I love it! More power to the backyard chicken ranchers!

Hey Backyard Poultry Buffs,

Learn more about keeping backyard poultry by listening to the Backyard Poultry with the Chicken Whisperer radio show weekdays at 12:00pm EST or anytime at iTunes. We are giving away a beautiful custom built chicken coop on Friday, November 6th. Listen to win! Thanks for listening!

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I have wanted chickens since I moved into my suburban home in Somerset, MA 4.5 years ago. This past Mother’s Day, I finally got my wish! 4 Rhode Island Reds and 3 Barred Rocks. I love them, and everyone who comes over thinks they are cool.

They are just interesting to watch as they peck and scratch around my yard. They have a beautiful A-frame coop and pen that my husband designed and built for me, and they are allowed to free-range in the backyard when someone is home.

My town is pretty densely populated; before I even bought my house I checked on the zoning. The whole town is zoned agricultural. I can have hens, roosters, even sheep if I wanted (that is my next goal!).

A rooster is not the best idea if your neighbors are close enough to be bothered by him crowing at dawn and some of them will crow all through the day at times.
Roosters are aggressive and very protective of their flock and are prone to attacking whatever comes near the flock.

I was in Vermont visiting friends and their rooster took a flying leap at my leg and impaled me with his claws. It hurt and I was amazed at how fast he was. No damage except a huge bruise the next day. My friend said this happens all the time and then showed me her wounds. He cut her leg open enough to need stitches.

Chickens will produce eggs without a rooster. If your worried about animals that will make a meal out of your hens make sure the house is well built and inside a fenced in area.

Animals that eat chickens:
Cyotees, a huge problem these days.
Raccons
Possums
Rats
Fishercats
Dogs
Wild cats to name a few.

We have thought about getting backyard chickens, but are concerned about what to do with the chickens after they’re past their egg-laying prime. I’d like to hear your guests’ perspectives on that.

Wasn’t it just a couple of years ago that bird flu was seen as a real threat to humans?

Now we want to start putting chickens in densely populated areas?

I got 3 chicks this past summer and sadly I lost 2 of them to a neighborhood cat. ‘Chirp’ (my daughter named her)comes home exactly at 6:30 pm and pecks and chirps at my porch door. It is fun, by I may have to give her up because I don’t know what to do in winter. Do chickens survive in an out-door coop in winter?

Time and time again I hear people complaining about the problems they think backyard chickens will bring if allowed into the backyards of their city. Some of the more common complaints that I hear are noise, smell, rodents, disease, and property values. I would like to address each and every one of these complaints one by one.

I don’t think I have ever been to a meeting about keeping backyard chickens where the noise issue has not been brought up at least once. I often hear people complaining about the potential early morning crow of a nearby rooster. This is a very valid point and I too would be complaining if a rooster were waking me up every morning at 4:30am, especially if I did not have to wake up until 7:00am or later. There are many advantages of keeping backyard chickens, but most urban chicken keepers want to keep backyard chickens for the benefits of having an endless supply of farm fresh eggs. Solution? You do not need a rooster to enjoy farm fresh eggs every morning. In fact, hens will lay better if there is no rooster around to disturb their routine. Roosters primarily have two jobs, which they do very well. They protect and fertilize. You only need a rooster if you want baby chicks running around in the backyard. I still hate to see cities ban roosters all together because there are ways to keep roosters in an urban area quietly and responsibly.

Smell is another complaint that is often brought up when discussing chickens. Yes, chickens can smell just like dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, gerbils, and even people if not taken care of properly. We are not talking about a 300-foot commercial chicken house with 30,000 chickens next door. We are talking about six to twelve laying hens in a backyard setting. There are many ways to reduce the smell of your chicken coop.

If you don’t think that you have mice and rats outside your home right now, then you are living in a fantasy world. Many claim that keeping chickens will attract mice and rats and think they don’t exist until the chickens arrive. One client of mine who is entertaining the idea of getting some backyard chickens lives in the most affluent city in Georgia. She told me that her cat leaves her little “presents” at the back door almost every day. These “presents” just happen to be mice and rats. She also said that she has seen mice and rats run across her backyard and up a honeysuckle vine to get over the fence and into her neighbor’s yard. Yes, if you have chickens there will be another food source in your backyard, but there are ways to keep the chicken feed put away in mice and rat proof containers.

About three years ago many were asking questions about the risks of avian influenza and keeping backyard chickens. I would always refer them to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website where it addresses this issue. On the Q&A page the following is posted. Question: We have a small flock of chickens. Is it safe to keep them? Answer: In the United States there is no need at present to remove a flock of chickens because of concerns regarding avian influenza. The U.S. Department of Agriculture monitors potential infection of poultry and poultry products by avian influenza viruses and other infectious disease agents. Enough said!

Many people who oppose the keeping of backyard chickens often sound off during meetings about decreased property values if the city allows the keeping of backyard chickens. All I can say is show me the proof. No one has ever shown up at a backyard chicken meeting that I have ever attended with any valid proof that someone got $10,000 less for their home because a resident in their city keeps backyard chickens.

To put backyard chickens into perspective I often tell people the following. On any given day I have more dog poop in my front yard from other neighbor’s dogs then they have chicken poop in their front yard from my chickens. I have more cat prints on my car from other neighbor’s cats then they have chicken prints on their car from my chickens. And I’m awakened at 2:00am more from other neighbor’s dogs barking then they have ever been awakened at 2:00am from my sleeping hens.

Chicken Whisperer

Chris you eat them.

Thanks Chicken Whisperer for posting good sound information.

My friends live in Vermont, the rooster is there to protect the chickens and sound the alarm for fishercats which can kill a dozen hens in minutes.

Chicken Whisperer did leave out one thing, you need a well built and secure coup and use your head, fence in the area to keep the house cats and dogs out.
Also drop some of the chicken wire at least two feet below the fence line to prevent the animals digging under the fence.

In Boston we can’t have chickens as far as I know.
But with my hound dog I would have to build a very secure coup and grazing area to keep him from killing them. It’s in the hounds nature to hunt so one can’t blame the dog.

Here’s a good link on the laws for each state.
You can’t keep any livestock in Boston, period.
Well so much for that idea.

http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/chickenlaws.html

See how our thrifty source of food is almost breaking the bank.

The ebay link and listing text follows:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180411456929

It all started innocently enough. As a writer of a weekly newspaper column and blog on thrifty living, I decided to get some chickens to raise for eggs. How much more thrifty could I be right?

I figured why not? Backyard chicken farming seems to be all the rage. Our grandmothers did it. Even our mothers have stories of cleaning out chicken coops. How hard could it be?

A reader contacted me and offered me 8 chicks that had been hatched by a homeschooled family. Offer accepted, piece of cake, we were going to be having lots of eggs instead of meat in our daily diet.

Not only that, I figured my 6 kids might actually learn a thing or two about raising your own food and being respectful of the work that goes into getting food onto the table.

We started with 8 chickens (3 of which had to be returned because they turned out to be roosters)

Then we added 6 more exotic chickens because they were so neat looking.

Then I went to a chicken swap and got a Seabright hen who was supposed to be one year old but who has refused to lay eggs.

We recently went to a chicken swap and paid good money for two more grown hens in an effort to get at least one egg. (hey I’m not above cheating – I mean, seriously, all I want is one egg).

Nothing. Not even from the two year old hen whom we were assured was an “egg-laying machine.”

Along the way, among the many things we have paid for are:
• A hen house painted to look like something from a child’s play farm with enclosed pen (strong enough to withstand a hurricane and more importantly the fisher cats in our neighborhood)
• 4 bags of feed (chicken feed is a bit of a misnomer – it’s not as cheap as one might think)
• 2 water feeders, 2 food feeders (we quickly learned that chickens don’t have the best table manners when it comes to bowls)
• 1 towel that had to be thrown away after my son nursed a sick chicken back to health in it (even sick chickens continue to incessantly poop)
• A total of 9 purchased chickens (one top of the 5 free ones)

After 89 days, we still had no eggs, not one single one.

Our profit on these hens currently stands at -$729.94

Well today we got our first egg.

Here it is. Behold, I offer unto you, the $729.94 egg.

Has it been worth it?

Well if you count the stories like little Simon being brought back from the dead by my son, Morgan the chicken-chicken who likes to be held in your arms and pet like a cat, or Zelda, the chicken who didn’t like to be caged and who sent me on a 20 minute frolic through the woods hobbling on a recently operated knee before I could catch her using a hastily constructed twig net a la Bear Grylls, then yes, I suppose it is worth it. We will certainly never be at a loss for stories at the Thanksgiving table.

But it would be even more worth it if someone just bought this damn egg.

Re; what to do with the chickens after they’re past their egg-laying prime.

One word: soup.

Works well for uppity roosters, as well, like Polish Buff Crested. (We know from experience: the little so-&-so would hide behind a tree or bush & attack from the rear. He moved into the soup pot when he attacked a visitor & drew blood.)

j

My friends in Vermont do not buy feed for their chickens.
The feed them the table scrapes and insects.
Anyone buying food for them should try to do this.
They will eat anything.

My kids, husband and I have ventured into raising chickens here in Vermont. While we have learned about the ‘cycle of life’ the hard way – losing 5 to predators b/c of our wanting to let them ‘free-range’, we have thoroughly loved raising them! The ‘barn/coop raising’ was a family event, they’re social like cats and LOVE to be pet, they give back and they have helped my kids learn about ‘commerce’ by selling them and keeping a ledger to track their profits. They close our composting food loop b/c they eat all our perishable scraps (we don’t have meat.) Other than building a fortress to keep wild predators out…this has been a fabulous adventure!

I live in Taunton where the zoning department requires farm animals to be housed 300 ft away from any adjacent neighbor. I understand this for a large animal, such as a cow, or a commercial chicken ranch. However, I have 4 hens. How can 4 hens be compared to cows or a large amount of livestock? The regulation is much too broad and seems unfair.
I have no rooster and only 4 hens… no noise.
The smell is no worse than a dog kennel, even with my head in their coop.
The board of health requires only 200 ft from an adjacent neighbor. That makes sense. However, I wish the zoning department could make exclusions for a small amount of small livestock (such as chickens), but not include roosters.
In addition to the pleasure and food benefits of raising chickens for eggs, they are great for the yard. They peck at the ground, eating weeds, bugs and ticks. They eat table scraps that would otherwise go into the trash.

I call our four ‘girls’ “speed composters”. We live in a small city in Maine where it is not yet legal to have chickens in the residential zone.

I have kept chickens for three years and would NEVER go back to buying even so-called “organic” eggs. The ones produced in my back yard are so much more delicious than anything I can buy that I really do not care about the cost.

Nothin’ new here. My grandmother cooped egg-laying chickens in her small backyard in downtown Louisville, Ky., almost until the day she died at 90 years of age in 1978. Going out into her backyard to check for eggs always made it fun to visit grandma!

All through the 50s and 60s WLAC radio in Nashville, with a signal powerful enough to be heard all over the southeast, ran ads for baby chickens. The offer was 100 baby chicks for $2. These ads always cracked me up,and recently I found one on Youtube. Here is the URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KrVu5DfQ2A. The baby chicken ad begins at 3:32. For anyone who grew up on the South listening to R&B on the radio, those chicken ads were a regular feature of the landscape.

I just wanted to note a couple of things, and if they have already been noted, I apologize; I haven’t read through all of the comments yet.

First and foremost the purchase of chickens through the mail is horrifically abusive. Many die and if they don’t die, they suffer. Imagine mailing a puppy; you wouldn’t. Second, the breeding of chickens and taking babies from their mothers is horrifically abusive also.

Put these two things together and you get a clear conclusion: DO NOT ORDER CHICKENS THROUGH THE MAIL. If you want a backyard chicken flock, find a local sanctuary and adopt some chickens.

I also simply have to speak to the hypocrisy of a world that wants to use living creatures for their eggs, but only on their own terms. Everything from throwing away half of the species (aka ROOSTERS) to condemning an animals for the noises they make (completely oblivious to the fact that we humans spew more noise pollution into the world than everyone else) — these things and more speak to a hypocrisy that is phenomenally disturbing. Common, yet horrible nevertheless.

If you are a backyard birder, as they are called, then it behooves you, ethically speaking, to fight for the rights of chickens to live the lives they want to live. That includes allowing hens to live with roosters (believe it or not, humans aren’t the only creatures who want the companionship of the opposite sex). That includes not ordering chickens through the mail as if they are inanimate objects. And that includes treating them as the precious creatures they are, remembering that your use of them for their eggs should be considered a gift you have to earn.

My roosters are NOT aggressive. They are protective of the flock but momma hens can be as well. Even being protective people can walk in my backyard w/out fear & in reality mine (who are Buff Orpingtons) are a very docile breed. I imagine having a leg horn or a RIR the roos would be a problem but the docile breeds are pretty calm really. They do crow but even hens can be loud at times & the rooster are just so darn pretty! My rooster is the calm in the coop when the hens are all having a fit…. I wouldn’t be w/out my roo now & of course my neighbors are all ok w/him too & we’re all on 4 acre lots.

As for the avian flu I’d think you’d be a lot less likely to get such a thing from a backyard chickens than you would from the supermarket & more likely an illess is lime decease which w/chickens there are no ticks! I love my chickens & particularly Mr. Standoffish my rooster.

So what do you do when the chickens get to the point where they stop laying? I know [or think I know], these chickens end up getting cooked, but isn’t there some guilt here? Seriously, you get to know the chickens, know their voices, then they end up Sunday dinner. OR… do you just let them live out their lives in the yard?

I love chickens they are relaxing to listen to and there no better eggs for cooking than brown eggs,they are richer and better for you!!

I am a farm girl transported to a being a Mom and a nurse in a northern MA suburb and this year I finally decided to jump on the city chicken bandwagon.
This Spring we built our yellow painted chicken coop and a very secure run from scratch and that project was almost as rewarding as the eggs that we look forward to. My family (2 boys, 2 dogs, husband and myself) all love to watch the “chicken channel”. They are amusing, beautiful and interesting to watch. we haven’t had as many eggs as I expected so far but each egg is a joy. I am so glad we have our flock!

I would love to have backyard chickens. Now that my suburban town is being visited by coyotes with increasing frequency, I would be worried about doing this.

“I just wanted to note a couple of things, and if they have already been noted, I apologize; I haven’t read through all of the comments yet.”

The fact that you’ll apologize for speaking w/out having read through speaks volumns for the ignorance throughout your post that you’ll continue to spread w/out regard for the accuracy of what you’re saying.

I just received chicks in the mail & they were so coddled it wasn’t funny they’re sitting next to me happy, healthy & pretty pampered…. you don’t know what you’re speaking about.

[...] Here’s a link to the show. [...]

Sandi provided you live in a place that allows keeping chickens, you would have to build a very secure fence and coup. Coyotes as stated would not be the only animals looking to dine on the hens.

What about suburban predators? Neighborhood dogs and cats will be drawn to them. I applaud those who are trying to educate others but too many urban and suburban people are ignorant of animal behavior and I fear this will lead to dogs, cats and chickens being harmed (punished, eaten, given away, locked up) because people don’t understand.

My mother in law had a neighbor who had backyard hens and had difficulty selling her house because people did not want to move in next to the noise.

Jane you can’t keep chickens in Boston, period.

My grandparents came from Eastern Europe and kept a garden, orchard, chickens and rabbits on a large piece of property right in the center of their small Massachusetts mill town.

I am surprised that no one has mentioned rabbits as a great complement to back yard chickens. They are quiet, multiply quickly, consume lots of your clean kitchen refuse, provide fertilizer for your garden are very tasty and provide you with useful pelts.

We love having our chickens, who have lived with us since April, in the side yard of our two-family house in the city. One of the best things is the enjoyment that passers-by take from the birds. When the chickens went on vacation this summer (to a neighbor’s house a couple blocks away), they were missed; people told us they were relieved that we posted a notice that the birds were just gone temporarily and would be back soon.

We’ve had a small flock in a residential neighborhood in Western MA for two years now. The neighbors have generally been very welcoming. Parents stop by with children in strollers all day long. One of our chickens was injured by a raccoon recently and received a get-well card from a neighborhood child.
We have a local organization and list-serve of people who raise backyard chickens. It has been a valuable resource. We participated in a coop tour so that we could see the various ways people house their birds. We are able to share tips and warnings about predators via the list-serve.
We are trying to set up our gardens and home to have more self-sufficiency and chickens for eggs and fertilizer are part of that, but they also have become pets.

Growing up in NYC my mother had an “egg man,” who delivered fresh eggs to us every Friday. This practice continued into the early 1970s, I thought everyone had an egg man and my young imagination had a very full picture of what his farm must have looked like.

I’m afraid it’s too late for me to call in, but I have to chime in with my own “Cluck-22″ story about chickens and local government.

We got our chickens–first eight, now four, since we’ve given away four roosters–from our son’s first-grade class project on eggs and embryology.

Being law-abiding citizens, we checked into whether the zoning laws of our town gave us the right to keep chickens on our property. We learned that our lot straddles the line between the zone where no livestock is allowed, and the zone where livestock is allowed by special permit. We built a coop in our barn and in the meantime, applied for the permit from our Zoning Board, which required a site visit and a hearing.

During the permit process, we discovered that the barn is on the wrong side of the zoning boundary, so to keep on the right side of the law, we would need to build a free-standing coop. We then discovered that in order to build anything in the livestock-legal part of our yard, we also needed to apply to the Conservation Commission for a determination that the structure would not harm the adjacent wetland.

We have successfully gotten both of these documents, but the process will have cost more than $100 by the time it’s over, in addition to taking up a great deal of our time and of the town staff’s time. Our town’s municipal budget is so constrained that we had to handle the abutter notification for the wetlands determination ourselves.

I wouldn’t want to see a situation in which people are keeping backyard chickens in conditions that are unhealthy for the birds, or annoying for the neighbors, but it’s equally frustrating that the combination of strict regulations and austere local budgets creates what feels like a fine for following the rules.

We are still looking for a home for our one remaining rooster, but we’ve also considered renting him out to people who have hard-partying college students renting their neighbors’ houses….

about what happens when zoning restrictions on livestock collide with financial cutbacks in local government. We have four chickens in our backyard in Amherst, MA, and by the time we’re done with the process of getting all the necessary permits, we will have spent about $150, since our town’s budget is tight and permit fees are high. We even had to bear the expense of getting written notice to everybody within 300 feet of our property line when we applied to our Conservation Commission for a determination that our chickens would not harm the adjacent wetland.

What do you do with the hens after they’re finished laying eggs? I belong to a CSA farm where the hens are slaughtered and eaten at the end of the year. Does a backyard poultry farmer have to be prepared to slaughter these living things? I mean, are you going to bring your hen to the vet to be ‘put down’? Isn’t there a difference between livestock and pets? Shouldn’t we caution against personfying them? It seems like a lot of people are going on and on about this baby-boomer, pastoral, fantasy without discussing the reality of the situation.

Just wanted to add that my 4 senior girls(10 years old) are enjoying retirement after many years of giving us their wonderful eggs.
They still are delightful and fun to have around even though they are no longer laying eggs. They are in no danger of becoming dinner themselves!

Before we got chickens, my wife called the town hall to ask about permitting. They told her “it’s easier to get along with your neighbors than to get a permit” and “if no one complains, we don’t need to know”. So we’re flying under the radar. The chickens live at the back of the back yard, away from the road and the neighbors, and no one seems to mind.

If you’re in the greater Boston area, visit the MSPCA at Nevins Farm (http://www.mspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=acac_NevinsHomepage). I’m a volunteer there, and have adopted most of my chickens from them. There are currently about 30 hens available for adoption.

WRT roosters, aggressive roosters do exist, but they’re the minority in my experience. We have an “accidental rooster” who we thought was a pullet when we got him. He’s very friendly, and he’d be perfect if he didn’t crow (which he does 3-4 times a day). Not all roosters are aggressive, but all roosters crow.

WRT “spent” laying hens, the MSPCA adoption agreement specifically prohibits eating your pets. This may be a show-stopper for more utilitarian-minded adopters and/or folks with large flocks, but we have a few birds in the backyard, and we don’t mind caring for them after their laying days are past. The majority of our chickens are bantams, so they’re mostly decorative pets anyway.

Your guest Susan Orleans did not reveal a broad knowledge about hens, and the fact they have no legal status in this country. She skirted the issue of pets vs. farm animals – she thinks of her chickens with affection and yet calls them utilitarian. A farm animal is still an animal, and thinking they are just “utilitarian” comes from a position of close-mindedness and privilege as a human.

You wouldn’t imprison a robin or a crow in your background for its whole life, so why would you do that to a chicken? To feel green? To get a fresh egg to please your palate?

Chickens are also shipped via mail (your guest had a good laugh about that too), abandoned when the novelty becomes stale, and left in the cold with no stimulation – something you would never do to a dog.

Wake up people.

If you want to see what a backyard flock looks like, come to my website, http://www.hencam.com where I have a live-streaming webcam on my hens (and two goats and a rabbit.)

Our family had up to 6 chickens in suburbia back in the 70s/80s. Consider giving yours the slightly-more-expensive “medicated” feed to prevent the very-common fatal disease coccidiosis.

We live in a wooded area north of Boston and have a big deer tick problem. Many friends have contracted lyme disease. A friend suggested having chickens and guinea hens that eat ticks and small insects in our yard all day. Sure, it cost me about $1000 to get set up with a coop and all of the necessitites but I haven’t seen a tick in months. So far it seems to be working well.

Paul do you live in Boston? As far as know there is no permit. Chickens are livestock and the law is no livestock.

Diane legal status? What do mean by this?

Well they are protected by local laws regarding cruelty to animals.

David Ray, I hope your $1000 set-up included coyote-proofing your yard. I recall reading about some celeb in Connecticut that was very pleased at the good job her little flock of backyard guinea fowl was doing eliminating ticks in her Lyme-ridden area. It seemed the perfect solution, until the sad day they all became coyote dinner.

Foghorn – I live in North Reading, a town that’s rapidly shedding the last vestiges of its formerly rural character. There’s still a small poultry farm on the other side of town, and a fellow down the street has a backyard flock of geese (those are louder than any rooster!), but I don’t know of many backyard chickens. Maybe the other chicken keepers are keeping a low profile as well…

Diane – I fail to see your point. Are you suggesting we only eat factory-farm eggs and chicken meat? You seem bothered that anyone could treat a “utilitarian” animal with affection. Just because I enjoy the eggs doesn’t mean I don’t also enjoy the chickens that produced them. I also get on my horse’s back, and make it take me places, but that doesn’t mean I don’t also treat it with affection. I have no plans to slaughter my chickens, but I don’t begrudge those who do.

As far as being “left in the cold with no stimulation”, the chickens live in a coop outdoors; they have protection from the wind, rain, and snow, but they’re acclimated to living outdoors. 4-6 chickens in a small coop will keep each other warm enough throughout the winter. (The horse also lives outdoors, with similar access to shelter, and also over-winters just fine.) As to the “no stimulation” part of this, you only have to watch backyard chickens for a little while to realize what an active life they lead. It’s the factory-farm chickens that get no stimulation.

This spring we acquired 10 chickens and have also broke the bank with about a dozen very expensive eggs at this point. We consider it a great investment for years to come and have also enjoyed other benefits. They’re great for teaching children responsibility and where food comes from. They are also excellent composters and can be a huge help for preparing next years garden site. Not to mention being a huge help with ticks and other bugs. Also, respectfully noted, we do have a responsibility for compassionate care of animals but they aren’t people and have never been directly observed pining for a member of the opposite sex or lost babies.

North Reading is a far cry from Boston.
There is a good reason why keeping chickens is against the law here in Boston. Most of the neighborhoods have small triple-decker’s with very little land around them.

So as much as I would love to keep chickens, having been spoiled by the eggs I bring back from Vermont, I am all for keeping up this law.

On another note, some people have been mentioning coyotes. It seems that in recent years they have grown in population ten fold. I never use to see them, and now I see one at least a few times a month or more while I’m out walking my dog. I think the state needs to start culling them.

I also read about hawks which I forgot about. I bet they will take a lot of chickens. Not much you can do about a hawk or falcon.

We currently have a flock of 14 birds including 6 exotics and 3 older hens. As we live in NH near some woods we had to be careful about predators (including some of the neighborhood children, ahem) We had a sturdy hen house with enclosed pen built. During the day we walk the chickens (just like Make Way for Ducklings) from the coop to the fenced in dog pen where they spend the day deticking and debugging the pen to their hearts content. They even get along well with our 3 maltese. At night we walk them back to the hen house and lock them in securely for the night.

It’s all very civilized.

I live in an urban neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky. A couple of years ago, a neighbor on the next street began keeping chickens and a rooster. Unlike their cartoon counterparts, real roosters begin crowing before dawn and keep crowing several times a minute for hours. While our city ordinances permit a certain number of poultry, they do not permit unreasonable noise. Since roosters are not necessary for hens to lay eggs, I had the city order the rooster removed from the property due to the noise. I sleep much better not.

Make that “I sleep much better NOW”.

I have five hens and one rooster. I previously lived in Los Angeles, and until I moved to Tennessee had never even thought of getting chickens. One reason to get them is they are SO MUCH FUN!!! I just laugh out loud when I go to get the mail, and the “flock” is following me. For anybody who does get chicks make sure the flock get to free range. Not only will your eggs be more nutritious, but it is hysterical to see them interact while in the pasture. They are happier, and you will be too. My rooster is not quite a year old… and I have only heard him crow twice. Which is sad… I love the sound of a rooster crowing. (I think the “girls” have him intimidated!!) They become pets so quickly.. each with a different personality. The rooster loves to be picked up and petted. My cat gets along with them, and I have not seen a tick since they have been free ranging. That in itself makes keeping hens a really smart thing to do. Lyme disease is not something I would ever want to get.

I have had backyard chickens for almost 5 years. I have 2 hens left from my first batch, and those old girls are still laying steadily.

I acquired a rooster from our local animal shelter that was in a fighting ring, and he is a great pet, too. He is not mean, and keeps his girls very safe. Since he became part of the flock last year, we haven’t lost a single bird to a predator. Our neighbors don’t mind him crowing, and said they think it is a very pleasant sound (we also give our neighbors free eggs, so I am sure that helps).

Our chickens give us eggs, are a great source of entertainment, make great litter for the compost pile, and I had a record vegetable garden this year as a result. I could not imagine life without my chickens.

I love my pullets!
I’ve got a Silver Wyandotte, Chantecler, Buff Orpington, and the sweetest chicken of all Soot the Australorp. I bought them all as day old chicks. I was originally concerned about the difficulty of raising chicks, but it couldn’t have been easier- and was so nice to snuggle with them on the couch every night.
They’re not about 3 months old, still quite tame, transitioning from peeps to clucks, and are the best little composters and friends i could think to have.
I live in Austin Tx and am NOT alone in my suburban chicken rearing.

I WAS disappointed at the off-handed, casual way the mail-order idea was brought up…
I live in a small town where the local ordinances won’t allow people to have chickens within the city limits. I am fortunate to live close to a rural area with a few organic farms. I have a friend who owns a farm and provides me with organic eggs from true free-range chickens. The eggs have thick shells (better calcium content) and yolks that have a deep yellow color (indicating lots of beta carotene). My friend also has goats, and I get homemade yogurt and great goat cheese.

I loved the piece on backyard chickens. It reminded me of the three RI Reds I had a few years ago. It was a wonderful experience for all of the reasons mentioned by listeners, and far exceeded our expectations of providing a few eggs. They may be my favorite pet,complete with wonderful individual ‘personalities’, and they give back to us eggs and meat(if we can accept this aspect of hen raising). I gave my two remaining hens away after loosing my favorite to a Fisher Cat attack, noticing an increase in the Rat population. I do believe this is a problem for the urban and suburban poultry raiser for the following reason; I hypothesis that Rats can gain nourishment from ingesting the chicken feces as well as any dropped feed. Chickens, incidentally will kill and eat frogs and mice. Most cats employed for rodent control seem to avoid chickens and won’t kill adult birds.
Another reason I gave away my hens was the concern at the time about the possibility of a bird flu epidemic. I didn’t want anyone to think I was irresponsibly exposing anyone to this possibility. Any potential exposure my hens could ever have would be from migrating birds, and the virus never materialized in our region anyway. I’ll bet the Canadian Geese,ducks,and pigeons that live in parks and on golf courses might have posed more of a risk factor.
Anyway, I enthusiastically encourage anyone who has any interest to try raising a few hens-never just one-that would be cruel-these are sociable flock animals,and intelligent,too. It is very rewarding, just be aware that there are some pitfalls as well.

Brett, chicken ranching would be the perfect career change for a washed-up old prune like yourself. Your already full of chicken sh#&.

I love my four urban chickens. I’ve been chronicling my adventures with them on my blog, New Urban Habitat. If you’re thinking about adopting some chicks, you can find out what you may be in for here:

http://newurbanhabitat.com/category/backyard-chickens/

A couple years ago a friend of mine sent me a Myspace invite for a profile she created in support of Urban Chickens in Oklahoma City. Up to this point I had little idea that there was such a movement, or that such a movement would face any opposition. When I heard this broadcast I realized that I had to write and give some props to both my friend Haley who started the profile, and to all those who are attempting to live in a more sustainable manner. If you want to check out the Myspace profile, it’s at myspace dot com slash urbanchickens.

Cheers!

[...] On Point did a great story about the rise of backyard chickens. You can access the show here: http://www.onpointradio.org/2009/09/backyard-chickens Interviews include: Joining us from Pine Plains, N.Y., is Susan Orlean, staff writer for The New [...]

I would like to say something about allowing chicken into the community might affect the house value.
We are looking for a house right now. Due to all the possible limitation from HOA, we try to look at places without HOA. We talked to our gardening friends that most of them advice not to get a house in any where there are strong home owner groups. So as a matter of fact, we are willing to pay more for anywhere they allow chicken. And I believe there is a growing group of people who have similar mind set that would pay more for houses allowing chicken.
So keeping chicken not only give you fresh eggs everyday, it also might help increase the home value.

I was a city person and never had much experience with animals while growing up.

The chicken movement swept me up and I knew I had to do it. I was scared at first, and one young chicken [3 mos. old] died the day after I brought it to my coop.

I LOVE collecting eggs, feeding them weeds and kitchen waste and listening to them and watching them.

I plan on butchering the roosters and other birds when they stop laying.

I feel connected to the cycles of the world with backyard chickens, and can’t wait to eat food that I have raised.

Ayer, MA

We have a small flock of hens in a small village in northern New York state. We love them, and our oldest “retired” hen is 8 years old. Here’s a haiku I wrote about them last spring: “Cooped up all winter, six plump hens now bathe in dirt. We call it ‘the spa.’”

As one who dwells in a log cabin in the woods, thirty miles from the nearest small city, I would not raise chickens unless my life depended on it. But, I say, “Hooray!” for the chicken ranchers. It is a sad commentary on our prissy and perfumed society that anyone would complain about the “noise” and odor of backyard chickens in the care of responsible “ranchers.” Perhaps to “anti-chicken” crowd should focus their energies on “odor” and noise caused by automotive traffic and the pervasive sound of blasting car stereos. In the meantime, let the backyard chickens cluck on! Now, if you will excuse me, I must attend to that grouse drumming in the tall grass above the marsh.

Everybody talks about the eggs but what about the meat? Do home-raised chickens taste better than factory-raised ones? I’m guessing the meat would be leaner because they can run around the chicken-yard all day – is this true? Does the feed you give them affect the flavor of the meat?

Also, someone suggested only eating them after they were past their egg-laying prime. Are “old” chickens still good to eat?

Peter hens for eggs are not raised for eating and by the time they are to old to lay eggs they are kind of tough as roasters.

If you want to eat them soup is the way to go. Or you can just let them live out there lives keeping the garden free of pests.

My cousin informed that chicken poop is not good for gardens unless it is mixed with compost or let to break down with hay. If you put the poop on your garden it can burn the plants as it’s apparently hot, which was the term she used. To acidic.

Yes, home raised chickens taste a lot better than anything you get in the store.

I suggest Ms Miriam Jones do some research on chicken habits and behavior, as well as the practices of mail order chicken hatcheries before she condemns the shipping of day-old chicks. Shipping day-olds isn’t like shipping cats, dogs, or even week-old poults.
I purchase my chicks from Ideal Poultry in Cameron Tx, and have NEVER had a dead on arrival chick, e-v-e-r. Newly hatched chicks are equipped by nature with a marvelous thing called a yolk sack. They absorb this for 3 days after hatching and it provides their nourishment during that time. This is why they can be shipped. The big concern is chilling. Hatcheries refund for DOA chicks, and it is in their best interest to get those peepers to you alive. It isn’t heartless commodities trading.
As for “taking the babies from their mommas” Unless the hen is broody, she could care less. I must gather eggs at least twice a day and watch to make sure my free range chickens don’t return to the nests to snack on their own eggs!
The eggs from hatcheries and most backyard breeders are brooded in incubators, not under hens because it is unusual for modern hens to go broody.
I made the move to raise my chickens 12 years ago when I reached the ethical decision that I could not in good conscience eat meat if I could not take responsibility for providing it myself. I raise my chickens free-range and on a healthy diet. They live as chickens, not meatsacks in foot square cages.

Putney, I eat my spent layers. They are fantastic crock-pot birds. However, I do not consider them “spent” at 2 as most factory birds are. My current oldest bird is 5yrs and still laying.
I also butcher excess roosters at 6 months to a year of age, selecting the yardbirds according to temperament and conformation. The trick is to chill the birds for 24 hours in the fridge after cleaning and plucking or skinning to let the rigor relax before putting them in the freezer.
In home grown birds, the meat is more flavorful, the bones thicker (even the commercial cornish x rock crosses), and the skin a nice bright yellow.
Store birds are pallid, flavorless, brittle boned cornish x rock crosses that are on average 6 to 13 weeks old and must be brined before cooking to taste like anything. Their bones are so thin they can break under their own weight.
A friend of mine adopted several spent commercial layers, and after moulting, they produced for several more years. However, they did die easier than her hatchery birds and she post-mortemed then when this occurred to make sure she didn’t have problems developing in her flock. She told me that the commercial layers were full of cancers and odd growths – even after spending a few years in a free range situation!

I think it is a great idea. More of use should be self sufficient. I hope more people should jump on the band-wagon. Thanks.