You have chickens? In your backyard? Really? Why?

I must have had this conversation 50 times in the last year. Ever since I decided to build a coop in the yard of my Greenwood home and raise a trio of hens, I have become an ambassador for backyard chickens.

Chickens are surprisingly rewarding as pets—endlessly amusing, each with its own personality and behaviors, each with its place in the pecking order. And I can’t think of another pet that contributes to the household by producing something as lovely as fresh eggs.

With their bright yellow yolks and pastel-tinted shells, fresh eggs can only be described as tasting “more eggy”—my home-grown eggs taste better than any store-bought eggs I have ever had. My three hens, Matilda, Veronique and Yvette, collectively produce about a dozen eggs per week. Fresh eggs collected daily will stay fresh in the refrigerator for several weeks and I’ve never had a shortage of friends willing to take the extras off my hands.

Chickens bring a wide variety of benefits beyond their culinary contributions. Their droppings are highly coveted as a garden fertilizer and they help to control bugs and slugs when allowed to free range among the rows of vegetables and flowers. Occasionally I do have to shoo them away from their favorite herbs—mine like basil and sage—and they generally beat me to any ripe strawberries, but the damage tends to be minimal.

Raising chickens from chicks is a relatively simple task, but before you get started, doing online research, picking up a few books or taking the City Chickens courses offered through Seattle Tilth will prepare you to become a backyard farmer.

In the spring, chicks of many varieties are available from area feedstores and breeders. Chicken breeds vary in size, temperament and laying habits; research will lead you to the best mix for your flock. I selected two Ameraucana hens for their blue- and green-shelled eggs and one Polish hen for her gorgeous plumage.

Selecting from a group of chicks whose sex has been predetermined will save you from having to relocate a rooster a few months down the road. The city of Seattle allows residents to have up to three hens, but roosters are too loud and not permitted within the city limits.

Chicks are typically only a few days to a few weeks old when they come home, and require a warm, dry environment, fresh water and special chick feed. I raised my chicks in a series of cardboard boxes rigged with a heat lamp in my kitchen, introducing larger boxes as the chicks got larger and more active. Eventually they moved to my basement in a temporary structure constructed of chicken wire and cardboard.

Chickens are prolific poopers, and bedding must be changed frequently to keep the chicks clean and healthy. While chickens can’t really be described as cuddly, handling chicks from a young age can make it easier to handle them as they grow older. Around the age of three months, they are ready to move outside to the coop.

City chickens face threat from a variety of predators, so it is critical to build a coop that is impenetrable from all sides, yet functional for gathering eggs, accessible for cleaning and gives the chickens room to roam. Chicken wire is an indispensable purchase; burying the wire several inches down in the dirt around the coop will ensure that raccoons cannot easily dig into the coop.

Chickens need a mix of sun, shade and cozy protection from the Northwest elements, so a fully enclosed coop is preferable. Henhouse design can range from the simple to the extremely elaborate and design ideas and blueprints can be easily discovered online.

No matter the approach, all henhouses must have a roosting pole where the chickens sleep at night (complete with chicken wire floor to allow droppings to fall beneath the house) and an egg box with nesting material. In the winter, I keep my chickens warm through the cold nights with a heat lamp on a timer.

Inside the coop, a large watering can and feeder regulate food and water delivery. In addition to standard feed, chickens require a small bit of grit to help them digest their food, and once chickens reach maturity (around six or seven months) and begin laying, you may also wish to supplement their diet with a bit of oyster shell to provide extra calcium for stronger eggshells.

Chickens are omnivorous and will happily eat vegetable scraps from your kitchen or overflow from your garden. They will do just about anything for a bit of “chicken candy” or “scratch”—dried cracked corn. I keep this in a small plastic container and with just a few shakes, the girls will come running—this is a useful trick for securing them in the coop at night.

I try to let the girls out a few times a week to wander around the yard, but daily maintenance tasks are minimal. I typically top off the food and water when I am gathering eggs each morning. I clean out the henhouse on a regular basis, and clean the entire coop, including laying down fresh straw, several times a year.

Chickens? In my backyard? Yes! For a relatively small investment of time and money, I have fresh eggs year-round, an endless supply of garden fertilizer, three entertaining pets and a great story to introduce myself with.

Shelley Bjornstad lives and works in Seattle. When she isn’t chasing chickens out of her tomato garden, she can be found scouring the web for shoes or singing in a local karaoke bar.

Sources for more information and supplies:
Seattle Municipal Code for Keeping Chickens
Grange Supply of Issaquah
A list of chicken breeds and their qualities from a staff member at Ithaca College in NY.

Books related to chicken care available from Seattle-based Elliott Bay Book Company: