Christine assembled the plywood coop from a template.
The groundhog may have predicted 6 more weeks of winter, but we're dying to shake off the doldrums and start planning our outdoor projects for the spring. After seeing the gorgeous blue tinted eggs from Christine Chitnis' backyard chickens in today's house tour, we're actually considering (maybe) taking a stab at urban farming ourselves.
Christine recently wrote a post on her blog, Lavender and Limes, about her wonderful experience raising the hens which hasn't been without it's ups and downs. After proudly watching her four tiny chicks grow up and start laying eggs, two of them were tragically killed by a wild animal in the night. Happily though, the remaining two have continued to thrive and and provide the couple (and many lucky neighbors) with fresh eggs.
A summer in the rain left her coop — which she assembled from a template — in need of some sprucing up so with “scrap wood, leftover house paint, a crazy cool decal I found at a thrift shop, and an old wooden box” Christine created a happy home for her brood which she hopes to add to once spring arrives.
Visit Lavender and Limes to read all about Christine's experience rearing chickens which includes lots of tips for raising your own and don't forget to check out our tour of her charming urban farmhouse.
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Comments (8)
AHHH so cute, I'd really love to have a coop someday... when I'm working less.. and not in a big city.
and don't forget urban chicken farming is illegal in many cities... in addition to being disgusting, inefficient, and NOISY.
no more disgusting, inefficient, and noisy than raising dogs or children!
Ha! I love kids, I am even thinking of getting one or two one day. Yes they are noisy and as my mother always told me, "I can't have anything nice in this house."
Chickens are not noisy, quit watching cartoons.
Children are noisy, very noisy.
She has Hens, which cluck (quietly) and lay eggs because they are female, not roosters who crow and don't even lay eggs because they are male. Urban "farmers" who want eggs will have hens, not roosters. Therefore when people are talking about having chickens to have eggs, they are always referring to hens.
Disgusting only if you don't clean up after them, just like dogs.
I'm not sure how having fresh eggs five feet from your kitchen is inefficient. You collect them daily and put them in the fridge.If you have gone to the effort to have chickens, I'm guessing that you eat eggs often enough to not worry about spoilage.
One chick costs about $3 and provides eggs for 4 or 5 years as I recall. This would make it the cheapest organic food available. Or you could pay $3 a dozen at the store for organic free range chicken eggs.
I'd love to raise chickens one day as well. I grew up in a rural area with friends who had them, and the eggs they laid were so delicious.
A previous poster said that chickens are illegal in cities... they're not, actually. Roosters are. But not hens, though it's best to check just in case your city is the odd exception.
Cally makes a good point about cost, however you do need to take into account feed and the cost of building or buying a coop! MetaFilter recently had an excellent thread on that:
http://ask.metafilter.com/136052/How-expensive-are-chickens-to-raise
Actually, it is not often the hens who are illegal and noisy, it is the roosters. Roosters are illegal to prevent cock-fighting and I believe many cities who had a "chicken" law are revising it to just restrict "roosters". I agree with Cally that hens are no more messy than dogs, however their poop makes better fertilizer! They are a lovely investment and if socialized well can make a nice "outside pet".
We recently revamped our coop too! Chickens are great fun, and a lovely addition to home food production (eggs) and they make great contributions to the compost heap too! You can see our new coop here; http://willitgrowpdx.blogspot.com/2010/01/chickens.html