City Chicks

I am not very rural.  I grew up in a small town and knew many people who had farms and ranches, but I grew up a banker's daughter.  We lived on 4 acres but never had anything more than a dog.  I did, however, go with my dad to visit his trust customers and most of them lived on farms.  I would help the lady of the house collect eggs from the chicken coop while my dad "talked business" with her husband.  I once bottle fed a baby goat and helped some with lambs and calves and pigs on my many visits to different farms.

Something about it I loved.  Being up close and personal with nature and taking care of animals.  It made me feel good inside.

I have been reading a lot about raising chickens for eggs.  I (unfortunately) cannot do that right now, because my neighborhood HOA has a stipulation in the bylaws forbidding it.  However, the town I live in recently passed a city ordinance lifting a ban on it.  Backyard chickens!  A lot of people in town have them now.

One thing I have read a lot about is that you need to be ready to be a Mother Hen before you get some chicks.  For the first several weeks, they need hourly attention.  You have to decide on using a coop or letting them be free range or a combination of the two.  I would love to have a "chicken run" fenced off on the side of my back yard where there could be a coop, but also let them out to peck and scratch in the grass and get plenty of fresh air and sunshine.

You can build a coop, there are many plans to find on the internet and you can even find chicken coops now at Petco or PetSmart!

And what kind of chickens?!  There are over 400 breeds of chickens today.  When choosing a breed, it is important to think of temperament, climate, egg-production levels, and if you will be just using them for eggs or also for meat.

If you have backyard chickens, how do you do it?  How long have you have them?  Tell me about it!