Well most of you know that we decided to bring chickens into our urban garden project test garden to really see how difficult keeping chickens is 
on a day to day basis. We wanted to find out how realistic a backyard flock for every family in suburban America really was. While we are only 6 weeks into it, I have to say that so far my observation is they are about as much work as a hamster. That is if hamsters could fly and made clucking noises! The day to day is so simple if you set it up right. If you remember we incorporated our 2 story coop into one of our 4×4 square foot gardening beds. This way we can rotate the coop between the beds if we ever feel the need or desire. Inside the coop we installed a large capacity stainless steel gravity fed feeder that we suspended and a stainless steel gravity fed water trough. Outside of checking the levels on the feed and the water every day or every other day, they really take care of themselves. 
I will say that they have been a great addition to our garden and have provided hours of laughter and entertainment in the back yard. This weekend I was working in one of the landscape beds and decided to let the girls out while I worked. So, wanting to make them a bit more independent, I opened the door to the coop and walked away wanting them to figure out how to let themselves out. One by one they figured it out, ultimately following in the flight path of the one that went before. This worked great until there was one…….one chicken who is always the last to figure everything out. I suspect that this chickens’ mother roosted beneath power lines or next to chipped paint because she is always the last one out and the last one in. She was the last to figure out the ladder and the last to connect the fact that I=food.
All that being said we continue to enjoy our experience with the chickens so far and we are readily anticipating the arrival of our first eggs sometime in late September or early October! Rest assured that we will continue to keep you in the loop along the way, documenting every twist and turn.
Filed under: Chicken Coop, From The Garden, Urban Garden Project Chickens | Tagged: Backyard Chickens, Building a Chicken Coop, Chicken Coop, Raising Chickens, Square Foot Gardening, Square Foot Gardening Chicken Coop, Square Foot Gardening Chickens, Urban Garden Chickens, Urban Garden Project, Urban Garden Project Chickens
Man! I want a couple chickens so much. But i really like being married and apparently for my husband it’s an either/or proposition. So i’m really enjoying having chickens vicariously. Here’s a new project for you guys when you get a chance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goat_Tower
Keep up the great work!
I’m a Barbara Kingsolver reader. After reading ‘Animal, Vegetable, Miracle,’ I got a bit of a hankering to raise chickens. If you have not read that book, you should. It closely relates to your work with the Urban Garden Project. Anyway, I mentioned to my children that I might get some chickens. They absolutely guffawed!!!! I may just call their bluff one of these days. You just never know.
I want to keep chickens, though my backyard is small, my husband insists that they’d be loads of work, and I have to get 75% of my neighbors to agree to it first. (I have an entirely fenced-in backyard, so why it’s any of their business is beyond me, but that’s how it is.)
What insights have your experiences given you. Do chickens NEED a big yard? Do you think that once you start harvesting eggs they’ll be more work? Is the excrement incredibly hard to clean up? Are they making your yard filthy? Do you think it would be safe (for kids and/or chickens) to have chickens in the backyard where the kids play? Barring a rooster, are they loud enough that they’re likely to bother the neighbors (though if volume is a problem, I really think that I should have had to approve each of my three neighbors’ loud and angry dogs. LOL).
Loving your blog, btw. Thanks!
I don’t know what it is about husbands and chickens. Mine is strongly opposed as well. We even visited our neighbor’s house behind us who has a few chickens, which we never knew about until I met him online at a local chicken keeping discussion board!! They were quiet, not smelly, and really effortless.
He does not have a big yard, and he has a dog who couldn’t care less about the chickens.
Susan
I just found out that I can have up to five hens and a rooster here in my city. I think the rooster might be a bit much for my neighbors and according to the county extension my hens would lay just fine with out one around. I will wait until spring to begin this effort as our summer weather can be brutal.
In the meantime will you show more information about the coop you built and mention where you found the gravity food and water apparatus.
Thanks…your test garden looks wonderful…hope you post new photos soon.
Hello..
I live in Post Falls, Idaho, which neighbors Coeur d’alene. Does anyone know if we can have backyard chickens here in town? My family thinks I am “crazy”, and they have even given me the name “chicken whisperer”!!
Oh well, I would still love to have a few.
Thank you,
Lisa
Our six hens began laying at 5 months. What a delight. Sometimes we get six eggs a day. We love them and they love us! I haven’t had this much fun with animals in years!