The Joy of Chickens and My First Blog

The Best Pets Ever
Both my husband and I grew up around chickens, but we never got to know them.  They were just farm animals, and you don't get attached to farm animals; it's just kind of part of the farm code.  That was then, and back in the day neither of us ever dreamed we would have chickens as pets.

Skip to present day and now we couldn't imagine a life without our little feathered family members.  We don't have any other pets at the time and all the kids have 'flown the coop' (groan).  Our hens are our pets and we both agree, some of the best we have ever had.  Not many pets out there just keep giving you food, besides the incredible entertainment factor.

We are on 1/3 of an acre within city limits so the number of hens we are allowed is limited, and we are not allowed to keep roosters, which is fine with us, since the presence of a rooster completely changes the dynamics of the flock.

Meet 'The Girls'
First, there is 'The Bossy Posse'.  The remaining four of our original six (more on chicken mortality to come); beautiful healthy girls in the prime of their lay; we get 2 to 4 eggs per day.

From left to right: Buffy Doodle (Buff Orpington), Rowdy Ruby (Rhode Island Red), Beatrice (Buckeye), Chicken Little (Rhode Island Red).  Also pictured (sort of) is Opal aka Oompah Loompah who we tragically lost a few months ago; we still miss her.  Here they are pictured very busy, doing chicken stuff.

Then there's 'The Wild Bunch'; four new pullet chicks that we just got in the spring.

From left to right: Busy Lizzy (Speckled Sussex), Morticia (Black Australorp), Elvira (Black Australorp) and Suzy Q (Speckled Sussex).

It wasn't until the arrival of 'The Wild Bunch' that 'The Bossy Posse' was officially named, since they have to let the babies know who's boss and who's yard it really is; and 'The Wild Bunch' got their name because they haven't had as much handling time as the older girls and aren't yet as tame, and like babies of almost any species, they are hyper-busy exploring the world; tasting everything - even if it's an unripe blueberry, only to spit it out and waste it, and climbing on things that they probably shouldn't; etc.  That should change with time and patience.

Yes, We Love Our Eggs
I found that with all the food I cook from scratch and as many uses as there are for our wonderfully delicious eggs, four hens can hardly keep up with our needs; and besides, we love giving them away to grateful recipients.  We happen to think they are quite special, so if you're apathetic concerning eggs, you probably won't be getting any of ours, with all due respect.  After all, the 100 pleats on a chef's toque are said to represent all the different ways there are to cook the amazing, versatile egg.

This mishap occurred in my pocket.  I got distracted weeding after I had gathered the day's eggs.  I was quite happy that the yolk didn't break.

The egg colors can change from day to day; from the pretty pink on the left to the speckled tan in the front.  I always look at them with wonder and I always thank the girls (they get thanked with special snacks all the time too).

One of our original 6 was an Ameraucana named Abigail.  She would lay bluish-green eggs.  This is a picture of her first egg, exactly where she laid it - right on the rattan love seat on the porch.  Luckily that didn't last long.  With the help of a dummy egg in the nesting box, she was laying where we meant her to be in no time (the nesting boxes are much more private, which the girls appreciate).

Chez Poulet
We have discovered that we love to design and build chicken coops.  We just installed our second one in another urban location weekend before last.  Trying to use as much re-purposed and recycled material as possible, we look forward to helping others know the joy we've received from our amazing pets, by building more coops in the future.

Nesting boxes have an access door

We re-purposed our greenhouse for our first coop.  The door is metal screen from the '60s.

We do have racoons and opossums to worry about as predators, but they aren't as aggressive as they are in some other areas.  We have heard of racoons biting through poultry wire in the south, but not around here in the Pacific Northwest, as of yet.  My daughter speculates that there is more food for the predators to be easily acquired in an urban setting than there would be in the woods.

In the high desert of central Oregon there are coyotes to worry about and they can dig under most anything in no time at all.  I have a friend that handled that problem by digging a 2' deep trench around the entire perimeter of the run that he lined with broken glass and then buried the chicken wire down to the glass; it has worked like a dream to keep their 20+ girls safe.

The Chicken Revolution and the Home Farming Movement
More and more cities are allowing people to keep a limited number of hens in their yards.  Often the statutes are based on lot size and most all of them are restricted to hens only.  Roosters admittedly tend to be too noisy with the cock-a-doodle-doo that can occur at any hour of the day or night and usually when everyone is trying to sleep.  Hens on the other hand, are relatively quiet - even when compared with dogs and all the noise they can make.  Hens will occasionally make an announcement when they lay an egg; we call them 'eggnouncements'.  This happens during the day and doesn't usually last very long.

When our girls first started laying we were a little concerned with the noise and if it was affecting our next door neighbors; we took them some eggs and asked about it.  They were genuinely perplexed when we were handing them the eggs - they didn't even know we had gotten chickens!  So much for worrying about that.  Hmmm, I wonder what they're going to bring us for their dog keeping us up all night last week...  Oh well, lets just forget about that.  I'm actually more concerned about the cat from same said residence using our flower beds as a litter box.  I had already said to my husband, that I wished the cat was a chicken 'fertilizing' our plants instead.  As a chef, almost everything planted around here is an edible, whether it be an herb or a flower.

Organic salad greens grown in our garden

The point here I am trying to make is not to complain about the neighbors (because in all fairness we have really great neighbors) but to draw a comparison to the supposed nuisance chickens may cause to neighbors as opposed to other pets that are already allowed in almost every city community in the country.  I follow many of the battles people have waged trying to get city statutes changed to allow hens within city limits (there has been a long, brutal battle in Salem for instance, while they have been allowed in Portland, (which is comprised of much smaller urban lots for the most part) for years - go figure) and the arguments against, that are brought up by seemingly ignorant people that are 'above' any semblance of a rural lifestyle.  There will be more on my theories of how these attitudes came to be in future blogs.

Abigail loved to tuck her head under your arm to be petted

FYI - a great resource in the fight to be allowed to keep urban flocks, and the place to find an answer to absolutely every argument against allowing hens in an urban setting, is a gentleman out of Georgia known as the 'Chicken Whisperer' he streams an informative internet radio show on keeping urban flocks and most things to do with a sustainable lifestyle, and can be found at:  http://www.chickenwhisperer.net/

I hope you'll join us as we explore the benefits and joys of becoming self-sustaining on our little urban farm.  We are not experts by any means, but look forward to sharing our experience with those who are interested in such things.  In the plans, besides the already flourishing organic garden, methods of preservation and the chickens, are cultivated mushrooms and honeybees, among other things.  We know this is a work in progress that can't be accomplished overnight, but we aren't afraid to make a mistake or two as we explore the word of self-sustainability.  I welcome any feedback and questions.