[Bean Counter]

Great little article in the Sunday morning Parade Magazine that's worth sharing. It amazes me how there are still some areas in the country that outright ban or at least heavily restrict owning chickens, because when done properly it is a lot of fun and a valuable fresh food source.

So far since July this year my micro-flock of six hens has produced over 600 fresh eggs, and by spring will have helped produce about 4 cubic yards of finished compost for my gardens.

For those who are interested, here is a link to my main coop construction thread at Backyard Chickens; there are several links to other threads that detail different parts of the Chicken McMansion. It's a bit over the top for the average chicken coop, but it was built to last and is working out far better than we first imagined.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=283812



Cheers!

[Bean Counter]

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=283812

[oldbrowser]

It’s a great idea. I have a cat that does produce anything but poop.

[JimSEA]

Har har har. One of my least favorite memories of childhood is cleaning out the chicken coop my Dad and next door neighbor kept for a couple of years.

[Ditter]

I have a friend who lives in the middle of the city but on a bayou with plenty of space. She is trying to keep laying hens but varmints keep killing her flock. She had a nice wire coop built but I think the last time something dug their way in. I think she needs a cement apron around the exterior of her coop. She said she is waiting until spring to try again. We have an amazing array of wild life (animals) right here in the city of Houston because of the bayou that runs through it.

[peggybac]

Her daughter is paid $2.00 per day to feed the chickens? Heck, my parents would have made me do it with no payment.

[nmh]

Yes, the Obama reign is making PRIMATIVE, Chic.

No thanks. I’ll keep my civilized lifestyle.

[9YearLurker]

The kid wants a pet—and then gets paid to take care of them? Good deal!

[Mercat]

LOL, I read some of the posts. One was a woman who had decided that it was up to her to build a chicken coop because her husband had started back to work and she was tired of having the chickens in the house. “I sit with one on my lap and watch TV.” I watch TV, she thinks her chicken thoughts.” But she said that they stink and create “feather dust.”

It has never occurred to me to have them in the house but we do have a small shed on our little hobby farm. I figure we buy the chicks in the spring, eat their eggs all summer, freeze some for the winter and off the grown birds for the stock pot in the fall. Then start over again in the spring. Only flaw is that it was be hard to off the chickens after feeding them all summer. Maybe not though.

[fight_truth_decay]

I always buy fresh eggs produced locally. I crack the shell and admire the color of the yolk--!!!Call me weird that way. Real "Organic" does make a difference. I never bought supermarket eggs after the DeCoster stories over a decade ago. Made me start paying attention to where my food comes from. I Buy Local.

DeCoster corporation laying hens were in the news in Iowa back in '94, then in Maine in '96--, then the Midwest salmonella outbreak reported this year [why it took so long to show his business connection to the Midwest facility I found was odd)and recalls continued.

In Maine at the time, it was a focus on the "shantytown" living conditions of the immigrants who work for him, raw sewage runoffs, sweatshops, more fines, etc. The govt was still not doing their job to protect our health and welfare-there was a history. In '97, Robert Reich was Labor Sec. He denounced DeCoster. Reich's successor, Alexis Herman, later called the state of the farms "simply atrocious".

Years of alleged animal cruelty continued (hogs as well), a settled lawsuit against DeCoster Farms on behalf of Mexican women for rape, sexual harassment, abuse, many immigration raids and business still continued. One has to ask how he could still continue to be in operation.

DeCosta Farms to Wright County Egg and Quality Egg. Wright is being sued by Dutch Farms for unauthorized use of their cartons to package and sell eggs under its brand without its knowledge.

Cool hen condo!

[LibFreeOrDie]

Elizabeth Lampert’s daughter, Siena, wanted a horse.

Siena can put saddles on her chickens!

[Kirkwood]

A flock of chickens is incorrect (let alone a micro-flock - har!). Flocks refer to groups of birds that fly, such as seagulls or geese. It is a brood of chickens or a clutch if they all come from the same hen.

[SuziQ]

Bock Bock!!