Thinking About Chickens

My grandmother had a small flock of chickens and one of my earliest memories is of watching them cluck and scratch through her garden, pulling up worms and nabbing grasshoppers. It's a classic rural American image. Each morning she would fix up a breakfast that always included fried eggs, usually ones she had gathered on her early-morning rounds of the barn and hen house. The over-easy eggs with rich, deep, golden yolks tasted better than any that I've eaten since. When my wife suggested recently that we add a few chickens to our landscape, those childhood memories came rushing back.

Coincidentally, recent local newspaper articles highlighted that raising chickens in Colorado Springs is legal. There are a few restrictions like no roosters, limiting the flock to 10 birds, and ensuring the coop has a minimum amount of space per bird, but raising them requires no special zoning or licensing. Our neighborhood covenants allow them too as long as we get permission from our bordering neighbors; a simple phone call made that happen. Suddenly there seemed to be no obstacles to starting our own flock.

The time for research began. Most of the online sites and threads I found pointed in the direction of BackyardChickens.com, a site devoted to people like me who were raising or interested in raising chickens. The site has just about everything you need to know about chickens and what it takes to raise them in your backyard. There's even a page to do a search of chicken laws in your own city (see the bottom of this page).

Chickens and gardening can be a beneficial match. Chickens love insects and can be a wonderful resource when it comes to pest removal. As they scratch and dig for insects and seeds, they cultivate the soil, loosening and turning it over. They'll root out perennial weeds. Their droppings fertilize the soil as they walk. The wood shavings and droppings mix from the floor of the chicken coop are a nice addition to the compost pile or as a mulch once it's aged. At the end of the season they help clean up the garden by eating pests lurking in the dying plants and by eating many of the remaining plants that you haven't thrown in the compost pile. All of this is about as organic as you can get.

If left alone in the garden while it's growing they can do substantial damage, but with strategic fencing and timely sojourns their positive attributes can be harnessed. Anecdotal evidence says that they're great entertainment to watch. And, of course, they produce delicious eggs.

With all of these benefits, how can I not raise chickens?

I've spent a good amount of time in recent days finding out about the process. It appears "easiest" to start with chicks. There are a number of online sources available and our local feed store begins selling them in April. Choosing the breeds can be challenging, but BackyardChickens.com has a breed selection tool (see the bottom of this page) that let's you put in factors like climate, chicken size, temperament, and egg production rate to choose the appropriate breeds for you. I actually found that I prefer the chicken breed search tool at MyPetChicken.com.

I've selected five different breeds of which I'll order one or two each (more on that in another blog). MyPetChicken.com allows you to purchase as few as three chicks; many other providers have much higher minimums. 

There are a number of sites that provide information about coop design. Again, BackyardChickens.com has the best free advice, including a huge section of their site with photos and step-by-step directions for building coops submitted by fellow chicken raisers. I've already sketched out basic designs for a coop I'll build for our six or seven chickens.

The experience appears to be a bit daunting. Chicks need almost constant indoor attention for the first five or six weeks before they can be released outside into their coop. Beyond that, they need fresh water and food daily. The coop and chicken run need to be strong and fully-enclosed to protect against predators, of which we have many in our area. Maintaining a clean environment is crucial for their health. All of this is required to provide a handful of fresh eggs each day.

In the spirit of organic and sustainable gardening, it's a project I'm willing to undertake. It will be interesting and, no doubt, will provide many topics for future blogs. As the adventure unfolds I'll keep you apprised. It should be fun.

Helpful links:

BackyardChickens.com
breed selection tool
chicken breed search tool 
MyPetChicken.com.
chicken laws in your own city.

My grandmother had a small flock of chickens and one of my earliest memories is of watching them cluck and scratch through her garden, pulling up worms and nabbing grasshoppers. It's a classic rural American image. Each morning she would fix up a breakfast that always included fried eggs, usually ones she had gathered on her early-morning rounds of the barn and hen house. The over-easy eggs with rich, deep, golden yolks tasted better than any that I've eaten since. When my wife suggested recently that we add a few chickens to our landscape, those childhood memories came rushing back.

Coincidentally, recent local newspaper articles highlighted that raising chickens in Colorado Springs is legal. There are a few restrictions like no roosters, limiting the flock to 10 birds, and ensuring the coop has a minimum amount of space per bird, but raising them requires no special zoning or licensing. Our neighborhood covenants allow them too as long as we get permission from our bordering neighbors; a simple phone call made that happen. Suddenly there seemed to be no obstacles to starting our own flock.

The time for research began. Most of the online sites and threads I found pointed in the direction of BackyardChickens.com, a site devoted to people like me who were raising or interested in raising chickens. The site has just about everything you need to know about chickens and what it takes to raise them in your backyard. There's even a page to do a search of chicken laws in your own city (see the bottom of this page).

Chickens and gardening can be a beneficial match. Chickens love insects and can be a wonderful resource when it comes to pest removal. As they scratch and dig for insects and seeds, they cultivate the soil, loosening and turning it over. They'll root out perennial weeds. Their droppings fertilize the soil as they walk. The wood shavings and droppings mix from the floor of the chicken coop are a nice addition to the compost pile or as a mulch once it's aged. At the end of the season they help clean up the garden by eating pests lurking in the dying plants and by eating many of the remaining plants that you haven't thrown in the compost pile. All of this is about as organic as you can get.

If left alone in the garden while it's growing they can do substantial damage, but with strategic fencing and timely sojourns their positive attributes can be harnessed. Anecdotal evidence says that they're great entertainment to watch. And, of course, they produce delicious eggs.

With all of these benefits, how can I not raise chickens?

I've spent a good amount of time in recent days finding out about the process. It appears "easiest" to start with chicks. There are a number of online sources available and our local feed store begins selling them in April. Choosing the breeds can be challenging, but BackyardChickens.com has a breed selection tool (see the bottom of this page) that let's you put in factors like climate, chicken size, temperament, and egg production rate to choose the appropriate breeds for you. I actually found that I prefer the chicken breed search tool at MyPetChicken.com.

I've selected five different breeds of which I'll order one or two each (more on that in another blog). MyPetChicken.com allows you to purchase as few as three chicks; many other providers have much higher minimums. 

There are a number of sites that provide information about coop design. Again, BackyardChickens.com has the best free advice, including a huge section of their site with photos and step-by-step directions for building coops submitted by fellow chicken raisers. I've already sketched out basic designs for a coop I'll build for our six or seven chickens.

The experience appears to be a bit daunting. Chicks need almost constant indoor attention for the first five or six weeks before they can be released outside into their coop. Beyond that, they need fresh water and food daily. The coop and chicken run need to be strong and fully-enclosed to protect against predators, of which we have many in our area. Maintaining a clean environment is crucial for their health. All of this is required to provide a handful of fresh eggs each day.

In the spirit of organic and sustainable gardening, it's a project I'm willing to undertake. It will be interesting and, no doubt, will provide many topics for future blogs. As the adventure unfolds I'll keep you apprised. It should be fun.

Helpful links:

BackyardChickens.com
breed selection tool
chicken breed search tool 
MyPetChicken.com.
chicken laws in your own city.