10 Nov., 2012: Home to Roost Teaching Basic Backyard Chicken Care Workshop

Basic Backyard Chicken Care

November 10, 2012 10:00 AM to 1 PM 

Location: Chicago’s Logan Square area (TBD). See Angelic Organics Learning Center site for details as they become available.

NEW: This year we will have access to a functioning chicken coop!

Farm fresh eggs from your own back yard?

YES!

Please join us for this Cadillac of chicken-keeping classes! This 3-hour workshop covers best practices forBasic Backyard Chicken Care in Chicago and surrounding communities. Raising chickens as pets and for eggs is LEGAL in Chicago – and part of our growing local food and urban agriculture scene. Learn how to keep you, your chickens, & your neighbors happy - from daily needs and year-round care to relevant city regulations. You will leave the workshop with the knowledge, recommendations, and resources you need for your own home flock – and you’ll make connections with other chicken enthusiasts in Chicago.

For more info and to register, visit the Angelic Organics Learning Center site.

22-23 September, 2012: Windy City Coop Tour

Come out to see Chicago’s finest… chicken coops! Go from house to house, visiting and chatting with chicken owners and other enthusiasts! This family-friendly event is also bike friendly.

We’re working on getting the event together, so save the date, and keep your eye on the blog for more details. In the meantime, here is the link where all information will be posted: https://sites.google.com/site/chicagochickenenthusi/events/windy-city-coop-tour

 

20 October, 2012: Home to Roost Teaches Chicken-Keeping Class at Botanic Garden

 

Raising Backyard Chickens

Sat., October 20,  10:30 – noon
$27 nonmember; members receive 20% discount

Back by popular demand, this class is designed for curious people who are considering raising backyard chickens, as well as for those who already have their own birds and who want to learn more! Come learn how to raise chicks, care for adult birds, and keep your neighbors happy!
Register online now at The Chicago Botanic Garden’s web site.

Petition for Chickens in Joliet, IL

Use the following link to sign a petition to the City of Joliet, calling on them to allow backyard chickens.

http://signon.org/sign/allow-backyard-chickens.fb19?source=c.fb&r_by=658597

Chicken Meeting at Arlington Heights Library, Aug. 27, 2012

Patch.com reporter Quincy Hodges covered the event, sponsored by the Weston A. Price Foundation. The event was attended by over 60 people, including backyard chicken owner Linda Nellett and Home to Roost Urban Chicken Consutlting. Read Quincy’s article here.

8 and 9 September, 2012: Chickens (and Home to Roost) at Harvest Day, Garfield Park Conservatory

Chicago chicken-keeper Linda Nellett will be at the event with her hens on 9/8, and Home to Roost will be at the event with chicken on Saturday, 9/9. Harvest Days Saturday, September 8th and Sunday, September 9th Hours: 11:00 am – 4:00 pm Where: City Garden Cost: $3 suggested donation per person, GPCA Members and children under 3 are FREE! Garfield Park Conservatory’s Harvest Days Celebration shines a warm autumn light on the simple and sustainable living is happening all around our busy city. City folk are keeping bees, caring for goats, collecting eggs from their home-grown chickens, making compost, and harvesting organic fruits and vegetables to feed their families. Come join us for this two day celebration of urban pioneer living and celebrate the “good life” going on right now! Attendees will enjoy the big backyard of the Conservatory, where fun will be harvested all weekend. As a family-focused event, the day is filled with lots of down-home activities. Activities Will Include: • Live music and dance lessons, featuring The Hump Night Thumpers, 3rd Sunday String Band, and more • Opening of our new Demonstration Garden • Beekeeping demonstrations and honey tasting from the Conservatory’s own hives • Recipe swap – bring a recipe from home to share! Take home a featured Harvest Days Soup recipe from Martha Bayne, author of the Soup and Bread Cookbook: Building Community One Pot at a Time • Cooking demonstrations, with chefs such as David Rosenthall of Inspiration Kitchens • Live goats and chickens • Worm picking and a compost harvesting station • Horse-drawn hay rides around the gardens for $1 • Corn husk crafts, potato sack races, and lawn games • Kohl’s StoryBus featuring “Little Red Hen” • Veggie Bingo Swap and Share – bring veggies from your garden to swap with other bingo participants • Food trucks with food for purchase

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The Ubiquitous Chicken: A Quick History Lesson

You want chicken? You got it – 10,000 years of chicken history, that is! An entertaining read about the ubiquitous chicken: from red jungle fowl in southeast Asia to KFC in China, and everywhere in between.

Chickens Proposed as Part of Compensation for Employment

Reporter Joshua Foust provided the Atlantic with a story on hens in lieu of monetary compensation in Uzbekistan. Apparently the chickens are to be imported from Serbia.

This is similar to my blog post on raising chickens in exchange for healthcare.

A French village recently proposed giving chickens to citizens in order to eliminate waste.

Chicken Retirement

I got a call yesterday from a reporter who wanted my opinion on “chicken retirement” – sending older hens who’ve stopped being productive to a local farm. Apparently there are farms in Portland that take in aged birds, allowing owners to get new egg producers without killing the nonproductive ones. (See this blog post for a first-hand account.)

How sustainable is this model of “chicken rescue?” What are the costs to the farmer who puts time and resources in keeping a flock of nonproductive hens? Does the fertilizer gained offset the feed consumed and lack of eggs?

Before you get chickens, consider the lifespan of the bird (6-8 years). Then consider that the most productive years are the first 2-3 years of life. Are the birds pets? Are they stew birds?

We are promoting urban agricultural practices in keeping backyard birds, but are we sidestepping the reality that animals are domesticated and brought to live with humans because they are a food source? In short, are we exchanging one unsustainable practice (large-scale egg farming) for another (the potential of filling rural farms with former urban pets)?

Have comments? I’d love to hear them.

 

Automated Coop Door Design

Here is an automated coop door design from a family in the UK that rescue battery-cage hens.

Enjoy!