Anyone who is contemplating getting into the backyard chicken movement needs to answer this inevitable question: what are you going to do when they stop laying eggs? The precise moment when this needs to be answered is as fixed as the tides; a hen is most productive in the first year of her life and her lay rate declines 20% a year like clockwork. By the time a hen is 3 years old she might be laying 2-3 eggs per week instead of 4-5, by 5 years she is laying one egg per week and is eating just as much feed as she has consumed since year one. Chickens easily live 8 to 10 years. Do you let them live out their lives regardless (lots of people do) or do you consign them to the fate of most chickens for the past 8,000 years: they become food. In our town we’re allowed up to 10 chickens, if I kept non-productive hens alive it would prevent me from getting 10 new ones. …continue reading
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Over the years Phyllis has become active in educating others about keeping backyard chickens. She has helped residents in neighboring communities understand local ordinances and draft proposals to permit backyard chicken keeping. She has been interviewed by environmental publications and asked to conduct classes for our local CSA and the Arnold Arboretum. Below is the slide presentation she uses for her classes. Enjoy.
Now Phyllis is always looking for special treats to feed to our chickens. This mothering tendency becomes even more pronounced in the winter when the “poor dears” are literally cooped up because their run is buried in snow reaching over their tiny little heads. So she is usually sprouting mung beans or some other relatively costly ingredient (compared to chicken feed and kitchen scraps) with the oddball idea that the chickens somehow actually appreciate her efforts. …continue reading
It turns out that Phyllis was cleaning the coop and had allowed the chickens to free range. K.J., being one of our original flock, once had free range of our entire property with her two sisters Hippy Chick and Waddle, that is until a hawk took down dear departed Waddle. Since then, the chickens have all been confined to their run for their own safety. Although, they are now safe from predators, in many ways I feel that they would still be better off free ranging because it would allow them to do what nature intended them to do…be chickens. …continue reading
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