Last night, Jennifer Murtoff of Home To Roost gave a brief talk about the basics of urban chicken keeping, from what to feed, how to tell if your chicken needs veterinary care, how to house your chickens, to how physically to handle a chicken, and a range of subjects in between.
The kids and the adults had a good time learning about, feeding, and even holding chickens.
So why is keeping chickens green? For the most part,it’s because, much like growing your own fruits and veggies, the eggs are the ultimate in local food, it cuts down (however incrementally) on factory farming of chickens which is highly UN-green, and the eggs are better-tasting and better for you. If you are going to keep meat birds, the meat is also better for you. I personally wouldn’t keep meat birds since I don’t eat it, but many do. Do be aware that in most of Cook County, it’s illegal to slaughter your own animals, but there are places that will do it for you. Also, most municipalities limit the number of birds a household can have to two each.
If you’re interested in hiring Jennifer Murtoff to help you set up facilities for your chickens, check out her blog here. She knows a lot about chickens and their care.
I can testify to the joy of keeping your own chickens.
And the eggs are so much BETTER than those in factory farms – not just in terms of being green or health factors, either (Mother Earth News did a study and found that pastured/free range eggs have more nutrients and less cholesterol than factory farm eggs: http://goo.gl/bSVN)
They *taste* better – and have more “heft” than store-bought eggs. George and I have reached the point where we are egg snobs – we don’t even bother eating eggs out at a restaurant. One of his favorite meals is steak and eggs, but he has labeled it “steak and snot” if the eggs aren’t pastured.
I would also mention that if one is restricted to two hens, it is worth checking into breeds that will meet your laying needs. My Pet Chicken has a great breed directory that will help in that selection: http://goo.gl/AFWn
Finally, with meat birds, when it comes time to harvest/slaughter them, if one has insured their humane care while raising them, it is worth checking into the methods a processor will use. It would be upsetting to many to have made such efforts to give their meat birds a good life, only to find out that the ending of their life was not done in a humane manner. Also, there are sometimes legal facilities where one can do their own slaughtering on premises for a fee. These usually serve the ethnic communities that have religious requirements that they slaughter their own meat, so that might be what to search for, if a person is interested.
Trase – I’ve been reading about your chicken rearing adventures for a while and it’s always a good read. Thanks for the additional info about how to find the right kind of hen and humane slaughter. I’m not sure if we have any in the area, but I would guess the Jen Murtoff – a.k.a. the Chicken Lady – knows, so I might ask.