of the cluckers eggs are an expensive luxury product in this world because there is no domesticated source, unlike our world where chickens were domesticated over 2 millennia ago (use as food references have been found dating back to like 600BC, and as fighting going back further) and there have varied from one of the most common meats to one of the most expensive depending on the area and time period. The value of the eggs far outweighs the cost of scrap food that only the most desperate for food would eat, and is almost on the level we would give to animals today.
Beating the lord into shape is a good exiled and/or executed, and nothing else.
Also, she will give some chances to learn other skills, the farm is just letting the kids actually feed themselves.