I spent a good portion of yesterday researching chickens. I’m fascinated by the idea of keeping chickens in the backyard for eggs! I don’t know if it’s right for us, but I had a lot of fun looking at chicken coops and imagining having one out back.
Design*Sponge recently wrote about keeping chickens, and Apartment Therapy wrote about the subject a couple of years ago. As people are becoming more aware of their food sources and sustainable living (both things I’m working on), it seems chicken keeping is making a big comeback. I haven’t met anyone keeping them in an urban (or suburban) setting, though it seems they’re out there! Do you or any of your neighbors have chickens?
146 comments
Aubrey
I love the #3 modern one. It looks like it came from Ikea. Our neighbor has a shed load of chickens and one of them has mainly become our pet, i may have to invest in that coop for him :)
Allison
We live in the country and have kept chickens for years. Remember, they are very social with each other and they always prefer sleeping on a roost as opposed to the ground. And hens prefer to lay in a nest, not on the ground. And they absolutely must be secured at night. You would be surprised at the prowlers roaming your neighborhood at night that find chickens very tasty.
Ours are outdoors year round. Though it is not quite as cold in Texas as in Illinois, I would still not keep them in your garage over the winter. Some breeds are more winter-hardy than others. Check into those breeds. If they have an area that is partially covered and out of the north wind they should be okay. Have you visited any local farms to see how others in your area are raising chickens? You can check out the Cackle Hatchery in Missouri and Murray McMurray, which may be in Illinois. Best wishes! Chickens are lots of fun. Bantams are really great!
Erin R.
When I was in middle school, we had a couple of chickens (we lived in the suburbs). Keeping them was easy, but as we were kids and it was our responsibility to feed them in the morning (and like Chicago, Michigan is cold in the winter) we grew tired of it and gave them back to our friends from whom we got them. Since you aren’t a kid though and have a more realistic idea of what you’re getting into, I say go for it. If I didn’t have two large dogs who would greatly desire to have said chickens for a tasty snack, I would definitely do it.
jenny V.
Yes~ We live in Seattle and and at least three neighbors on our block have chickens! You can definitely make it work in an urban area and I have to say, the chickens have become part of my morning that I look forward to hearing – just as much as the boats!
Fiona
My aunt in a suburb of Sydney, Australia had them when we were growing up, but she had a really large yard, and quite a large fenced area they stayed in. Every once in a while, a cat or other animal would get in somehow, and it wasn’t pretty, so keep that in mind.
Mackenzie Farmer
I have two chickens. I enjoy collecting the eggs. They each lay an egg a day. I painted my chicken coop petal pink and I painted chickens all over the coop. I painted the word chicken all over the rungs of the ladder. You can check out my coop on my blog post at http://www.mackenzien@edublogs.org. My chickens are named Buttertwist and Coconut. Coconut flies out of the pen so we will have to trim her wings. I think you will enjoy having chickens.
Shandra Lenae
Check out coldantlerfarm.blogspot.com. Jenna has created a blog just for homesteading starting from a small scale. I found her by checking out her book ‘Made From Scrath’ which has a detailed chapter about her trials and successes of raising a few chickens.
katie
a few houses down from one of my husband’s bachelor apartments in madison, wi is a house that keeps chickens in the backyard. they also had a pug that kept sentinel. we called it the pug and chicken house, which sounds like a very good name for a pub. =) i think it would be cool to keep chickens when we get a house of our own, but i’m uncertain about it if we need to have roosters. i don’t like being woken up that early. =)
Bethany
You don’t have to have a rooster unless you just want one for some reason. Chickens are like people. The women drop (or lay! ha) eggs every month (with chickens they lay an egg about every day) whether there is a man around to fertilize them or not. haha A lot of cities allow people to have hens but no roosters for this reason – they can still have eggs but don’t have ticked off neighbors. :)
Amy
Oooo… do it! I love my chickens so much. They are way easier to take care of then I thought, so funny to watch and the eggs are yummers. My toddler LOVES them.
Bethany
My husband and I live in a rural area, but we raise chickens that we grow up to sell to people for homelaying flocks. The bulk of our customers live in Raleigh, Durham, and Wilmington, NC. We’ve helped a lot of people get their own laying flocks set in urban and rural areas, and I’m a big fan of the chicken tractor method. Allowing the chickens to scratch and forage really does make the eggs have a better quality. If you’re handy at all though I definitely say make your own coop/tractor! There are tons of simple triangular plans online, and they are crazy cheaper. I’d love to see any chicks you guys may get. Do you know what kind you might end up getting? I like a mix myself for my own flock. I have two Buff Orpingtons, two Barred Rocks, and two Rhode Island Reds for our personal flock (not the one we have to sell eggs from). I like all of them though. :)
Kristy
I’ve had chickens for 3 years now in an urban environment (Madison, WI). My three hens are now gone and I’ve replaced them with 4 new chicks.
Chickens are super easy to care for, and cheap too. The only expensive cost is the coop. Ours was easy though, because we built it out of free/found materials.
Check out the backyardchickens.com forum for lots of good advice.
My chickens: http://www.flickr.com/photos/_kristy_/sets/72157600312195114/
2008 Chicken Coop tour: http://www.flickr.com/photos/_kristy_/collections/72157606308665133/
2009 Chicken Coop tour: http://www.flickr.com/photos/_kristy_/collections/72157622055775950/
rosa
We live on Vancouver Island on the west coast of Canada. We live in a small city which doesn’t yet allow chickens….with that being said we decided to get some anyway!! we have .20 of an acre, which seems like ALOT but in chicken language it’s not. I don’t want to come across sounding negative about chickens or any thing that helps with ecology and economy, because for some that are great!! There are a few things to remember though…they don’t like to be cooped up ;) hehe, if you have them in a permanent house, they will need to be let out into the yard to forge for bugs and scratch and eat plants, if you have a chicken tractor is has to be moved, often, that means you have to be home and willing to do that. If they are let into your yard, they will destroy(slowly) everything. They can’t discern between your favorite flowers and a blade of grass, they will eat it all. Also they have no manners when it comes to bodily functions, they don’t realize that you don’t want your entire back yard full of chicken poo bombs. That being said, they are lovely, give you gifts of delicious eggs and can make great pet companions. Make the decision for yourself and for the right reasons :)
Desiree Fawn
I absolutely have been planning on getting chicks for a while now… there’s a bylaw against them here, but we have some neighbours who’ve kept them for years with no problemos! Hope to get some soon!
Bordeaux
I’m totally into the idea of keeping chickens for eggs and as pets. We’re moving to Taiwan in a few months and I am seriously considering getting a pet hen for our apartment. I’ve seen people walk pigs on leashes in Taiwan parks, so I wonder if I can do the same with a hen…
Wendy
We have 7, including one rooster. We have almost 4 acres though.
Christine Heinrichs
Check out my books, How to Raise Chickens and How to Raise Poultry, http://poultrybookstore.com. They focus on raising traditional breeds in small flocks. I’m historian for the Society for Preservation of Poultry Antiquities, and have a collection of antique poultry books and magazines. Take a look at Backyard Poultry magazine.
Polli
We keep chickens in the city… you can see photos of them blog. We’ve got 11 now and we love it. We’ve had them a year and it’s been an adventure, but great for our family.
Difranco
I’ve started keeping fowl, however I recently moved to the country. I hatched and raised several Guinea Fowl and let them roam freely. They are absolutely fabulous birds!
Leah HugaMonkey
We have 3 and LOVE them. We raised them from chicks, but you can buy them full grown if you don’t want to put in that hard work at the beginning. They eat kitchen scraps and bugs out of your lawn, fertilize, give eggs, and are so fun to watch and play with. My 3 kids love taking care of them and holding them. They’re a great pet for people who aren’t big pet people. Very low maintenance with good benefits.
KatieO
I hail from Portland, OR….the capital of Urban Chicken Farmers :) Seriously. It’s the *thing* to do, here!
Kristín
do it! I’m going to do it one day when I have a garden and not just a balcony :)
It’s also good for the environment since chicken eat pretty much anything so you can stop throwing away leftovers etc. and get eggs instead!
matt
love them! check out ours!
we’re making some more for maker faire in may
http://www.justfinedesignbuild.com/portfolio/show/6
jessica
We’re semi rural so we don’t count (we live on an acre, plenty of room for chickens and many of our neighbors have them).
But, I know Heather kept chickens in suburbia: http://www.ohmystinkinheck.com/sscf-secret-suburban-chicken-farming/
So did Stephanie: http://blueyonderranch.com/ though I can’t find the posts on her new blog.
http://www.foodforeveryone.org has free chicken coop plans.
gesikah
The only thing I have to add being a former country girl who grew up with chickens is to take into consideration predators, which I will confess I have no idea about in the city/suburbs. ;) Where we live is just city enough not to have to worry about larger predators (coyotes, etc) but country enough that without the larger predators, the “smaller” ones (opossum, raccoons, etc) get much bigger than their more rural counterparts (probably because of a steady diet of pet food).
Also, aside from the predators, the feed and eggs might also attract more “critters” such as rodents and snakes.
Oh and roosters are evil. Just had to get that off my chest. ;)
Kevin
I rent in San Francisco and have 2 hens. They both lay an egg a day and are an excellent addition to my garden. I build furniture and chicken coops at a shop in Oakland, CA. If you are in the Bay Area come check me out at Maker Faire in San Mateo May 22&23–Just Fine Design Build. Thanks and keep it chicky.
Ashley Pahl
I was living in Chicago last year, in the Portage Park neighborhood, and our neighbor was keeping chickens. It surprised the heck out of me the first time I saw them, but I love the idea. Once we own a house, a garden and some chickens will definitely be on my backyard list.
justin
My downstairs neighbors had two chickens until very recently. We’re in a position that is a cross between urban and suburban. There is a garden, but it is small. The chickens were in a small enclosure with a wooden nesting house inside. They were allowed to roam in the garden each day. They’d deliver two eggs a day for their breakfast. A neighbor (apartments all around) complained about their noise (Which was minimal unless they got scared) and the council rejected their complaint.
They became very tame. Would hop up on peoples laps. They’d also scratch into the garden and damage plants etc, unless they were protected appropriately.
unfortunately they were both killed recently, beheaded, overnight, and when in their coop, by what we think was a suburban fox — or an incredibly strong and aggressive cat.
Jennifer
I totally agree with Lauren up there…We live in Florida and have raised two hens in our backyard. I get two eggs a day (more than I ever need) and they are practically nothing to take care of. I think our neighbors found it odd at first, but now they are always talking to us about it. I fully promote it! Personally our chicken are fairly friendly. They allow us to hold them often and rarely peck or scratch us. We also have a dog that doesn’t bother them as well. Hope this helps!
Jenn
Amanda
I live in a suburban neighborhood and someone definitely had a rooster for awhile. It was annoying as heck, particularly when it wakes you up at 5 am on the weekends. I haven’t heard it in awhile, so maybe someone else found it and took care of it! Unless you live in the country, I just think it’s rude to have a rooster waking your neighbors, so as long as you don’t get one then sure.
Just be careful with the baby around them. Chickens aren’t friendly little pets, they’ll scratch the bejesus out of you. Personally, I don’t like brown eggs. My aunt has a farm and they use their own chickens’ eggs and I don’t enjoy the flavor.
Shrie >> Lo & Behold
My neighbors have 2 or 3 chickens and they have a TON of eggs. More than they can eat. We live in a very urban neighborhood with houses (actually the most diverse zip code in the US: 98118) and they do fine in a small backyard. They aren’t that loud either!
Lauren
2-3 hens are VERY easy. Don’t listen to the naysayers since you won’t be getting a rooster. I grew up with chickens and most of the negatives are caused by the boys (oh, big surprise, right?). They crow, they attack people, they fight, they make the girls squawk when they decide its mating/attack time, which is about every 15 minutes. I also live in the South where heaters for grown hens and water heaters are unnecessary. Chickens DO fly (about 20 ft. intervals), and they love to perch on fences, but they don’t go away because they know their food source!
Hens alone will only squawk when laying an egg (maybe once a day), and they mildly cluck walking around… nothing an urban setting couldn’t handle.
Jujube
I am surprised that rising chicken is a hit n US. In Asia / Hong Kong where I live, we have chicken as pet / source of eggs / even meat for many years. Recently there is a ban of having chicken at home due to bird flu.
I think US weather is colder and dryer which is less favorable for the gems to grow. Just remember to wash hands and the eggs before consume.
Felicity
We had turkeys growing up and they were a PIA – the foxes always ate at least half of them before “harvesting” time. I’d love an Omlet(?) coop for chickens, but we travel too much so I think we’d end up regretting the decision. A girlfriend of mine in Maine has a coop with a ton of chickens and they eat fresh eggs daily. They really are the best eggs ever! The only problem is that when you order your chicks you can’t tell if you’ve got a rooster, so you kinda have to be ready to well, um, ya know, the whole neck thing….
Cath
We just finished helping our friends build a chicken coop for their backyard in Bridgeport! They’re now mom and dad to three chickens, which they got at only one day old. The coop is contained under their back deck, which is convenient. We’re actually in your neck of the woods, so we’re unsure how our neighbors would feel about chickens, but we hope to reap the benefits of our good friends’ new hens.
Amanda
I really like #4 and #6. I guess it would depend on how many you have. My father had chickens and he says it was a real benefit!
dawn
we are looking into getting chickies + coop for my daughter who wants to do 4-h this year. and honestly, for me too because i like to do a lot of baking and i’ve been buying organic eggs (and they are expensive). our neighbors had chickens and i loved hearing them cluck during the day :) we live on the outskirts of town and have to design the coop to fend off predators (coyotes and weasels and the like) AND chickens are messy (my husband volunteered to clean it thank goodness) but we are excited. and love the chicken coops that you posted, especially no. 3.
nicole
Makes me want to keep a chicken just to have one of those lovely coops to look at in my yard!
Samantha
Our neighbors keep about 5 chickens in a little coop in their yard. We live in a busy suburban neighborhood in Texas.
I think their coop being so close to both our house violates city code but they asked us first and we don’t have a problem with it. Once my veggie garden is up and producing this summer I’m looking forward to bartering for eggs.
I like listening to their little chicken sounds through the fence in the evening.
Sarah
There was an Earth Day Fest in Oak Park last weekend that had an urban chicken consultant from Home to Roost. The consultant lives in Oak Park, so you might want to check them out. Oak Park does allow you to keep two hens (but no roosters.) The Animal Care League on Garfield in OP does chicken checkups, too. We’ve been looking into getting chickens, too, but we have a chain link fence and our next door neighbors have a german shepherd, so we aren’t sure how that would fare (constant barking and/or chicken heart attacks?. It is fun to look at chicken coops, though, and fresh eggs would be great!
Making it Lovely
My neighbor just got two new dogs, and they’re sort of aggressive (barking and going mad trying to get us through the fence), so I worry about that too.
The ACL is where we got Murray though! Nice to know that we can bring our (potential) chickens there too.
eb finds
we live in the country in a stone farmhouse built in 1845. It was a farm of course, so it came with it’s own blacksmith shop and a couple of chiken coops , plus all of the barns. The smaller coop is probably from the 1940’s and is the sweetes thing. The feeders were all built in, and the paned windows all have bubble glass. I knew when we moved here I would ultimately keep chickens. Finally when our daughter was old enough, we loaded up. It is amazingly fun and I have become totally obsessed.
Jessica
We have chickens in a densely-populated area within the city limits of Columbus, OH, and love it. You may want to check out my FAQ here: http://kusine.com/blog/2010/04/22/faq-raising-chickens-in-columbus-oh/.
Bec Spicer
Hi
I’m a long time reader of your blog and felt I really had to come out of the woodwork to answer this question. First of all, I’m Australian. I live in a town of about 25000 people. Though our block is quite large for suburban standards (1800 sq m), it is still a suburban block.
We keep chickens and after some research decided the deep litter system would work for us. My husband, being a carpenter was able to build our chicken coop. The chickens stay inside all the time and are very happy to do so. The litter that is used on the ground is then used as mulch on our vegie garden. It needs to be changed over every four to six months. There is plenty of information out there on deep litter systems if you want to research it further.
I know that our council regulations stipulate how many hens can be kept and where the chicken coop can be built. It has to be a certain distance from the main residence, neighboring houses and fence lines.
I hope that was of some use to you. Finally I want to add that there is no better feeling than knowing you are eating something so fresh or something you have produced in your on backyard.
Karin S.
There’s a whole “chicken support group” of folks raising chickens here in Oak Park, organized through Unity Temple. I can put you in touch with the group if you like.
Estelle
This is so inspiring and makes me want to keep my own chickens!
Jane
Hi Nicole,
You should check this out, I just found it while cruising around in blog world:
http://heatherbullard.typepad.com/heather_bullard_collectio/2010/03/our-chicken-coop.html
I’ve got a few friends who have chickens, they love them – they eat all the kitchen scraps (well most of them) and in return they get an abundance of beautiful eggs. I guess they come with the downsides of most pets, but also have benefits!
nicole
i have had urban chickens a couple of times (sadly not currently) and they are a lot of fun, a lot of work and the most delicious eggs you will ever eat. Go for it.
Nicole B.
I live in Rogers Park (North part of Chicago) and we have neighbors across the street with chickens. I have never once heard them, and despite being in the city it isn’t noisy all the time.
I say go for it… give it a shot!
Cara Jean Means
Bah! I want chickens so bad it hurts but my husband won’t let me do it! My neighbor had 5..one was a rooster until she got rid of it, then another one became the new rooster! Apparently there are “roosters in hiding” that will only start to crow when the alpha rooster is dethroned…or kicked out. I absolutely loved hearing him crow when I was in the backyard weeding. I live in the very throws of suburbia with nothing but city and standard cookie cutter life all around me so to hear a rooster crow throughout the day really made me feel like I was somewhere far out in the country…but not too far out that I can’t get to a Walmart in 5 minutes. I have no shame.
The WORST PART is that my neighbor is moving. She gave her chickens to her brother because in her words, she knew if she offered them to me it would have caused a fight between me and my husband. She’s right. I would have kicked him out to make room for the new Rooster.
Leslie
I lived on a farm for a few years in Michigan but I don’t think chickens are appropriate for urban settings. They require a lot of work and the homes are too close together for the noise and smell. The neighbors would not appreciate the sound of the clucking at 4 in the morning.
I would be curious if Oak Park allows chickens though. I would love to get a llama personally. They make great watch pets.
R
When I stayed with my mom in a suburban-ish setting, she kept chickens. One chicken in particular, George, kept getting attacked by the other two chickens who were more aggressive and all of them would get attacked by raccoons and/or possums at night time. They figured out how to open up the coop (despite our many attempts to secure it) and we would wake up in the morning and find them to be pretty badly beat up. Poor chickens…
L
Our neighbors (in Seattle proper) have 3 chickens that roam the neighborhood during the day and return to their protected coop at night.
There have been 3 of them for a couple years and no mis-haps so far – the kids get a kick out of seeing them scratching around in the school yard.
Alexandrea M
My mom had chickens for a few years before she retired to Mexico last year, I really loved the fresh eggs from them.
I want to raise chickens but my husband keeps trying to veto the idea. I know others around here (a bit outside Seattle city limits) have chickens because they have wandered over into our backyard a couple times…
Reading the comments about them needing more space then the ones you show is going to send me off to do more research, I really like some of those options and some of them look secure enough to protect against the giant raccoon population we have here.
Julie
PS search your local craigslist – that’s where I found our builder
Julie
Holy crap your timing is eery. I just mailed a deposit check to a local builder for our first coop today(custombuiltshelters.com)!
We live in Carmichael, CA. Our neighbors have a few layers. Can’t wait!!!
Louise
Chickens are great! BUT they actually need LOTS LOTS LOTS of space to be happy and semi-self reliant. Also, the yard space that you keep them in will get ruined.
They need shelter, water, food (usually dry pellets and lots of leafy greens) plus bugs/worms etc, nesting boxes, wings clipped, protection from cats, rats and other nasties, and usually you’ll need bantam hens if you want to raise chicks.
I’m sure you know this – but don’t get a rooster. I don’t even think you’re allowed them in most urban areas.
Chickens also take a while to stay laying eggs, and won’t do this all year round.
They are fantastic – we have them in the backyard (in a big city in NZ) but!!! they honestly do need a lot more space than the likes of the coops you’ve shown here.
Good luck!!
Emma
We have four chickens (but we do live on a farm and have horses for riding, cows for milking, lambs for eating etc) and I love them, they’re such funny little creatures. You could def have them in backyard, my brother in law lives in a tiny terrace in Melbourne with no yard and has bantams in his back alley!
Sarah Sarniak
We’re doing this right now. We have our chickens (see my blog for pics) and we’re working on building our chicken coop right now. It’s going to be well worth it for all the eggs we’ll get. :)
Melanie
One of my co-workers owns chickens … however, I work at a school that is in a farming community on the outskirts of the city … lol, so I guess its not really the same thing!
I’m not sure how many chickens she has, because if anyone ever wants any they just post it on the staff room board and she’ll let us know when they’re ready … but I’d say she has a nice few because its fairly quick (and if I understand correctly, a chicken will only lay one egg a day?)
kristine
we have six chickens in our backyards in a suburban area. the coup isn’t anything fancy though and one chicken has learned how to escape. our neighbors don’t mind, but they’ve said they love watching my sister & brother in law run around the yard chasing them back in the coup.
before it started getting warmer and the chickens weren’t producing a lot, we’d supplement with store bought eggs. it was so strange to see scrabbled eggs from the store next to scrabbled eggs from our chickens on the same plate. our eggs are tastier (in my opinion) and brighter yellow.
Kristin Nagy
I live in Southern California and have not seen any neighbors with chicken coups, but my husband and I lived in Portland, Oregon for 3 years and most of our friends kept chickens in their backyard. We are moving up there in a year and I’m already planning my chicken coup :) Good luck with yours.
Erika
Be sure and check your local ordinances. It may be illegal, particularly since you live in a very urban environment.
I don’t know for sure, but I suspect it would be a lot more work than it seems.
Keep us posted on your decision!
Jolene
Honey, I thought was a great idea, too, when we bought our first home. Our baby chicks produced 3 hens and 1 rooster. 1 of the hens got grabbed by a hawk. The rooster grew up to be gorgeous but aggressive. He also was a bit too amorous with the smaller girl, so we had to arrange separate areas for the girls and the boy. They laid eggs for about a year and a half (and yes they were yummy, but too few overall.) The habitat options you show are laughable. We believe in giving our animals a reasonable habitat. The coop my husband built was dubbed “the Poulet Palais”–cut redwood casa tucked beneath a tree for summer shade; a trio of nesting boxes with their own lockable doors; a front entry way and ramp; clerestory windows to let in the light; a tiled floor for easy cleaning; a shingled roof to match the main house decor. 5 years later, we are down to one hen and of course our rooster. We’re constantly vigilant against neighborhood racoons and the hawks. The rooster is still a sight to behold, but we need to approach him with caution. The hen hasn’t laid an egg in 3 years and wants nothing to do with either us or her amorous mate. Overall, the project fell way short of our expectations.
so much for my farm fantasy but good luck to you!
Noir 1
What an excellent idea! I saw some beautiful chicks at the Farm & Fleet a few weeks ago and pondered this idea myself! And I live in the city!
Jean
I live in a semi-urban area and my dear neighbors keep chickens. It’s fantastic to have fresh eggs. Also, the chickens are like amped-up composting machines. My neighbor gives them all kinds of table scraps and the chickens in turn make the most wonderful soil for the garden.
Kat
I have 4 chickens and am a bonified city girl. Manicure, high heels, the works. I love my girlies and the eggs are glorious. Feel free to contact me anytime and I can tell you more! Love your blog! buk buk!
Nolita Morgan
We had chickens out in the country (and loved the fresh eggs and natural bug/weed killer) but we moved into town 4.5 yrs ago. We are currently looking into getting 4-5 hens (prob East Egg hens because their eggs were always so pretty). I would bet money you can make a better coop/run yourself! Would LOVE to see that!
sprizee
Have you seen this adorable custom built chicken coop? It pretty much made me think I needed 4 pet chickens named Mabel, Daisy Mae, Mary and Annabelle for a good 72 hours. So cure.
http://heatherbullard.typepad.com/heather_bullard_collectio/2010/03/our-chicken-coop.html
Marnie
A friend of mine in Portland, OR built an amazing coop he refers to as the “Chicken Sedan”. One of the ingenious features is that is is portable, and meant to be rotated over several planting beds to fertilize the soil.
http://www.chickensedan.com/
Carolyn
A friend of mine keeps chickens in her urban backyard and has a cute blog about it:
http://talesofamotherclucker.blogspot.com/
Enjoy!
Making it Lovely
Great name for a blog. :)
makakona
there needs to be a distinction made between “i grew up on a farm” and keeping a handful of chickens in your backyard. chickens are gross, for sure. they are messy and a lot of work. but two or three? easy peasy! and such a small flock allows the attention to ensure they’re more pet-like than cafo terrors.
my dad and husband both grew up on farms with huge henhouses (100+ hens) and HATE chickens, as a rule. our half dozen? they both love them and draw no parallels between them and their previous poultry experiences.
The Glamorous Housewife
OMG! I want chickens so bad, and now seeing those coops, I really, really want them!!
Thanks doll,
The Glamorous Housewife
Debra @ CraftyInnovation
I have wanted chickens since reading the book “Keep Chickens! Tending Small Flocks in Cities, Suburbs, and Other Small Spaces” by Barbara Kilarski. GREAT READ – see if your library has it. My brother keeps chickens in his large suburban yard (where he is growing organic hops and the chickens keep the grasshoppers under control!) Check out his (expired) eBay listing, which describes the breed he has and why he chose them (he’s in Minnesota, so it’s cold like Chicago, and his grandson is 2). Since you have Eleanor it might be a good breed to explore. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=310208650661 Friends in St. Louis keep a couple of hens in their back yard and love them. Let us know what you do! I love the coops!!
Nicole
This is so cool!
Kathleen
My best friend in highschool had chickens in her back yard. Smack dab in the middle of a big campus and it was never a problem. I just joined a Facebook group trying to legalize backyard chicken coops in OKC city limits and know of a couple people with them in their yards. It’s definitely making a comeback.
I LOVE all the coops you found. I can’t wait to show my husband.
Hilary
It’s illegal in my city to keep “farm animals” within city limits. I think there are pros and cons. Personally, I’d rather buy my eggs from a local farm and support their business.
Molly
Chickens aren’t going to fly in Oak Park…
Making it Lovely
You don’t think so? There are so many kids on our block… I think they would love to come over and see chickens! Oak Park is such a crunchy/granola/liberal kinda town (and I mean that in the best way possible), I think there are already a lot of people keeping chickens here.
Mayes
I’m in Seattle and at least 1/3 of my neighbors have them. Chickens are everywhere here! They love them not only for the eggs but also for the gardening benefits – they naturally “fertilize” and take care of bug problems!
lori
i’m not sure if you read her blog or not, but dottie angel just posted about her chickens today! http://dottieangel.blogspot.com/2010/04/its-chicken-thing.html
Nuit
i didn’t think so many people had them as I don’t know anyone who does, but the chickens seem to be so popular!!! such a great post!♥
Rebekah Coleman-Brahler
we went to tractor supply co. on saturday just to oogle the chicks and ducklings. it was so, so hard to not bring one home! i’ve wanted chickens for a couple of years, but my hubby grew up with them, so that, along with the fact that we buy AMAZING eggs from our csa farm, makes him less-than-thrilled with the idea.
Martina
Very cute & fun modern chicken coops! My metro area (Nashville) doesn’t allow us to keep any livestock including chickens. I’m not sure if I’d be up to the work anyway – a vegetable garden is as close to urban farming as we’ll probably ever get. We have been researching bee keeping, though!
erika edith
Wow – so much chicken talk. Thumbs up for everyone that has enough energy for this; it all sounds overwhelming. We just buy our eggs at the farmers market each week, which is close enough to fresh for us. Plus we like to travel and finding a dog sitter is hard enough – imagine trying to convince someone to watch your chickens? :P
Sara @ EF eDesigns
This is great! I would LOVE to have chickens, but the city I live in doesn’t allow it :( Hopefully someday my husband & I will move further into the country and then I’ll have to remember this post!
Vonnie
Our tiny coup is made from recycled PVC fence. You can see it here http://yvonne4real.blogspot.com/search/label/Chickens
I only wish it was more mobile and a bit off the ground. Our hens are very happy and so much fun.
alison
Our neighbors have chickens, and we live in a suburb of St. Paul, MN. We moved in after they got them, so I’m not sure if they had to have the neighbors agree or not. But, they do have them outside in the winter and they survive! Pretty impressive as I wine just walking out to get the mail on a cold day!
Hearty little things!
Sarah
We just got our chickens this weekend! My husband build a chicken trailer similar to #1 and we now have 4 chickens living in it and producing eggs. We also attached wheels to the bottom of our trailer so it is easily wheeled around the yard. We keep them for the summer for eggs and enjoy the meat in the winter. My daughter (2 yrs.) LOVES them! This is the second year we have had a few chickens.
tammy
We kept chickens for awhile in a (fairly large) suburb. We ended up giving them up to someone with a proper barn come one winter though, it was just too hard to try and keep them warm enough.
Erin
I live in south philly and there’s chickens running loose all over the backyards on some blocks. my last place all the yards had been taken over by 20+ loose chickens. you hear the roosters all day. I don’t think I know any one that keeps them for food or anything…a few people have them as a pet in their house though.
Sara
I love in the city of Atlanta & several of my neighbors have chickens. They live in the Reynolds Town & Cabbage Town areas. It is funny to be walking my dog & see some chickens cross your path in the middle of the street.
Louisa
I grew up on a farm with chickens (both in a permanent coop and roaming for fertilization and sanitation of fields) and I think they’re very romanticized. I know some people rave about them, and perhaps 2-3 as pets would be manageable, but in a commercial setting I found them to be a lot of work, smelly, messy, noisy, stupid, and mean.
I suppose I’d be angry too if someone was stealing my babies (a.k.a. eggs) every day, but they were vicious and used to peck the crap out of my legs, hands, and anything else they could reach.
I generally love animals and get along well with them, but I’d personally think long and hard before deciding to raise chickens again.
mitch
we get ours as hatchlings and handle them alot. once they go out to the coop they stay very friendly and will follow us around the yard and come to us when we call.
Carol
You can keep up to two chickens in Oak Park. One of the Longfellow Elementary teachers has two in her OP backyard.
Nicole
I totally have been thinking the same thing… A book that deals with the topic of eating locally in a really interesting way is ‘Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingsolver (& her husband & daughter). It follows her family’s year of eating locally (mainly from their own roost of chickens, turkeys, and garden) and is a fascinating look at how it can truly be done… really made me think about where our food comes from and was a really interesting & inspiring read that I think you’d enjoy!
Megan
I live in Boulder, CO and I know about 20 people that have chickens. My plan was to let my friend do it and then see how it went. She is thrilled with her chickens, but after we were at their house, the bottoms of all our shoes (and my son’s feet since he took his shoes off) were covered in chicken poop and it was very sticky and yucky. (I really had to scrub it get it off my son’s feet.) She also said she had to put vaseline on their beak’s or their waddles or something, and I realized I just don’t have it in me to take care of chickens.
But to the person that said the rooster noise was annoying – our city doesn’t allow roosters, only chickens. I think roosters are the problem when it comes to noise, but I could be wrong.
risa
we had chickens for a while when i was growing up, but then found out the city didn’t approve and gave them to friends with more land in a rural city.
Tanya
As stated before, they will wreck your garden, smell and be noisy. If you are prepared to put up with that they are lovely pets, they have real character and do produce wonderful eggs. The only real way to stop them ruining your garden is to keep them cooped up and as mymsie said, they really don’t have enough room in those coops. Saying that the Omlet is really easy to clean!
Katrina
I grew up in the ‘country’ and and most of my friends had chickens in ‘coops, horses, goats etc…
I’ve never seen a chicken coop so cool! Chickens are so messy though.
hannah,
I have chickens. Three to be exact. And our coop is actually the “portable chicken coop” from your list. (We love it.) We live in a suburban town on about 2 acres. They are pretty low maintenance and supply us with three eggs most everyday. And those three eggs add up FAST. We usually give our extras away to friends and family. But, we could most certainly sell them if we wanted.
Every afternoon we let them out of their coop to get some exercise and peck around. (Side note: somebody already mentioned this. A fence is a must. They gobble up all things pretty in search for food.) At sunset they make their way back into their roost, so all we have to do is pull up the ladder to keep them safe.
Another plus is that chicken feed is cheap. I just bought a 50 lb. bag for $11 yesterday. As for noise, the only time I ever really hear them is when they get fidgety in the morning before I let their ladder down. Oh, and the poop. Yes, they poop everywhere, but that poop is solid gold in the fertilization world. So, I suppose there is a possible up side to everything.
I highly recommend them. They are great fun. And nothing makes you feel like a legit farm gal more than bringing fresh eggs in every morning. (Overalls and galoshes are optional. Although recommended.)
meredith
i would LOVE to keep chickens, but my boyfriend is vegan and i just don’t think i could go through the eggs fast enough by myself.
a friend of mine lives in berwyn and looked into it, but discovered it wasn’t allowed there. i know it’s allowed in chicago limits, though.
those coops are so cute – do they make chicken coop heaters to keep them warm?
mitch
It ok if you cant eat all of them. You just sell them to your friends that dont have chickens.
Jessika
I have chickens. I built their coop this year: http://oregonkaisers.blogspot.com/2010/03/finished-coop.html
I priced everything out, and it was far easier and cheaper to build my own. Many of the ones for sale out there give the birds very little space, but then again, it depends upon how many you have. We’re allowed 2 hens per household in my town (no roosters allowed in city limits), but my backyard is big enough to qualify us to have an “unlimited” number. We have 13. My coworkers bring vegetables and bread in for me to give to them, and I supplement that with sprouted local grain. Feel free to email me any questions!
Mymsie
I know this is popular right now but none of those look like they’d provide a humane amount of space for chickens to roam.
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