We didn't get the question answered, but Helen and I enjoyed the Beltline Tour d'Coop. Raising chickens in the city is becoming quite popular here. Many families got together and organized their 1st public tour. Their chickens are kept as pets. Eggs are eaten but not the chickens.
After seeing the adorable pictures and reading the accompanying information in the local newspaper, Helen and I decided to go on the tour. What fun that was!!!!! The neighborhoods were so quaint and the chickens were beautiful. It was interesting to see how each family built their coops- most from inexpensive or free materials. I think all of them had varieties of Bantam chickens.
About a week later we got an email from Mr. Davis who was kind enough to offer a "Chicken Keeping 101" lecture. Bill and I attended his 2 hour lecture where we learned so much.
Why would you want to keep chickens?
- Production
- Pest Control
- Soil Improvement
- Beautiful Pets
- Nostalgia
- Stress Release
- Earth Connection
- Fun to Watch and Humorous
Each chicken could lay up to 300 eggs per year but the number decreases with the hen's age.
No rooster is required.
Etc.
After the fabulous lecture, Bill and I are considering keeping about 4-5 Bantam hens next to our garden. We are allowed to have them in the city we live in but not sure about the neighborhood covenants. We don't think they are written yet and we will probably be the 2nd family or so to move in. The chickens could be grandfathered into the covenants. We do not want a noisy rooster. We have about 2 acres of land and the neighbors will be far to our left and right. No one can build behind us since it belongs to the US Army Corp of Engineers. It's the perfect backyard for chicken pets! We think they would look lovely incorporated into the planned garden but they would not have free roam of my actual garden since they would eat everything in site (except actual green beans I understand).
Mrs. Morgan-Davis grew a forage garden for their chickens which I think was very clever and pretty.
She had comfrey (which is great for them), rubus ground-cover, panicum, river oat, currants, quinoa, 'bright lights' chard, amaranth, and chicory. They also like grasses, herbaceous forbs, fruit and nut trees and shrubs. They eat most kitchen veggie and fruit scraps and even pick at melon rinds.
Info we received:
Web Sites-
Back Yard Chickens
Feather Site
Books-
Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens
Keep Chickens!
Chicken Tractor
Will there be chickens in our future? Maybe.