I want a chicken

by | Wednesday | March 24, 2010 | 59 comments

You heard me.

I totally want a chicken.

I blame Dr. Crosby over at AboutVetMed for putting the idea in my head in the first place- I had said something to the effect of, “I don’t do birds,” and she said, “But what about chickens?” and I had to admit I had never really given the idea much thought because as she correctly surmised, by “birds” I meant “parrots and cockatiels.”

I grew up in semi-rural Massachusetts, with farms and dairies within walking distance. My cousins had geese who terrorized me, yet I was so fascinated by them I continued to risk life and limb to visit them every chance I could get. I spent the latter 25 years in suburban Southern California, with a brief 4 year foray up into the farmland of Northern California for vet school. No one I knew had livestock, and I have to admit it wasn’t particularly high on my priority list these last couple of decades.

But now that I’m old (cough cough) and wise, having spent enough time on feedlots during vet school to be horrified at industrial food production before Omnivore’s Dilemma became a bestseller, I am trying really, really hard to get back to basics a little more. We have a small planting box with tomatoes, lettuce and carrots. I think about where my food comes from now.

I try to make it to the Farmer’s Market as often as I can, and this last week one of the sellers had fresh eggs. I’m pretty sure it’s been years since I had one. Oh. my. god. I must have a chicken, I decided.

I told my kids I want to get a chicken and they laughed at me, which was about the same response my husband had. I don’t know why it’s such an odd thought- yes, we’re in a suburban development but I HEAR ROOSTERS every morning. Someone around here has one. I can see the remnants of an old chicken farm from my frontyard. We have the space for a small coop. As long as the chicken remains in the yard, its greatest enemy would be Brody.

My husband said “Absolutely not,” which was what he also said to getting another dog. I chalk it up to fear of the unknown, being a tried and true city boy.  I’m not talking a llama or a camel here. It’s a little teeny chicken. How much work can it be?

Help me out here. Who has chickens? Tell me they are delightful and easy to raise and would be a fantastic learning experience for two young children who are growing up in a world of centralized food production. They NEED this experience.

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  • carina

    Chickens are great!!!! I finally got 15 last April and I love them!! No rooster just laying hens. They crack me up. I’m down to 11 now….dog. I trim their wing so they cant fly out of the fence. They are easy to care for and feed. plus they can eat table scraps and eat bugs out of the yard. fleas and ticks. and their droppings makes for great fertilizer for the garden. i would get at least 3 or 4.

  • http://www.kusine.com Jessica

    Our chickens are quite fun and the eggs are fantastic! They have a secure run so the dogs and wildlife can’t pester them, and our four hens produce more eggs than we can eat.

    If you look at the top of my “Garden” page, you can see our chickens and how they fit into our lives in the middle of the city: http://kusine.com/blog/?page_id=19

    Get chickens. It’s fun, and your family will love it after they meet the girls.

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      Wow, what a great blog. Thank you for the link- tons of great info there!

  • alisa

    i grew up with chickens. they are so much fun, and my parents still have about 5. we have a nice little coop for them, its probably about 10 by 10, during the day they get let out and get to run around and eat up all the little bugs (which means your garden will last longer because the chickens will take care of the bugs), they like to come over and say hi to us, and they seem to really enjoy the dogs. we always get our chicks as babies and raise them by hand so that they will let us pick them up and such. lay-scratch and lay-crumble are pretty cheap, about $10 for a 50 lb bag that can last forever, esp if they get the run of the yard during the day. we have had some trouble with coyotes or hawks (my parents live in souther california), but now we just make sure that the hens don’t go out before sunlight and are “in bed” (a phrase that they know) by night time. they lay plenty of eggs…we get about 4-5 a day when its warm out and about 2-3 when it becomes “winter.” they are amazing pets! i can’t wait till i am out of a condo and can have some!

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      I know we have coyotes, hawks, and owls- guess a covered coop would be in order.

  • Tonya

    Hmmm, had chickens when I was young and we lived in the country. I do remember collecting the eggs, and the eggs were really good/fresh. But I don’t remember feeling one way or the other about the chickens. Can you have just one chicken? Or do they need to live with a flock? That would be my only concern. I’ve never known anyone to have just one. Brody would LOVE it, I’m sure!

  • rachel

    I don’t personally have chickens, but my friend Liz did and my boss’ neighbor does. They both live in Chicago on small lots, so I am pretty sure being out in the suburbs would be fine. They are apparently really cool and easy to raise- but don’t take my word for it, I am no expert. My boss says that his neighbor gives out eggs to people as gifts–and that they love them! While I’ve never had a fresh egg, I’m sure it tastes much better than the stuff at the grocery store. I say do it. I also say this because I am an environmental science major and I have read Omnivore’s Dilemma. :)

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      You know I just finished reading it last week, but I watched Food Inc last year and I am sufficiently petrified.

  • Chile

    We had chickens growing up (but also had a dairy cow, bulls, roosters and rabbits and maybe pigs). I miss fresh milk and eggs. But I don’t miss our chickens! LOL! We had a sneaky bunch that would – well sneak up on you.

    All I know is that here I can’t have any because of neighborhood restrictions. But I do plan on having a couple when I get out of this neighborhood.

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      I didn’t know you had cows!

  • Sara

    I’m looking to get some chickens once we move out into the country, and have done quite a bit of research on them, sooo…

    Check if there are any bylaws prohibiting you from having chickens. There frequently are, however these laws are slowly being repealed, especially in more health-conscious communities. You can always choose to ignore the law and go ahead anyway, but you should know what the penalties are if a neighbour complains.

    Look up “chicken tractor” online, and you’ll be introduced to the wonderful world of small chicken coops that can be carted around your property easily, enabling the chickens to have new grazing every few days, while also keeping them in a suburban-friendly-sized area (is that a word? it is now!). Don’t be intimidated–there are no mechanical parts. It’s basically a coop on wheels. Personally, I’d recommend a tractor that lets the chickens get some sunlight, rather than forcing them to only graze underneath their coop, but that’s up to you.

    Educate yourself on how to raise chicks. From what I’ve read, it’s both labour-intensive and involves a reasonable financial investment. You may want to look at getting adult birds from someone at the farmer’s market. Also, do you need a rooster? Those suckers can be nasty, and LOUD, which may cause noise complaints in your area. How often do the birds need to be fertilized in order to keep producing eggs (if at all)?

    Hope this helps a bit, anyway. Lots of people are doing this, so you’re certainly not crazy for suggesting it to your family!

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      Chicken tractors- I have never heard of these wonders. This is fantastic. I’m taking notes furiously.

  • http://www.3beards.net Lisa

    I have chickens, geese, ducks and a turkey. In fact, until last weekend we had two banty’s in the house, in a cat condo with a couple of doves. We primarily have rare breeds (silkies, spitzenhaubens, top knots) but also some layers (americaunas). We do not currently butcher any of our chickens (they get eaten by wildlife or die from being dumb) but I’ve toyed with getting some meat chickens and processing them myself.

    It shouldn’t be too costly of an investment. Find someone who is giving away a rabbit hutch or use a cat condo like we do. Use an xpen to contain them during the day and move them around the yard if you’re worried about them ‘flying the coop’. I’ve found that very few dogs can be trusted absolutely with the chickens. Both collies have been perfect with them (except for wanting to keep the ducks on the pond). My male schnauzer was ok with them, as is my cairn mix. I know, they’re terriers, they’re supposed to go after small flighty things. (The female schnauzers have a serious blood lust.) The leonberger and pyr’s have thought the chickens were playmates and we lost a number of them to hard mouths.

    Keep the chickens fed a diet of cracked corn and laying mash or a product called Layena to get them to lay consistently. They also get garbage-the food scrapings after dinner, the rotten cucumber that was shoved to the back of the ‘frig, the stale chips. They don’t care for onions or citrus, but they go for everything else. Banty’s are small and lay a small egg. The americaunas lay large to extra large eggs. A nesting box can be as simple as a milk crate with shredded paper in it.

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      Wow, that was so helpful. Thank you!

  • Kristie

    You totally don’t need to life on a farm. I’m in suburbia and I know quite a few people that have chickens. (Granted, I live in a relatively crunchy part of the US–Seattle actually has a whole club for urban farmers, but I digress.) Anyway, http://urbanchickens.org/ has some great info. Just check local ordinances, which usually limit the size of your flock. For instance, IIRC Seattle’s law says three chickens, no roosters, but it’s neighboring sister Bellevue says that roosters are okay.

    My parents have chickens and little yappy ankle biter sheepdogs (Icelandic Sheepdogs), and far from being a problem, the dogs actually guard the chickens from predators. The only time they’ve lost birds from their flock (which range freely around the yard when my parents are home) is when the birds have been out of the coop and the dogs have been inside.

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      I think the area we’re in now is pretty low key- I hear roosters in the morning, so someone else thinks it’s a good idea.

      Just checked ordinances- I think I’m allowed at least 10.

  • http://www.animalrescuemobile.org Sherry Schillaci

    I have chickens!! I love my girls and they are such fun and easy pets! I have a pen for them that is 16×32 with a cover and a nest box for them. They have a small “house” to go in and roost at night. Very easy to care for – feed them once a day and give them plenty of fresh water and that’s about it – oh yeah – collect the eggs! I get almost a dozen a day and love handing them out to my co-workers. My six dogs get scrambled eggs at least once a week. Fresh eggs are the best! I buy 4 bags of feed a month – runs about $50.00 – every now and then I give them oyster shells but they are really cheap so I can’t remember the cost.
    Good luck – you will love them!

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      I want you guys to send me pictures! I totally need pictures.

  • Kristie

    Er, that should have been “live on a farm.” Coffee, where art thou?

  • http://www.the7msnranch.com the 7msn ranch

    I’ve had chickens and am about to embark upon the adventure again. “Chicken Tractors” are all the rage these days – they’re coops on wheels that can be moved from place to place to fertilize your lawn and provide your chickens with fresh forage. Here’s a post about mine.
    http://www.the7msnranch.com/2010/03/you-might-be-redneck-ifyou-drive-down.html
    p.s. Chickens will lay eggs with or without a rooster hanging around.

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      I love the tractor and I love your blog too.

  • Sophie

    ive had chickens and i think youre supposed to have them in more than one. so a group of 3 would be nice because they hang out together. personally i love them and my younger brother (hes 8) is so attached to one that he keeps carrying it around with him. the chicken doesnt seem to mind. some of them can be sneaky and mean but the ones we have are relatively small and if you handle them often they get quite tame and let you touch them and pick them up. it would be a good idea to think ahead though: what are you going to do with them when they stop laying in a few years? we make soup from them and everyone has gotten used to the fact that thats just the way it is… but i guess thats everyones own thing to think about… good luck and have fun :)

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      I was thinking about the whole what to do thing and I couldn’t figure out a good answer. I don’t know if I could butcher an animal! I’m so sensitive.

      • Sophie

        i dont think you have to do it yourself. sometimes there are people in the area that can do it for you. or you can just keep them but then you will probably accumulate a bunch, lol. i personally couldnt kill them myself so i sent them off and got them back a day later in nice little freezer bags. it was still sad but then i thought of what a nice 4 years they had compared to the ones in the layer companies and they were humanely killed (if there is such a thing).

  • Autumnhound

    I adore chickens. They have such a wonderful family group…you can learn a lot just by watching you flock! A lot of politics and family relations go on, in a very small scale.

    They’re very personable with their little trills and chirps. I personally have a red hen (no idea what breed, she’s a strawberry red with black tipped feathers and feathered feet, someone help) who’s named Flora, and if you croon to her and hold down your hand, she will waddle herself right into your palm for you to hold her like a child. If you get a rooster, get a very YOUNG rooster and handle him a lot, and he’ll be the best protector ever. My mom and I have about 70 chickens, 30 layers and 40 meat birds. The layers all get names, and the meat birds get dinner plans. I may care hugely about animals, but I’m still a meat-eater. We give them a rich life and as painless a death as we can manage. The chicks are endearing, fresh eggs are awesome, and chickens will always have a place in my heart.

    Note – farm eggs have a thicker membrane than city eggs, so it’s better to use city eggs for boiled eggs and farm for everything else. Also, americaunas lay pastel colored eggs. It’s awesome to not have to dye Easter eggs.

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      But I think it’s as respectful as can be to raise meat yourself, you know? That way you are invested in the situation and have some reverence for the concept.

      I’m so squeamish I really don’t think I could do it but I so respect the idea. My grandparents used to hunt for meat (vension).

  • Pikachu

    I have had chickens , 30 of them to be exact , back home when I lived , of course ,in the country. 30 was a lot of work cleaning , had to put little blinders on them to keep them from pecking the heck out of each other . I can imagine that a couple would be much easier. The eggs would be so good. One day when they stop laying and you have to ” dispatch” the chickens, thats the reality and the hard part. I never had chickens again. We cant have them here in suburbia so chek if there is a county bylaw. Good luck with this and if you get some , you must incopoarate them into your imaginative stories. :-)

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      Do you have to dispatch them, though? Couldn’t you just let them run around and be chickens?

      • Pikachu

        Oh Yes you can let them live out their lives as chickens. I was recalling a Facebook post recently where a friend had said he needed help because a neighbors chicken , who seemed wounded , had gotten into his yard. When he finally contacted the neighbors , they told him to just dispatch the chicken. I guess it was a nice way of saying , have him for your dinner. It was kind of cold I thought . I would have handled it differently :-)

      • Pikachu

        Absolutely :-)

  • Pikachu

    Hopefully this link will work , if not go to Cute overload one of todays posts . This is totally what I see LOLOLOLOL.Ok you need to see this LOLOL
    http://cuteoverload.com/2010/03/24/gym-tan-laundry-boardwalk/

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      :D :D :D :D

  • lawgeekgurl

    There are a surprising number of houses with livestock in a not-at-all-rural suburb of Portland, where I live. On my way home I regularly see llamas and emus and at least one house has some chickens. I wonder if it’s a tax write-off if you can claim it as farmland? Also, someone was in my office yesterday saying her husband was home building her a coop, and she lives in the city proper. People like chickens, wuwt? :)

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      I had no idea chickens were so dang popular.

  • Kristyn

    I’ve been reading Mary Jane’s Farm magazine, its all cute & country & organic. They have the cutest little chicken coops, I want a chicken too.

  • http://fidoandwino.com/ Shauna (Fido & Wino)

    I don’t have a chicken, but it seems clear to me that you *need* one. I mean, come on! Especially after what Autumnhound said above!
    ;)

  • Nancy

    I don’t have chickens but 2 colleagues do, one in the suburbs, one in a rural area. Their kids sell the eggs for all those extra things they want like iPods, etc. It teaches them responsibility, etc. We benefit at work by purchasing fresh eggs. We all save our egg cartons and recycle with them!

  • sara

    don’t know a thing about owning chickens, but saw this once from the CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/healthypets/pdf/intown_flocks.pdf

  • http://AboutVetMed.com AboutVetMed

    YAAAY. I am totally doing the happy dance here. We will have so much to talk about at BlogPaws besides… you know… blogging. LOL.

    As someone mentioned, you don’t need a rooster for egg production and most city ordinances ban roosters anyway. (Maybe not in your neighborhood?) Here are some related news stories about urban chickens – clash of the chickens. You DO need more than one hen though… they are flock animals. :-D Three is a good number to start out with.

    I was actually the one who didn’t want chickens! It was my husband who started all of this. I think I need to blog about this… So exciting!!!

  • Megan

    I like working with the occasional chicken that has come across my path. They do tend to get ovarian disease as they get older (I had one old backyard hen patient die of ovarian carcinomatosis) and as a backyard flock you’ll need to make sure you maintain a routine deworming schedule, but I don’t think that should be a problem given your profession ;) Make sure they will have a safe and secure place to live with all the wild critters that live around you. That was the mistake my grandparents made – and they lost all the guinea hens they had purchased within the first year to wildlife (don’t forget about hawks and owls!). Chickens are fabulous and pretty docile and I think your kids would learn a lot from them as well. Also, as others had said, make sure your local city/village/etc allows foul. A tech I used to work with in vet school had his fancy bantams taken away because they weren’t allowed within the city limits and he was ‘found out.’ Chickens are WAY hardier (and slower, and less bitey) than parrots and I think they make great pets. Good luck!

  • Autumnhound

    You don’t NEED a roster, but I sure like them, especially to keep the raccoons away. Lol, when a fowl comes at you with spurs as long as your thumb, you beat a hasty retreat. I couldn’t bear to eat our old layers…they all have names! Maybe we don’t get as many eggs as everyone else, but I love our flock. The girls die of old age….or raccoons. =) Btw thanks Shauna, glad you like my enthusiasm!

  • Tisha_

    What kind of cleaning do chickens require? Do you have to… put fresh stuff under them, like regular birds in a cage? Or what? I have no idea. LOL

  • Autumnhound

    It depends on the coop. We used a garden shed, so every week when we clean the horse barn, we go in and take out all the dirty chicken straw and put new stuff in. During the week, we add more straw if it gets a bit whiffy, and it works.

    I’ve seen other ways that people do it tho; our neighbor has a coop with a grate floor, and the poo falls through and she just rakes it out from under the coop. I don’t really like chickens living on wire grate, so…yeah. I think you end up with a lot more foot problems that way. But yes, you have to keep it clean and occasionally put down mite dust to keep the bugs away, but overall chickens are pretty easy to keep. Oh, and we put the dirty straw out in the field in a compost pile, and it will turn into a nice fertilizer with a few turnings.

  • Kathy, RVT

    When our kids grew up and away, we got rid of our chickens…now, 10 years later, I’m back in the chicken business. We have 25 hens, free range, and it’s amazing what people pay for our eggs. I’m licensed by the state, I can also buy eggs from others, and sell them to stores. It’s some work, to hand wash all those eggs, but fun, and the cash is nice.
    We also raise lamb, beef and pork for sale; again, we are licensed to do that. Chickens…we butcher for ourselves, but it’s too costly to have chicken USDA inspected(who would pay $10.00 for one whole chicken???), but our family enjoys the home raised. Use the composted sheep poop for gardening…we don’t raise everything we eat, but a lot of it

    I figure if the economy goes belly up…we will have plenty to eat!

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      Wow, that is awesome. Sounds like you’re really doing it right.

  • http://www.pawprintcitytimes.com Vicky

    I’m completely enchanted with getting a couple of chickens, too! My husband is a little less enthusiastic about it, but I’m completely down for them, for the same reasons you expressed.

    Maybe we need a “husband coop”… ;-)

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      LOL! Off to the garage with you and your Wii!

  • Georgia Jewel

    You might want to check out the Tipsy Baker blog. Although she mainly discusses recipes, she also keeps chickens and bees in her suburban San Francisco home. The city I work for in Georgia has also recnetly had quite a few feathers ruffled over chickens lately.

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      Oooh, recipes are also good. Very good.

      Apparently there was a big stink in my area over chickens just this last December. Who knew they were such a hot button issue?

  • http://dearprudie.wordpress.com Ashley

    My only foray into chickenhood was during a biology class in 10th grade. The spring semester was known as the “Animal Term” as everyone in this specific teacher’s classes had to adopt either a rat (born and raised in the classroom so they were so very sweet), duck, chicken, or an animal of their choosing as long as they were willing to foot the bill (the rats, ducks, and chickens were free). I wound up with an adorable female rat whom I named Puck. But, on account of not all chicks surviving transport, the teacher always ordered a few extra. I wound up also adopting one of the extra chicks (Cobweb. I was on a Shakespeare kick). Sadly, after a wonderful week with her, she passed away from some unknown reason.

    Long story short, definitely get some chickens! They can be darling and would be very good teaching tools for your children.

  • Autumnhound

    I found another great site for chickens….here’s a link to a darling coop that they use for 3-6 hens. http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=26484 It’s so cute, I’m considering building one for my new silkie chicks!

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      oooh, I kind of want to steal that.

  • Dr. Sarah

    Well, I can’t get a chicken, but if you do let me know b/c I’ve been looking hard for a good source of local eggs. :-)

  • crazy weinerdog lady

    My crazy chicken loving friend (she cuddles with them in the house sometimes) told me to tell you about this site…. http://madcitychickens.com/

  • http://AboutVetMed.com AboutVetMed

    These were the first chicken tractors I learned about a few years ago, the Hen Spa. I love the name. Maybe not practical to order/ship, but lots of info there about different styles of coops.

  • Moira

    Chickens make great pets as you can see from all your readers’ comments. I have to admit a bias toward Rhode Island Reds. They are friendly, great layers, and live to about 12-15 years old. I use a portable chicken pen I made out of PVC pipe years ago. It is 4′ x 4′ x 12′. I can move it by myself. Raccoons and coyotes can’t break in. The “girls” love it when I move the pen each week. They move to the front edge and march along as I move the pen. During the winter, they spend the nights in a stationary pen with a solid roof over a 12′ by 12′ area plus a house with heat. Our temperatures aren’t that cold (32 degrees) at night but I prefer knowing their house is at a toasty 50 degrees. By the way, they are our rototillers for our compost piles. Very efficient!

  • Moira

    Just remember that parasites and disease will become an issue if the hens are kept in the same spot year after year. Best to have a portable pen/coop.

  • Reema

    Hi doctor V! long time reader, first time commenter. A friend of my husbands was considering getting some chickens, on this whole back to basics kick, and he picked up this book called “The Joy of Keeping Chickens : The Ultimate Guide to Raising Poultry for Fun or Profit”. I read through it one day and it seems like a pretty solid guide, so if you’re considering a book I would recommend this one.

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      That book looks perfect! Thank you! (And thank you for saying hi too, hope it becomes a habit! :D )