Backyard Chickens: Its a good thing.

Almost a case
Originally uploaded by A.K. Miles

To all my chicken loving brethren, across the the world should you look west:


The Martha Stewart Show in NYC is taping a show on urban farming in March 2010 and are looking for urban chicken farmers (among others) to be in the audience.

If you're interested in being there, you have to request tickets and help them understand why you should be in the audience. The details are in Anne's email:

If you or someone you know have recently turned your backyard space into a chicken coop or turkey pen, we have a special show that's just for you! We're filling our studio audience with individuals who raise livestock in urban environments as we celebrate the backyard farming movement. If you're interested in attending this show, please be sure to tell us about yourself and your backyard farm, as well as why you'd like to be part of this special audience. Please feel free to spread the word and request tickets as soon as you can if you're interested!

The link to request tickets is www.marthastewart.com/get-tickets; scroll down to "calling all urban farmers."

Keeping chickens is quite a big deal these days, and thats cool: pets with benefits. We have a few girls ourselves: Diamond, Atilla the Hen, Crystal, and Chick Norris who we recently adopted having been found roaming the streets. We get 3-5 eggs a day, ranging in color between off-white, tan, a speckled one and a slate green. My kids love having them, like a petting zoo in our backyard. We bond over caring for the hens, they are messy and quite a lot of work. The coop was purchased, a modified rabbit hutch and the run/tractor was made by me. The majority of the wood was scavenged from an abandoned pile and cost nothing. A box of screws, a borrowed miter saw and some poultry netting. Also my husband putting on the side supports. Three of the chickens I raised from two weeks old and one free lost chicken to add an extra egg a day. Pretty good all around I'd say.

I first saw someone in the city keep a chicken about 7 years ago, my friend Eryn had a rooster. He lived in downtown Portland right on SW.5th Ave, it was a big red-orange rooster and he was gorgeous.