Backyard Chickens 101: A Few Considerations
We love having chickens, but I definitely recommend carefully considering all the benefits (free eggs! great fertilizer! cute chicken antics!) and the drawbacks (cleaning the coop, feeding and watering them in the pouring, freezing rain) before your get them. So for the second installment of Backyard Chickens 101, I’ve pulled together a few things for you to consider:
Know the rules. Before we got our girls I checked out the Seattle Municipal Code that covers keeping chickens. I learned that because our 6500 square foot lot was above average size, we could legally keep four chickens (lots 5000 feet and under can only have three) and that roosters aren’t illegal. We luckily don’t live in a neighborhood with a homeowner’s association, but if you do, check the bylaws before you buy birds.
Be sure you have enough time. All in all taking care of a small flock of chickens is not a ton of work. Jon and I agree that it falls somewhere in between keeping a goldfish and a cat. But consider this: chickens wake up at first light and need to be let out of their coop soon their after. You must also tuck them into bed at dusk to protect them from predators. They need fresh food and water every morning, and clean bedding about once a week, and a couple of times a year you need to clean out their whole coop and run and give everything a good scrub. Before you get your birds, I recommend talking with your family about how you will split up the chicken care so it doesn’t become an issue later.
Make nice with your neighbors, especially if you like to travel. Before we got the chickens, I let our immediate neighbors in on the plan. I told them we were placing their coop far from their bedroom windows and would be giving them lots of free eggs. This worked like a charm, and my neighbor Elaine even told me that she loves hearing my chickens in the morning (and I thought I was the only one!). Since chickens need to be taken care of twice a day, every day it makes planning to go away for the weekend slightly more complicated. We’ve dealt with this by teaching five families on our block how to watch the girls and paying them with fresh eggs.
And finally…I will tell you something that no one told me. Chickens poo a lot. Like twenty times a day. They tend to leave their slippery deposits in inconvenient places around our yard, including on the deck and the arm of our beloved sun chair. This, um, habit of theirs certainly shouldn’t be a deal breaker, but I wanted you all to know.
Tomorrow I have a list of my favorite chicken resources and I am putting up a coop guide on Friday.
Thank you for this “fair and balanced” look at the wacky and wonderful world of city chickens! I have fantasized about doing this for many years but have resisted due to many of the reasons you mention (and, in addition, I have heard many horror stories about predator successes and didn’t think I could handle the aftermath of something like that). Especially since I knew the bulk of the care would fall to me. If you have managed to get it broken up (and smart call with the neighbor involvement/free egss trade-off!), it seems do-able. What about building a bigger coop and not having them be free-range so much? Also, how will you protect your veggie garden from their tendency to munch little seedlings? I’m curious to see how this will all shake out. Hope the benefits outweigh the hassles!
March 18th, 2009 at 9:38 pmDitto the thanks for the downside of chicken owning. Let me add one other: rats. Seems when some neighbors got chickens the neighborhood rat population increased—or at least got more visible. I have had a little pitter in my heart for chickens and would enjoy having them (their fertilizer and eggs), but the upkeep would be mine alone. Also, we had another neighbor complain about the increase in rats when I feed the birds, so I can only imagine how they’d feel if I added chickens to the equation!
March 19th, 2009 at 7:42 amThanks so much for explaining that you could have more than three chickens in larger lot…
We have 7 chickens in 11250sqft lot (we could have up to 9, but our coop will be a little crowded…). Almost every time we told someone that we have chickens, people suspiciously asked “Really? But aren’t you supposed to have only 3 chickens in city of Seattle?” .
I’m getting tired of explaining to them lately…
“well, city actually allow you to have more than 3 chickens if you have more than 5000 sqft lot. You could add one chicken/1000 sqft. So, for us, (11250 – 5000) / 1000 + 3 = 9!”.
We have small house in large lot w/lots of chicken. It’s fun! But sometimes exhausting due to above reasoned.
March 19th, 2009 at 8:29 amKaren–Getting a bigger coop (with a much bigger run) is a priority for me. The run we have now is too small (only about 25 sq. feet) and I don’t feel comfortable leaving the girls in there for long periods. Consequently, they end up eating a lot of my veggies.
Annie–We haven’t seen an increase in rats since we got our chickens. We keep their food inside the coop (not out in the run or yard) and the extra food is stored in our garage in galvanized pails with locked down lids. When we first got the girls, we noticed evidence of rats, but we plugged up the hole they were getting through and haven’t had a problem since. It is certainly a concern though, especially in Seattle where we have such a big rat population to begin with.
C–I’ve also had to explain that it is okay for us to have four birds! With nine you must get lots and lots of eggs!
March 19th, 2009 at 5:22 pmReduce the work and build a chicken run! We’ve included an uncovered area in our 6×16 foot coop – the girls are happy and healthy. One point too: chickens are great because they get to live inside your home when they are cute and fluffy and as they get older (and prettier but not as cute) they move outside with their bigger mess… how many pets can you say that about! Great advice and go chickens!
October 12th, 2009 at 7:57 pmNellie–Great idea. We have a chicken run but it is way too small so we feel bad about leaving them in there all day. We have plans to build them a bigger one!
October 13th, 2009 at 7:27 am