| Welcome to TheCityChicken.com. It's a web site to encourage city folks to take the plunge into poultry! You can have chickens...It's easy! I put up this page to inspire people who have been wanting to keep some chickens in their backyard. I hope the pictures and info will motivate you to try what you've been wanting to for a long time: Bring a little country into your city life. You are looking at this web site because you've been bit by the chicken bug and need to know how to get started with your chicken-keeping endeavors. Well, you could start here! - - - Katy Skinner, the Pacific Northwest, USA. |
TheCityChicken.com
table of contents:
MAIN
PAGE (chickens.html)
CHICKEN
TRACTOR GALLERY (tractors.html)
PICTORIAL
HISTORY (pictorialhistory.html)
F.A.Q.
(frequentlyasked.html)
HELPFUL
LINKS (favelinks.html)
ARTICLES
(articles.html)
CHICKEN
LAWS (chickenlaws.html)
BROODING
CHICKS (broodchicks.html)
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Chicken Coop Tour 2008: Chicken
lovers of Oregon and SW Washington! The Tour De Coops is coming up.
See here for details: http://www.growing-gardens.org/portland-gardening-resources/chickens.php
. . . . . . . The 2008 coop tour is to be held Saturday, July 26, 2008! Check out chicken-themed wearable art made
by TheCityChicken here: http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/domino.html
They are on sale this month
for just $5, with no shipping charge! Help
support TheCityChicken.com and keep it going!
TheCityChicken.com was in USA Today! http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-06-21-chicken-coops_n.htm And TheCityChicken.com was even mentioned
in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/dining/19yard.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
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"Dear Katy...You BY FAR - have one of the
VERY BEST sites I have found. The pictures are great and have given
me all sorts of ideas for a chicken tractor and you have such wonderful
information included in your site. Thank you so much!!!
---Cheryl O., Monroe, NC
Which breed of chicken will you pick? Try this helpful breed selection tool!
 
Don't forget to buy a sticker and help support this site! TheCityChicken.com stickers are just $1. Send a dollar bill to: 506 E. Twin Falls St., Yacolt WA 98675. Please include a S.A.S.E. (self-addressed, stamped envelope.) The stickers are weather-proof, high quality, adhesive-backed vinyl so you can stick them on things like your car bumper, bike or even chicken coop. The sticker measures 5.5 inches by 1.42 inches. The color is white with black printing. Don't forget the S.A.S.E.! Thank you! |
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| TheCityChicken.com now has a related Yahoo Group. Find it here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thecitychicken/ Join up! |
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| I recently moved to the small (pop. 1200) town of Yacolt, WA. The chicken rules are more strict here than they were in Portland, Oregon! I had to submit a proposal to the Town Council and request that I keep some hens. They don't really approve of "chicken tractors," because they can be moved around, and one has to keep ones chickens 50 feet away from all neighbors at all times. So, even though chicken tractors are so practical, they are met with resistance in some towns, even rural ones like mine! I'm certain people don't have to submit proposals when they want to keep cats or dogs. And I'm sure dogs are allowed to go right up to their fence line and bark at any time they want. Dogs and cats don't have to be kept 50 feet from all neighbors at all times; why chickens? Dogs are much noisier. A nearby neighbor of mine kept a pack of hunting hounds in a small kennel in his yard. The kennel was right against his fenceline. The dogs weren't kept 50 feet away from all neighbors at all times, and they are rather noisy animals. It's thinking like this we will have to overcome. You might start by getting one of these bumper stickers. |
For sale: See new wearable chicken art made from
dominoes by clicking on the picture above!
Created by yours truly, Katy of TheCityChicken.com.
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| Is keeping chickens
in your backyard legal? The City Chicken has a new page in progress:
ChickenLaws.html.
Check it out! Every city is different. Try looking up your
city codes on-line. Most cities have their codes on-line these days.
If you can't find a clear answer, try emailing various people at your cities'
agency websites. The rules on keeping chickens might be handled by
your cities' Animal Control, or maybe it is covered by your County.
Don't take the first person's reply as gospel. Every city has different
rules, and it might take some research to find out what those rules and
laws are. For example, in Portland, Oregon, the rules can be found
here: http://www.mchealth.org/vector/nuisance.htm#specanimals
. In Portland you can keep up to three hens without a permit.
Roosters are prohibited, and if you want to keep more than three hens,
you need a permit. For other major cities, check out Barbara Kilarski's
new book, "Keep
Chickens!" It has a nice appendix listing the rules about chickens
in various major cities.
And a shout-out to Geren's Farm Supply's "Critter Corner." They buy unwanted chickens. They also sell them. They will give you $3 for an unwanted rooster, and I believe $4 for an unwanted hen. They then sell their inventory for a dollar mark-up. Geren's "Critter Corner" is a handy local resource I've used a number of times myself. It is rare to find places that will buy your surplus or unwated chickens. Geren's Farm Supply, 33680 S.E. Kelso Rd., Boring, Oregon 97009, 503-668-9323. |
| Are chickens better bird-pets than parrots? Let's hear from you. I'll get you started: 1. Chickens can be kept outside unlike parrots, which are tropical birds that are usually kept indoors. 2. Chickens can be kept outside or inside! You can get bantams that grow to be about the size of a parrot, and can keep them in a cage the size of a rabbit hutch. 3. Chickens are omnivorous and can eat whatever you eat; parrots can't. 4. Chickens lay eggs which you can eat; parrots don't do that. 5. Parrots have very loud voices and shrieks; chickens don't. 6. Neither chickens nor parrots can be potty-trained very well, but chickens produce enough poop to be used in your garden. 7. Parrots are expensive to buy; chickens start at $1.99 per chick. 8. Parrots can bite really really hard! Chickens can only peck, and they can't hold on with their beaks like parrots can. 9. Chickens will even perch on your arm, just like a parrot. Send in your other ideas. No offense to parrots! All in good fun. |
“Hi there! Thank you so much for the work you have done to your website. I wanted to start keeping some banty hens and a book I bought and read almost had me give up the idea. That is, until I found your site! The book made it sound like a terribly difficult thing, to keep a chicken. I live in the city and my Home Owners Association doesn't allow anything other than dogs and cats, so I had to build the coop and run small and neat…Thanks again and keep up the good work!” ---M.O.
 Among
other things, RandallBurkey.com
sells poultry supplies. Recently this company sent me one of their
pyramid
poultry pens (sold in bundles of six for about $150, which makes them
about $25 each) for evaluation.
I really liked and was attracted to the truncated pyramid shape. It seemed very natural for chickens. The cage folds flat, and has a top door. I placed the pen over my compost heap, and then set two hens into the pen for a few hours. They immediately started scratching and turning over the compost heap, eating worms, weed seeds, aerating the compost heap. These day-pens would work great for: Letting chickens out to free-range, keeping chickens from running away, keeping them out of other parts of a garden, making chickens work the ground intensively in one spot, such as a compost heap or weedy area, and even loaning a few hens to a neighbor for a day so they can de-bug and de-weed a garden patch. Be sure to put your chickens back in their predator-proof house or tractor before nightfall, as these day-pens have no solid sides with which to shield the chickens from dogs, raccoons, etc., and also are not weather proof. |
| Where to take your cornish cross for butchering in the Portland, Oregon area: Harrington Poultry in Boring, Oregon. Their phone number is 503-663-3151. Directions: Take Hwy. 26 East to the 1st Boring exit. Go to the stop sign, turn left, see the Chevron station, take a left, go past 2-story white farm house, take the next driveway, at the end of the driveway, back your car up to a dock. They will take your live chickens from there. Here are the prices they charge for their services: If your chicken ends up being over 5 lbs. dressed weight (that means the weight it is when it's all done being processed) then you will pay $2.50 per bird. Under 5 lbs. dressed weight is $1.75 each. |
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| TheCityChicken found on-line what sounds like a handy way to make use of your chicken manure: "Here is a way for you to incorporate chicken manure into your established garden. Place your uncomposted chicken manure and/or bedding/litter in a burlap bag. Tie the bag closed, then place it in garbage can or other large container with water. The water should just cover the bag. Allow your chicken manure teabag to soak for about one week. After a week has passed, your "manure tea" is ready for use. Dilute it half and half with water before you fertilize. Also remember: Do not apply uncomposted manure directly to your garden. Only composted manure should be added to the soil." If you try this trick, email TheCityChicken and let us know how your garden turned out! |
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“Dear Katy…I must concur with all the comments on your site; you have done a great job! I especially like the personal touch you give because this is your own personal project; not just another educational piece by a university or hatchery.” ----Karen K.
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Here are a couple of chicken tractors
I made myself! Fun to build.
I gave the one on the right to my sister.
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"Katy,
Thanks for your chicken
ark pictures. We didn't know there was such a thing. We
think the whole thing is so fun! A mobile chicken house; who ever
heard of such a thing? We are going to set ours by the fence and
then plant tomatoes when we move it. Thanks again for the inspiration!"
--R.H., Lakeland, Florida
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"Katy,
Your website is wonderful. We are not 'house pet' people, but have
been looking for some kind of pet or animal to keep as a family activity.
After speaking with quite a few people, and getting the approval of my
wife, it looks like a couple of hens may be just what we're looking for.
Your pictures are very helpful;Thanks again for your great website."
---- P.W., Portland, Oregon
Submit
a picture of *your* hen house or pen for consideration for 'HHOTM.'
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And don't forget to buy a sticker and help support this site! TheCityChicken.com stickers are just $1. Send a dollar bill to: 506 E. Twin Falls St., Yacolt WA 98675. Please include a S.A.S.E. (self-addressed, stamped envelope.) The stickers are weather-proof, high quality, adhesive-backed vinyl so you can stick them on things like your car bumper, bike or even chicken coop. The sticker measures 5.5 inches by 1.42 inches. The color is white with black printing. Don't forget the S.A.S.E.! Thank you!
