July 26th, 2012 Urban Chickens Begins

I have loved chickens most of my life, and dreamed of a little farm where I could have chickens.  But it wasn't until I visited my massuse that the idea began to take shape.  You see she has chickens and mentioned that she had eggs to sell.  We began to talk about her chickens and a spark of chicken envy ignited in my brain.  On my next visit, she brought me a chicken magazine full of all things chicken.  Darling coops, feeders, and pictures of  the most adorable little hens.  I began to hatch a plan starting with  mentioning my love for chickens to my husband Cal. 

Next thing you know, he is bringing home books on raising chickens, from the Library.  We are reading like mad, and looking at chicken centered websites.  Turns out you can pretty much enter exactly what you want in a chicken, temperment, egg color, size etc. and they will give you a list of dozens of breeds to choose from.  Who knew?  We've opted for gregarious, laid back chickens who are good with other pets.  Cause folks, that is what they will be, pets with benefits! 

We then learned that our city allows us to have up to 12 chickens in our backyard.  No Roosters.  Ok by me.  But 12 seemed llike alot especially when they could each lay an egg a day.  Chickens yes, egg business NO. 

The next step involved heading off to the Poultry Palace in Placerville, CA. where I got to hold my first chicken.  It was delightful.  She was very calm, and let me hold her in my arms.  A dream come true.

 We opted to wait until after our vacation to actually buy the hens.  As adortable as the baby chicks are, we decided to start with older chickens.  I have visions of the girls running around the yard during the day pecking, pooping and just generally delighting me with their chicken antics.  The chicken man told us that the more you pet and hold them, the more pet-like they become.  I mean I don't see them sleeping on the bed with us like our dog does, but definitley coming when we call them, and acting happy to see us.

As a former behavioral researcher, I think I may be able to train them to do household chores.  But that will come later.

Ok.  We have ordered the coop.  It will come next Wedmesday.  Stay tuned for the lastest adventure of Sharen Cornils, Chicken Wrangler as we blog about our new adventure.