Colorado

Hi all, I'm in Colorado Springs, Colorado and I just ordered some Rhode Island Reds for my backyard. I want to say that this forum has helped me so much in learning what I should do. So thanks to all posters.

We are allowed to have up to 10 hens (no roosters) and I am going to start with 3 and I can't wait until they get here in a couple of weeks. Of course, my co-workers think I am insane.

Oh and by the way, my local newspaper ran a story yesterday on raising chickens and mentioned this site! I was reading on this site way before the article, but it was great to see the mention. I hope the publicity about raising chickens doesn't hurt the cause. Plenty of people expressed surprise that it was allowed within city limits.

Thanks again everyone for all the great information...

Hi and from a fellow Coloradoan. I live in Elbert County so not too far from you.

There's a bunch of Colorado people here (use the Search feature at the top and type in Colorado and you'll find some good posts.). Glad to hear Colorado Springs is encouraging chickens (so is Denver).

Wow - BYC got mentioned in the paper! That's fantastic! I wonder who wrote the article?

edited to take out unnecessary word.

Thanks Chirpy!

Yeah, it was pretty cool that it was in the paper. Funny thing is that the newspaper also pointed out that yeah, we are all cool because of the chicken code now, but the reason colorado springs allows chickens is actually because we were behind the times and never outlawed them in the first place. So we became cool by default. Like the nerd who wears a turtleneck sweater because he never updated his look. Then a modern model/celeb starts wearing them and all of a sudden, the nerd is in style.

Like I said though, I just hope the publicity isn't a bad thing. There were plenty of citizens replying on the blogs that they didn't know it was legal and that it shouldn't be legal. They are worried about smells and things. The same old uneducated fears that always come up.

The paper was the Gazette and the writer was Kevin Kreck. If any local colorado people want to read the article, it's at http://www.gazette.com/common/sections/?ucgid=wap_article/&id=37831

The quote about this site was-- "It's really starting to get big, fast," said Rob Ludlow, who runs BackyardChickens.com. --

So I thought the article was pretty positive. The blog comments on the article, um, not so postitive.

But I'm excited and hope that it does become widely accepted. I think the more we can take care of ourselves by gardening and chickening (um, ok, not a real word, but still..) the better. Plus it's fun!

Hi! Another Coloradoinian (sp??) checking in. We are in Parker and have 5 Golden-Sex link hens, 3 black bar rock hens, 1 Bantam, and 1 RIR rooster. We have never had chickens before but have wanted them for a long time. Everything came together this spring and we now have chickens .

I just never realized they were so funny! One day we were turning the compost pile and it turned into a game of "find the grub", my little brother comes up and after a little bit he says, "Wow, we have been watching the chickens eat bugs for, like, a half an hour! We have no life!" We love our birds!

Welcome to you to chickypoo! Hey - we are even closer neighbors - I live about 35 minutes from Parker.

Are you actually in Parker or outside of it?

What does it say about us that we can sit and watch our chickens for 1/2 hour (or longer!) and enjoy it so much? I'm pretty sure that it means we are very intellectual people!

We are about 5-10 minutes out of Parker to the east (off of Tomahawk Road, if you know where that is.

Hello, everyone in Colorado! I live in Idaho Springs, west of Denver. I live within city limits, and was surprised at the number of people with chickens, and geese! That's a testament to how easy it is to keep poultry cleanly and happily with close neighbors. And I mean REALLY close. Most houses in this small mining community are just a few feet from each other.
By the way, my sister lives in Colorado Springs. I'll have to tell her that chickens are legal. She would probably be appalled. She thinks I'm nuts!

chickypoo wrote:

I've heard some rumors that here in Fort Collins they are trying to make it legal to keep chickens. They wouldn't allow roosters, and you wouldn't be allowed to use the birds for meat, only eggs. Even though I would have gotten chickens anyway it's nice to know that soon I can do it legally!

Dorrie

I think that would be great if you could keep chickens in FoCo. I may go to CSU and that would be so much fun!