Adventures in Chickensitting

Reader Contribution by Taylor Miller
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<p>I’m very exciteable today. One of my colleagues, Hank Will, editor of <a title=”Grit Magazine” href=”http://www.grit.com/”>
<em>Grit Magazine</em>
</a>, had received an electric incubator to sample from a company.  In jest I said, “Oh, you should raise me some chickens for my townhouse!” He smiled at me very seriously and said, “Yeah, totally! You could totally raise a couple chickens in your backyard – and between two of them, you might get about 10 eggs a week.”</p>
<p>I had never thought of raising chickens in the city – Was it legal? Would they have enough room? What do chickens eat?</p>
<p>These were all questions to which I was excited to find the answers. But my biggest concern was <em>where would I put these living, breathing, winged animals</em>?</p>
<p>That’s when <em>Herb Companion</em> Editor KC Compton sent me a link about <a title=”urban chicken raising” href=”http://urbanchickens.org/” target=”_blank”>urban chicken raising</a>. Who knew?!</p>
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<p>On the site, I found information on how to build a MOVING COOP! They call it “the chicken tractor,” and you can move it around your yard so your chickens don’t peck at just one spot – genius!</p>
<p>So, I have a few months before I’m going to actually <em>have</em> the birds – time in which, I suppose, I’m going to have to build this contraption. Sure, it looks easy enough – a few boards nailed together with some chicken wire and wheels, fine. But, I’m sure I’ll find a way to screw <em>something</em> up. And with images of escaping chickens fleeing from a running me, I’m sure this is going to be a bumpy ride.</p>
<p>Also – I’m brainstorming clever names. Like Popeyes or Strips. Any suggestions?</p>

  • Published on Feb 2, 2009
Tagged with: Reader Contributions
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