Thank you. That was actually very interesting. I have often thought of keeping a few chickens, and have clients who do. When they go away, I get the eggs. Only thing I'd have a problem with is the predators (I get so attached, and we have lots of hawks, coyotes, fisher cats, etc.) and cleaning the chicken coop. Nasty.

Is that how I get one of those ranges? Hmmmmm.

I've actually been thinking about getting some chickens. We've got the room for them. Not quite sure how our three chihuahuas would react to them, though. Dad (in-law) has been feeding a stray chicken (presumably a neighbor's) recently. The pups met her from a distance and didn't seem too alarmed so it might work.

That's the site my co-worker and carpool buddy runs. He's got a new bumper sticker on one of his cars I just noticed this morning: "My pet makes me breakfast." Made me chuckle.

I've raised them before but that was when we were on 5 acres with a barn setup. One of them turned out to be a rooster who was meaner than sin. I refused to deal with them.

Thanks for the info.

Wow!! You brought back childhood memories! I grew up in a small town in northern Indiana, next door to my grandparents, and we had a chicken enclosure across the back of our adjoining yards. One of my jobs was to gather the eggs . . . scary, because some of the biddies didn't want to give them up and pecked! Every chicken dinner began with a chase through the chicken yard . . . I can testify that I'd much rather buy them at Krogers!!

More recently, a friend with chickens routinely shared extra eggs -- and yes, they're very different than supermarket ones!

I just may have to have a few layers when the new house is done . . . but they'll die of old age, not ending up on the table!

OH! I had forgotten completely about dogs. My 14yo lab probably couldn't keep up with chickens anymore but my 1yo Heinz 57 terrier would turn them in to pillow filling in 15 minutes.

Drat! But thanks so much for the info. ;>

Great post! Thanks for sharing that info. I'd love to keep chickens- I think my kids would love it. But how do you protect them from predators? We have lots of hawks and I can hear owls every night near my house.

Great post! Thank you! When you showed their pictures on the other thread, I was wondering if IChik was going to take them for her mural over her stove. Maybe some day, I will get lucky and have some as well. Don't think my HOA would like them too much.

And here I thought you were just posting to make fun of me :oP

I would never do that to you, Iggles (sorry -- college roommate nickname)

I love my chickens! When we moved to our current house in 1999, we were given six chicks as a housewarming gift. They were named after Disney characters: Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, Esmerelda, Jasmine, and Mulan. Over the years, four of them died (three by raccoon, one by illness), but we still have two of the original ones. This spring I got two more chicks to fill in the flock, as the old girls don't lay many eggs (I got a total of about 5 dozen from the two of them this spring; they stopped laying in July).

Here's the babies, Aurora and Nala:

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I brooded them in a cardboard box until they were about 10 weeks old, then put them in the coop, separated from the other two big chickens for a few more weeks. They're all grown up now, and they should start laying eggs in September or October.

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To protect them from predators, we keep them in an enclosed area with a six-foot-high chicken wire fence (although it wasn't secure enough to keep out raccoons; we didn't dig it into the ground like we should have). We used to have bird netting over the top (like a ceiling) to keep the hawks out, but we took that down years ago and haven't had a problem. The hawks around here have plenty of rodents to eat, I guess. Owls aren't a problem because the chickens go in their coop at night. Our dog keeps coyotes away during the day, but they don't seem to bother the chickens at night when the dog is in the house. Our chickens did get attacked by a coyote (all survived) when I was letting them range around the yard, so I don't let them range any more. They tear up the gardens too much anyway, and they don't eat slugs.

I recently started making my back yard garden a lot bigger. One thing I want to put out there is a few chickens and a nice looking coop for them. During the day they can scratch around the garden eating bugs, and at night I'll shut them up for their own protection. We live right next to a swamp and the critters that live there would probably LOVE a nice fresh chicken dinner!