The City Chicken

* * * Look at this space first for news and current events! Updated July 2009 * * * What to do for your chickens in July: By this time, if you have a garden, it's probably getting pretty big and so if you let your chickens out to roam the yard a little, they probably won't be able to scratch up seedlings because the plants are well established. Now they can hopefully eat the bugs that bother your crops. The soil also gets drier in July; this will create more dry patches of dirt which chickens gravite towards and LOVE to take dust baths in. Be sure to check your chicken's water daily in hotter weather. Make sure that your chicken have access to shade at all times of the day in the summer. Usually a chicken coop will provide some shade. As you mow the lawn this summer, be sure to throw some grass clippings in to your coop. The chickens will eat the grass, and it also makes good litter/bedding and nest box material when it dries out. Also, as you harvest produce from your garden, give the trimmings to your chickens. Enjoy July! Be careful in letting your chickens out of their coop to roam the yard at this time. Lots of new flower, plant and vegetable shoots are emerging and the chickens like to peck the tops off which can kill the young plants. If you want to keep your garden safe from your hens but still want to give the birds some greens, throw all your garden clippings and weeds into their run. A good way to keep the grass trimmed and fertilized is to have a chicken tractor that is on wheels so that you can move it easily around the yard on a daily basis. Don't forget to check your chicken's watering container daily. They need a lot of water on hot days. Dehydration can kill a chicken fast. One more thing: Make sure your coop has at least some shade that lasts all day. Chickens need shade on sunny days. Chicken Coop Tour 2009: 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 date of the 2009 'Tour De Coops' in Portland, Oregon is Saturday, July 25, 2009. Here's a video I took of three hens I once had. I currently have a flock of six hens. TheCityChicken.com now has a related Yahoo Group. Find it here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/thecitychicken/ Join up! TheCityChicken.com got a mention in The Baltimore Sun newspaper: http://tinyurl.com/ne3hhc TheCityChicken.com got a mention in a Slate.com artice: http://www.slate.com/id/2192934/?GT1=38001 TheCityChicken.com got a mention in The Toronto Star newspaper: http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/421205 TheCityChicken.com was mentioned in USA Today: http://tinyurl.com/m5wm8t TheCityChicken.com was mentioned in Newsweek: http://www.newsweek.com/id/168740 And TheCityChicken.com was even mentioned in The New York Times: http://tinyurl.com/lpjekj The New York Times mentioned us again here: http://tinyurl.com/l8sq5u


I recently moved to the small (pop. 1500) 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 might 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. That's nearly considered a right in America. 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. Dogs bark at night way after dark at times, yet hens don't make a peep after the sun goes down. And don't get me started on how many pet cats poop in your and my yards. It's thinking like this that many people right now are trying to overcome. You might start by getting one of these bumper stickers.


Is keeping chickens in your city or suburban backyard legal? The odds are on your side. TheCityChicken.com 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.


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 pretty much 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. No offense to parrots! All in good fun. . . . . and here's a nice article about keeping chickens as pets: http://www.birdhobbyist.com/articles/BirdHobbyist/Species/PetChickens.html

And a shout-out to Geren's Farm Supply's "Critter Corner." (It's in Sandy, Oregon USA...where I grew up!) 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 stores that will buy your surplus or unwated chickens. Geren's Farm Supply, 33680 S.E. Kelso Rd., Boring, Oregon 97009, 503-668-9323. What should you do if you have an extra rooster you want to get rid of, or too many hens, or you want to sell your chickens before you move, or you're just plain tired of chickens for some reason? Don't feel bad about it; it happens all the time. I would use and have used CraigsList.com to post a free ad giving away or sometimes selling your chickens. It can't be guaranteed they won't become dinner for someone, but more often that not they won't be. However, I personally believe a chicken dinner is a noble end for a chicken!


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." I tried this myself! What happened was that I left a wheelbarrow full of dirty chicken litter full of chicken manure in the wheelbarrow. Then it rained. The wheelbarrow filled with water! Whoops! So I poured off the water into a five gallon bucket. It was raw 'compost tea.' I knew I wasn't supposed to pour this raw 'tea' onto plants without diluting at least by half with water. But I did it anyway. I watered a young tree with it. Guess what happened? The whole top half of the 6' tree got burned and died. I had to prune off the burnt branches. The tree lived, but I learned my lesson. Chicken poop tea is hot stuff! Dilute with water!

Very nice comments from readers of TheCityChicken.com:

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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

"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

“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.

"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

"Dear Katy...I just wanted to write and say thank you for such a wonderful, informative, and inspiring website. I am a newbie at raising chickens, and I have to say that I love it. I really never expected that chickens have so much personality and that they could be so addicting to own!" - - - T.S., Sherwood, Oregon

"Dear Katy...Just wanted to let you know that I really enjoying coming back to your site and this time you've have added a lot of new stuff that you're up to. You were the website that gave me the courage to buy chickens and keep them in our dog kennel. We are still loving the chickens, getting 5 eggs a day (soon to be six), and proud to be chicken owners. I'm getting ready to email your site to a friend who's buying her first chickens this weekend. Thanks again." -----Beth, VA

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TheCityChicken.com table of contents: MAIN PAGE (chickens.html) CHICKEN TRACTOR GALLERY (tractors.html) PICTORIAL HISTORY (pictorialhistory.html) F.A.Q. (frequentlyasked.html) ARTICLES (articles.html) CHICKEN LAWS (chickenlaws.html) BROODING CHICKS (broodchicks.html) HEN HOUSE of the MONTH (hhotm.html)