Spring Gardening with Renee: Gonzo's Girlfriends or the Search for a Citified Hen

When I was a kid I went through all sorts of "When I grow up" dreams. There was a long period where being a horse jockey seemed like heaven (after the Eight Belles incident I'm glad that didn't work out), the cursory veterinarian period (until I learned about worming and med school), being an artist (this was much more than a dream, more like an ingrained detail), living on an island. . . which turned into having an island that was a small village like minded people (those were my Utopian teenage years) that farmed and lived happily together rebelling against popular belief.

Those dreams went away for a long long time, but are back in an evolved form.  Do I have Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver, Linda Cockburn and her family to thank?  My first awakening came from Peter Singer's Animal Liberation, a book originally published in 1975 that has been updated and reissued periodically to reflect changes in technology and farming practices. "Rebellion" itself is now inherent in small scale gardening and farming, 2 practices that I find integral to each other.  I'm not a meat eater, but I wouldn't hesitate to snack on a freshly laid, unfertilized egg, it offers a flavor like no other. Plus, they eat bugs (pest control, woo hoo!), produce manure, and can be quite social animals. 

And chickens, that's a dream I can really wrap my little hippie head around, even now.  Every time I think of my long term, greater-sustainability dream, chickens seem most feasible.  Through my Mr., Charlie, I met Troy and Alisha, parents of Mr. Joy.  They gave us fresh eggs to eat, and since then factory farm eggs have been the equivalent of a supermarket tomato.  They're completely different beasts.  Truly cultivated farm products (produce, milk, eggs, etc.) are rich in color and taste, not to mention nutrients.  Between the Tomlinsons gals and gentleman (image right, via Mr. Joy.Net) and my brother's ever-growing chicken family (now at 8!), I'm constantly in awe of the civilized nature of chickens.  Apparently I'm not the only one; check out this article in the New York Times.

Rules vary from town to town here in the US, check your town website for animal control ordinances. In Matthews, NC one must first apply for permit, then be accepted. The coop must be 25 feet away from property lines, and each bird mush have a minimum of 4 feet floor space.  There are, of course, other rules about cleanliness and upkeep. I'm thinking these rules do not apply to any of the industrial farms in the area. 
It is currently illegal to keep chickens within the city of Toronto, but there is an active movement and petition to have that rule changed. 

Even if you have a small space, there's tons of info on small scale coops: 

The City Chicken Gallery is amazing!
The early iMac twin of lesser fame: The Eglu.

Perhaps you consider yourself a Renaissance (Wo)man? Then a Chicken Moat might be more your style.

Other keepers of the coop:
The City Chicken
Sunset Magazine's One Block Diet Blogger
The Urban Homestead
The Urban Chicken Underground

Getting Started, some helpful resources:
According to the University of Illinois, there are over 175 varieties of chickens!

If you really want to geek out on these fine feathered friends, the Ithaca College Chicken Chart has all sorts of info you never knew you needed to know.

Heritage breeds are the livestock equivalent of an heirloom plant.  They have historical significance, and are often times hard to find, due to breeding out certain traits for commercial farming means.  Learn from the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy about the importance of protecting the biodiversity of these breeds of chickens.

This Poultry Mini-Manual from Mother Earth News just might be my new birdie bible.

Image above from Mad City Chickens, a group dedicated to raising awareness about raising chickens in Madison, Wisconsin.

How about you?  Do you want your own farm fresh eggs, or do you think keeping chickens is just plain fowl?

Renee Garner has a passion to make things grow, although her brownish thumb wants her to believe otherwise.  When mud pies aren't on the menu, you can find her doodling the days away at Wolfie and the Sneak.

Comments

[Kirsten]

Also check out mypetchicken.com, for tons of info, supplies and the best part, a chicken breed selector. You can even order chicks straight from their website.

[Mallory]

I think there's someone in our neighborhood here in New Orleans that raises chickens. Only a few chickens have escaped and one is constantly roaming around the 'hood. It pecks and scratches at our yard and generally makes a mess of things. So while in theory urban chicken farming is kind of cool, please be responsible about your chicken raising and don't be like the people in my neighborhood and let your chickens loose on unsuspecting neighbors! (Also, everytime I walk my dog and the chicken is out it's very hard to convince her that the chicken isn't dinner.)

[Marleah]

I'm not cool with animal exploitation in general, which to me includes owning chickens yourself and collecting their eggs, although it probably is preferable to purchasing factory-farmed eggs (or even "free range" eggs, which really doesn't mean anything).

I do think that chickens are amazing animals, and I would like to have one or two someday - but as pets, not as egg producers. If I ever do, I will likely look to rescue chickens who are "retired" from egg production.

[Stephanie]

My boss has 15 chickens at her rural home, as well as a menagerie of other animals. It's a fantastic day when I get fresh eggs from her... they're the happiest chickens you can imagine (completely acclimated to human interaction, munch on local, organic feed and buggies, get a large protected area inside and out to run around) and their eggs are incredibly rich, flavorful and delicious. But! I recently just tried a few of her ducks' eggs and they're even more so, never mind larger. I highly recommend trying farm fresh duck eggs, especially hard boiled. :)