I’m a big proponent of backyard chickens. I have four hens, who wandered into my garden and heart a couple of years ago. I had absolutely no idea how to care for them, so we learned together. I learned just about everything from books, mostly Chickens in your Backyard: A Beginners Guide by Rick and Gail Luttmann.
Lucy, my alpha hen. She's sweet but very greedy!
Chickens (hens are what you want, no noisy roosters!) are fairly easy to keep: the trick is to give them a secure run with a good strong fence, a safe coop that locks up at night, and to keep it all clean and dry. Although it’s extremely difficult to raise them totally organically (the commercial food is not organic, and they need that for full nutrition), they give you eggs that are far superior to anything you can buy in the store.
Plus, the hens are extremely sociable, charming creatures and a delight to have around. I let mine lose in the yard every day at 4:00 p.m. until dark so they can gobble up bugs and greens to their heart’s content– they love that! I call them my ornamental chickens because they look so pretty out there in the garden.
There are many urban and even some rural communities that are restricted by law from having backyard chickens, but there also is a growing movement in many areas to get the laws changed! The above video is a humorous account of a community in Colorado that hopes to get the laws changed so peeps can have hens in their backyards. It’s a really cute portrayal of the pros, and points out the flaws of the “cons.”
I think it’s important for those of us with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity to take control of our food sources as much as possible. Even if you can’t have backyard chickens, you may be able to find eggs at your local farmer’s market from peeps who have their own flock. Commercial chickens are treated quite cruelly, so this is another reason not to buy commercial eggs. Even those labeled as “free range” are not running around in pastures.
And even if you can’t eat eggs, hens are still wonderful pets. And you could give away your eggs, or even sell them at local farmer’s markets yourself if you felt that industrious!
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