The local food movement of the past decade has encouraged both urban and rural citizens to support their environment and communities by choosing regionally grown and raised food products. Due to obvious space restrictions and a lack of farmers in urban settings, one might think that growing and raising food in the city would be a difficult task. Yet increasingly people in the city are finding new ways to convert their back and front yards into agricultural space.
In the United States, this has lead to a rise in urban chicken farming. While some cities ban residents from keeping chickens, many have laws that allow the raising of a small flock. In Seattle, under municipal code 23.42.052, a person may have three chickens for any lot and one additional chicken for every one thousand square feet in excess of the zoned minimum lot size.
Unlike many other cities, Seattle allows roosters and does not require a permit to keep chickens. One would assume that the lack of ordinances surrounding chickens would lead to disputes between neighbors concerning issues such as noise and smell. Testimonies from Seattleites, however, tell a different story.
One blogger on seattlepi.com wrote, “My next door neighbor has chickens and we live in a townhouse. As long as he doesn’t keep a rooster it doesn’t bother me at all. They’re cute.” The Seattle Times quoted one chicken owner saying, “Chickens create community. Neighborhood kids love to feed and watch them, you can share eggs.”
These sentiments were echoed in an interview with Renae Koepke and Ian Sutton who began raising chickens after Renae brought home a rescued hen from Mt. Baker Park. After her arrival the couple quickly increased their flock, bringing in a couple of Rhode Island Reds known for their year round egg production and a rare Black Maran which lays beautiful chocolate brown eggs, a dozen of which can fetch a price of up to ten dollars. Renae explained, “The neighbors love the chickens, one neighbor wants to start his own coop.”
In Renae's experience, having chickens has been a great way for her to get to know her neighbors. Many like coming by to see the birds and take home a few eggs. One neighbor has an extensive urban garden and the couple hopes to swap eggs for vegetables during the summer months.
For Renae and Ian the cost of creating a coop and establishing a brood has been minimal. Ian is a carpenter, and he was able to use scrap supplies to create a functional and attractive hen house. Other than a coop the chickens only other expenses are feed and bedding. The feed comes from Scratch and Peck ,a local company that makes organic and conventional non-GMO feed from locally sourced whole grains. The feed costs range from $25.00-27.00 per 50 lb bag which can supply 4 chickens with over a months worth of feed.
For those starting their own flock, baby chicks can be purchased for about $3.00 each or year old hens can be bought for $20.00 ready to lay eggs. Either way once the chickens are laying, you can expect about one egg per day from each chicken depending on the breed and time of year. Chickens are most productive at one year, and thereafter their egg production declines. After four years of age a hen will stop laying completely, while continuing to live up to another six years. At this point one must decide the fate of the hen.
Another thing to consider when raising chickens is how to ensure they do not irritate your neighbors. Avoiding roosters will eliminate most problems with noise. Although hens do cluck, their noise is limited to daylight hours and it is neither as loud nor as obnoxious as roosters.
If you insist on having a rooster, keeping it in the coop while your neighbors are sleeping will help to muffle his noise. Managing smell is equally important and requires consistent cleaning of the coop. Waste can be disposed of in the yard waste bin supplied by the city of Seattle or incorporated into your compost as excellent fertilizer for your garden. Though noise and smell reduction should be high priorities, the best way to appease your neighbors is to supply them with delicious fresh eggs.
Testimonies show that city chickens can revive communities, creating relationships between neighbors as well as an appreciation of our food and environment. One of the many comments to an urban chicken story on seattlepi.com stated, “The town isn’t nuts--anything that reminds folks that land is land even in the city is good. We were so much more diligent about what got dumped on the ground for fear of poisoning the chickens and it made us realize that lots of animals lived with us in the city. The kids learned where food actually came from and eventually, the cycle of life. Beyond all that serious stuff, they were pretty funny sometimes and that’s worth something too!” This response is indicative of urban chicken farming’s increased popularity and the discussions it is creating.
The local movement is growing and the desire to have control over our food is likely to continue to increase. Propelling it further requires participants to be respectful and educated about raising their food to ensure a good example is set and neighbors are excited and not upset by this agrarian endeavor. Raising chickens gives Seattleites a chance to bond with neighbors over the increasingly common desire to bring food awareness and nature back to the city. Small chicken coops bring so much more to the table and the family than a dozen eggs bought at the grocery store. Not only is it good for the individual and the neighborhood, it is good for the chickens as well.
Keeping three to five chickens in a space where they can peck, scratch and sun bathe creates a quality of life that is impossible for the millions of chickens kept in egg factories. Rather than sharing a yard and coop with a few other chickens, factory hens are kept in small wire cages known as battery cages. Four or five can be packed into a space sixteen inches wide. With those minimal space requirements a Seattle family with five thousand square feet of space could keep one thousand two hundred fifty birds. As more people begin to raise their own, this type of production may no longer be necessary.
David Van Skike, a local chicken owner, says that knowing the source of your food is wonderful, but the real reason he is raising chickens is his children. “It is good for the kids. It teaches them something and it's fun.” His eleven year old neighbor has enjoyed the chickens so much, her family is thinking of starting their own coop.
For those inspired to start raising chickens there are numerous coop sketches and other information on websites such as urbanchickens.org and backyardchickens.com. Once you have the coop, chickens, feeder and feed maintenance is relatively simple. Renae and Ian keep a giant feeder in their coop which they fill every month, limiting the daily chores to watering and cleaning out old bedding and manure. For those wanting a hands-on chicken tutorial, Seattle Tilth offers urban chicken farming classes throughout the year. See Seattletilth.org
Programs like Seattle Tilth's exist because urban people are looking for a way to become connected again to their neighborhood and natural communities. “Not to sound like a big hippie…but now that people are in the urban environment, they’re searching for something to get back in touch with the earth," explained Seattle Tilth’s Phil Megenhardt in the Seattle Times. There are many reasons for people to raise their own chickens, from a desire to know where their food comes from to having a fun pet. Whatever the motivation, the effect is a series of renewed relationships with the environment and the community.
