- Apr 4, 2011
- 6
- 0
- 7
Hi from Jennifer and Al.
We do some "major" suburban gardening, and Jennifer wanted chickens for some time, but hesitated, based on living in a suburban neighborhood, and not being sure of reactions from neighbors. After attending a talk called "Urban Chickens" at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few weeks ago, the hesitation was overcome. We talked to the neighbors who didn't object, one warmly mentioning visiting farms in her youth. I helped with my uncle's 10 chicken rooms in my own youth, before the huge egg businesses ran the small businessman into the ground.
Using the size and general design of the example at the talk, I built a small chicken tractor the following weekend, 3' wide x 6' long. We are now waiting notice that 2 Red sexlink pullets are ready for pickup; should be in a few weeks. Jennifer prefers Barred Plymouth Rocks, based on combined laying/meat properties mentioned in the talk we attended, but those within reasonable driving distance in eastern PA will not be ready until August; that's too long for us to wait to get started in the "egg biz". We are not into raising chicks, or could be starting now, but we'd have to wait until August anyway, for them to begin laying. Our main purpose is the eggs.
We sometimes walk around in the area, and found several people who had or have chickens. These folks gave us some good local suggestions on supplies, keeping chickens, etc.
We used this website for most of our preparatory research. The mention that chickens are a social animal and should not be alone was especially helpful.
OT - last fall I discovered the utility of hoophouses (small plastic covered "greenhouses" e.g. 3' x 10', the hoops being 1/2" electrical conduit, which is UV resistant) and had great results over the winter. I still have some red beets to harvest from last summer, as well as swiss chard, parsley, carrots, celery and broccoli. The spinach seeds I planted in the late fall got rooted over the winter, and scallions held their own. Our walk-in hoophouse-to-be construction is mostly completed, and I will either cover it with plastic in a few weeks or wait until September. We planted some Jerusalem Artichokes left over from last year, expecting to use it as supplementary chicken food. JA's keep well in the ground over winter. Just now I checked on BYC for JA recommendations, and saw Imaqte's thread, confirming. BTW, they are great raw. Yum.
Hmm, wonder whether chickens would enjoy having their own hoophouse... just for the winter, of course. Who needs a yard, anyway? Grass farmers?
Thanks for this website.
We do some "major" suburban gardening, and Jennifer wanted chickens for some time, but hesitated, based on living in a suburban neighborhood, and not being sure of reactions from neighbors. After attending a talk called "Urban Chickens" at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few weeks ago, the hesitation was overcome. We talked to the neighbors who didn't object, one warmly mentioning visiting farms in her youth. I helped with my uncle's 10 chicken rooms in my own youth, before the huge egg businesses ran the small businessman into the ground.
Using the size and general design of the example at the talk, I built a small chicken tractor the following weekend, 3' wide x 6' long. We are now waiting notice that 2 Red sexlink pullets are ready for pickup; should be in a few weeks. Jennifer prefers Barred Plymouth Rocks, based on combined laying/meat properties mentioned in the talk we attended, but those within reasonable driving distance in eastern PA will not be ready until August; that's too long for us to wait to get started in the "egg biz". We are not into raising chicks, or could be starting now, but we'd have to wait until August anyway, for them to begin laying. Our main purpose is the eggs.
We sometimes walk around in the area, and found several people who had or have chickens. These folks gave us some good local suggestions on supplies, keeping chickens, etc.
We used this website for most of our preparatory research. The mention that chickens are a social animal and should not be alone was especially helpful.
OT - last fall I discovered the utility of hoophouses (small plastic covered "greenhouses" e.g. 3' x 10', the hoops being 1/2" electrical conduit, which is UV resistant) and had great results over the winter. I still have some red beets to harvest from last summer, as well as swiss chard, parsley, carrots, celery and broccoli. The spinach seeds I planted in the late fall got rooted over the winter, and scallions held their own. Our walk-in hoophouse-to-be construction is mostly completed, and I will either cover it with plastic in a few weeks or wait until September. We planted some Jerusalem Artichokes left over from last year, expecting to use it as supplementary chicken food. JA's keep well in the ground over winter. Just now I checked on BYC for JA recommendations, and saw Imaqte's thread, confirming. BTW, they are great raw. Yum.
Hmm, wonder whether chickens would enjoy having their own hoophouse... just for the winter, of course. Who needs a yard, anyway? Grass farmers?
Thanks for this website.
