Raising Backyard Chickens

Filed under Raising Chicken. There are methods for building chicken coops that will do the job intended and help you build chicken coops fast. It is important to get it right so you can have happy backyard chooks from the start that won’t go off laying eggs for months at a time.

Rooster Jim and The Chickster (aka, Jim & Martha Schwartz) have been raising chickens for decades. Their kids raised them. Their grandkids raise them. And while familiarity may breed contempt among humans, raising thousands of chickens has not diminshed Rooster & The Chickster’s affection for their feathered friends. At the Boise Fall Home Show, which takes place at Expo Idaho from October 22-24, Martha will be sharing her tips on getting started with urban poultry in her seminar, “”. The seminars will take place on Friday (October 22) at 7:30 pm, and on Saturday and Sunday (October 23/24) at 1:30 and 3:30 pm. Jim will also be displaying his amazing array of backyard chicken coops, which you can buy already constructed, or purchase the plans and materials list to build your own. What are you waiting for? You can get discount coupons for the Boise Fall Home, which you can present at Expo Idaho for a 2-for-1 ticket deal, at the Boise Co-op Customer Service Desk.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Get all the tips and secrets for building chicken coops in fast and sturdy. You can make taking care of chickens a breeze with the right chicken coop conditions.

Technorati Tags: backyard, chickens, raising

Tags: backyard, chickens, raising

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How to Raise Chickens Like an Experienced Owner

Filed under Raising Chickens. There are methods for building chicken coops that will do the job intended and help you build chicken coops fast. It is important to get it right so you can have happy backyard chooks from the start that won’t go off laying eggs for months at a time.

www.howtoraisechicken.com – If you think that raising chickens is an easy job, then think again. While chickens may be easy to rear, there are many things that you have to learn first on how to raise chickens like a farmer would.

A few Raising Chickens fun I can recommend:

Get all the tips and secrets for building chicken coops in fast and sturdy. You can make taking care of chickens a breeze with the right chicken coop conditions.

Technorati Tags: chickens, Experienced, Like, Owner, raise

Tags: chickens, Experienced, Like, Owner, raise

« Smart Tips for Your Building Chicken Coop ProjectBuild Chicken Coop Ideas are Going Strong as Economy Worsens »One Response to “”

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Raising Chickens in the City

Filed under Raising Chickens. There are methods for building chicken coops that will do the job intended and help you build chicken coops fast. It is important to get it right so you can have happy backyard chooks from the start that won’t go off laying eggs for months at a time.

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Raising Chickens : How to Build Chicken Nesting Boxes

Filed under Raising Chickens. There are methods for building chicken coops that will do the job intended and help you build chicken coops fast. It is important to get it right so you can have happy backyard chooks from the start that won’t go off laying eggs for months at a time.

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Portable Chicken Coop: Move Your Own Chickens From One Location To Another One Without Having The Inconvenience

Filed under portable chicken coop. There are methods for building chicken coops that will do the job intended and help you build chicken coops fast. It is important to get it right so you can have happy backyard chooks from the start that won’t go off laying eggs for months at a time.

Occasionally, you coulddiscoverthat youneed to haveto movemany ofyour own chickens in adifferentplace. You will findnumerousreasonsexactly whyyou wouldwant to do this nevertheless theessentialthing to think aboutis thatchickensmay bechallengingto safely move, especiallyin the event thattheir wings aren’t clipped. The particularthingthat maytake care ofyour owndifficultiesis really a portable chicken coop sincethey also make transporting chickens a great dealless complicated.

Good reasons for MovingChickens

A great deal of chicken farmers may possiblynot evenrealize that they will have a needto transfertheir own chickens. Alsoin the event yourequireto movesome chickens coming from1coop to another, a portable coop actuallyis useful.

Additionalreasons for relocating the chicken containgetting it to a placeexactly whereit willend up being slaughtered, movingthe chicken to marketplace, or taking a chicken to marketplace. To put it differently, if youhave chickens you mightwanta minimum of1 portable chicken coop.

To put it differently, it doesn’tmatterwhen you have an urban chicken coop or otherwise not. Alsopeople whogrow chickens in cities need to have to locate a approach tosometimestransfertheir very own chickens coming from1locationto another location. You wouldeven havea lot more than 1 backyard chicken coop.

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Urban Chickens in San Diego (video)

And the blog is coming out of hiatus!

Some of you readers may remember I went to school in San Diego, so it should be no surprise I get to share this great video about Urban Chickens in San Diego, produced by Dominic Fulgoni:



I can certainly associate with Shelly Stewart's story as to how she got into urban chickens (fresh eggs, control over food sourcing). It's also great to see that the Department of Animal Services reports they don't have problems with urban chickens as many would expect.

Hope you and your hens are having a great summer!

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Georgia to Legalize Urban Chickens at State Level?

If you've taken a look at the nascent Urban Chickens Network Legal Resource Center, you know that trying to keep track of the seemingly endless variations of ordinances regarding keeping chickens in the backyard is a difficult task, at best.

It seems every town and city has to have its own version of the law allowing urban chickens (if, indeed, they are allowed), and depending on just where you're geographically located, you may not enjoy the same chicken-owning rights as your next door neighbor.

Thanks to frequent reader Linda S, I've been alerted to an interesting approach being proposed in the state of Georgia. The Georgia General Assembly is considering a statewide law governing the growing of crops and keeping of small animals in HB 842 - Agriculture; preempt certain local ordinances; protect right to grow food crops; provisions.

The First Reader Summary says
A BILL to be entitled an Act to amend Chapter 1 of Title 2 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to general provisions relative to agriculture, so as to preempt certain local ordinances relating to production of agricultural or farm products; to protect the right to grow food crops and raise small animals on private property so long as such crops and animals are used for human consumption by the occupants, gardeners, or raisers and their households and not for commercial purposes; to define a term; to provide for effect on certain private agreements and causes of action; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.Now, whether or not the bill passes, I like this approach: deal with matters on a state level so that the constituents don't have to scratch their heads wondering whether something legal or illegal based on the whims of the local government.

It'd sure go a long way toward simplifying the process of knowing where your food comes from.

Does anyone know of another state that is considering (or has even passed) such a law?

Oh, and have you yet added your own town's urban chicken ordinance to the Urban Chickens Network Legal Resource Center? We're at 36 cities and growing!

Photo credit: atlexplorer on Flickr

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Urban Chickens Strengthen a Community (video)

(note: updated the embedded video to point to vimeo version on 3/3/10)

Lisa Schneider's created a nice mini-documentary showing just what happens to her El Cerrito neighborhood with the introduction of backyard chickens.

Are we bowling alone? Think again! Schneider shows how the act of owning urban chickens helps weave connections within and across a neighborhood. She shows that they're not just one person's chickens, they're the community's chickens.

Chickens Create Community on Elm Street from Linda Schneider on Vimeo.

In interview after interview you can see a social community has been created resulting in greater emotional and social support for everyone involved.

I found I could recognize many of the same reactions that Schneider's neighbors had mirrored those of my own neighbors. Have you seen the same thing happen when people discover you own urban chickens?

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Urban Chickens help teach children about food

I'm a huge fan of Jamie Oliver, naked chef and -- more recently -- food activist.

Just a year after I became an urban chicken farmer, I started seeing Oliver's work in England on behalf of chicken welfare. He's been credited with convincing some of the larger grocers in the UK to stop purchasing battery hens -- those chickens raised in horrid cramped conditions for the 39 days it takes to get from chick to plucked carcass in the local meat section.

Now, Oliver is setting his sights on the obesity epidemic caused by the crap food the majority of us eat day in and day out. I'm thrilled to see he received a TED prize this past week. You can watch the video here: Jamie Oliver's TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food. It's about 21 minutes long, but it's worth every moment.



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Do urban chickens attract urban rats?

#$! rats?

The sudden arrival of rodents in the neighborhood is an issue no one particularly likes. And when they do arrive (or simply come out of hiding), folks are quick to try and find someone or something to blame.

Enter urban chickens to take the blame.

I fear some urban chicken proponents might be too quick to state that urban chickens are NOT the reason rats show up in a neighborhood.

Let's look at the rat facts as related by Judy Haley in her ChronicleHerald.ca article, "Urban chickens bring urban rats":
rats flock to food sources; they remain close to the food source and breed; rats are attracted to bird seed and chicken feed; if rats were already present, they multiply once a new food source is introduced; and areas of clutter also provide nesting spots for rats.I won't argue with any of the above facts (I had a pet rat in college and can see each of these as true). Moreover, I can see where irresponsible storage of food or upkeep of one's yard could contribute to many of the attractions for rats.

However, to link the appearance of urban rats solely on the keeping of chickens in an urban setting seems to be using a bit too broad a brush to paint the blame. There are many food sources, not the least of which is improper keeping of trash in between pickups, leaving kibble in a bowl for "outdoor cats" or yard-kept dogs, seeds and pellets in a bird feeder, etc.

Responsible urban chicken farmers know to keep a clean coop, to only put as much feed as necessary out for the chooks while storing the rest in an air- and water-tight container, and disposing of any coop clutter (poop, nesting material, etc) quickly and thoroughly.

So, yes, the opportunity is there for irresponsible urban chicken keeping to attract rats, but common sense (which unfortunately seems in short supply in some places) should help keep rats from becoming a problem.

Have you noticed rats around your hen house? How have you taken care of the problem?

UPDATE (2/22): Following a discussion on rats on a listserv, I found this great resource from UC IPM on how to "manage" rats: Rat Management Guidelines.

Photo Credit: Matthieu A. on Flickr

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urban chickens are excellent composters

Putting it bluntly: urban gardeners are silly for not also having urban chickens.

It turns out nitrogen-rich chicken poop isn't the only way that urban chickens rock the compost pile.

According to an (otherwise mediocre) article in the Columbia Missorian:
A study found that a hen can consume about 7 pounds of food scraps a month, or about 84 pounds a year.

"If a city had 2,000 households with three hens or more each, that translates to 252 tons of biomass that's diverted from landfills,"

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Backyard Bunnies are NOT the Next Urban Chickens

An article appeared over on the GOOD blog this week proclaiming backyard bunnies to be the next urban chickens, and it seems this proclamation has some resonance amongst the sustainability crowd, as it was tweeted and retweeted quite a bit over the last few days.

Let me set this straight. Backyard Bunnies are NOT the next Urban Chickens for one simple reason: you don't kill your chicken at harvest time.

Urban chickens will provide a regular supply of protein-packed eggs for at least three years (sometimes much longer) and there's no blood on your hands. Raising chickens means entering a nurturing relationship with an animal that rewards you sustainably and over time.

Bunnies, on the other hand, only give up their protein once: and that's after the slaughter. And I'm not so sure mainstream America are ready to have a bunch of slaughter operations going on in the suburbs. (Heck, they're having a hard enough time with the chicken poop).

Sure, there are many reasons why rabbits are, indeed a good source of meat, as the GOOD article details, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

If you want to know how difficult it is to kill a bunny, I recommend reading Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer

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The Hen Cam: Raising Urban Chickens Vicariously

If you are one of the unfortunate many who can't keep chickens on your own either because they are illegal or you don't have room or you simply don't have the time, there's still a way for you to get your urban chicken on! 


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Urban Chickens and Conspicuous Consumption

The most often-asked question I hear from reporters or other curious folks is "how expensive is it to raise urban chickens?" My answer is always the same: it all depends on how much you want to spend on your coop.

The hens themselves are cheap, their food is cheap, straw/woodchips/water is cheap. The coop is ususally, decidedly not cheap.

And why is that? As long as our chickens have a dry, draft-free, safe place to sleep and a box to lay their eggs in (more for our convenience than theirs), they're fine.

We humans are the ones who insist on aesthetics. And the cost curve for aesthetics is steep as soon as you move away from the "homely, but it'll do" point and toward the "I'd be proud to show this off on a coop tour" end of the spectrum. So why bother?

The clue to this answer comes courtesy a blog post by Seth Godin (author of Linchpin

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Eggstravaganza: The Art of Living with Chickens

I'm accustomed to coop tours and chicken talks happening in the spring and summer months, so it's a bit of a surprise to discover that there's a coop tour appearing on the calendar just before Halloween this year in McClellanville, SC.

The McClellanville Arts Council ("Where everyone is an Artist") is holding the on Saturday, October 30, 2010.

The day-long schedule includes the following activities:
a morning panel discussion on raising poultry and a craft workshop: Chicken Art with Chicken PartsAn afternoon Tour da Coops, a self-guided tour of local chicken coops and poultry sites.And things wind up with a photograph exhibit featuring local poultry and coops and a raffle of a hand-crafted coop/tractor in the shape of a chicken. People will be able to vote on their favorite poultry and coops and there will be door prizes throughout the day from local businesses.
If only I lived on the East Coast, I know where I'd be spending the day before Halloween. I look forward to hearing the recap from the event and you can rest assured I'll be posting it here.

Anyone know of any other Fall/Winter coop tours or chicken talks? Let me know and I'll add them to the list.

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What to do when chickens no longer lay eggs?

Photo courtesy Flickr user fooferkittenSo what do you do when your hen no longer lays eggs? Keep her around out of gratitude for all those years of eggs? Put her out to (someone else's) pasture? Or do you (gulp!) "process" her?

There's been some traffic on the Silicon Valley Chickens mailing list recently about what to do with old hens, and it seems there's a general agreement that processing an old hen is a rather cruel way to show thanks for eggs well laid.

While some urban chicken keepers seem content to keep the old chooks around for amusement, the more economically minded chicken farmers seem less than enthralled with the idea of all those extra mouths to feed.

And those of us who live where there are tight restrictions on the number of hens allowed in a backyard can't really keep a flock of non-layers around if we're in it for the omelets, can we?

So it seems there's two strategies for mercifully coping with the inevitable aging of hens:
Once she stops laying (at age 3 or 4 or 5, depending on your hen's productivity cycle), offer her up  to someone who's got a much larger patch of land and is willing to keep a large non-laying flock. Or,Sell her while she's still in her laying prime, commanding a higher price and making room for another fluffy chick in the coop to start all over again.What have you done when your chickens stopped laying? Or if you haven't gotten there yet, what are your plans for hens d'un certain âge?

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