5 Reasons We Should Raise A Few Urban Chickens - And Not For Pets

Self-reliance is not on the list but maybe that is the most compelling reason to raise a few urban chickens. You want to be resourceful and in control in an uncertain world. As silly as it sounds raising a few chickens will make you a tiny bit more independent and a more reliable provider your family can always count on. Your parents or grandparents had victory gardens for the same reasons.

Raising chickens in your urban backyard may seem like a new fad here in the USA but it has been very common in metropolitan areas like London for centuries. More and more cities and towns are recognizing the urban farming trend and have implemented accommodative ordinances. Go here to learn more about keeping urban chickens.

There are five good, practical, down-to-earth reasons why you want to raise a few chickens in your own back yard chicken coop.

1. Farm fresh eggs are the ultimate comfort food. Eggs are nature's near perfect protein, 97% in the form of readily available, essential amino acids. Eggs are the standard used to measure the protein quality of other ingredients.

A happy laying hen will lay one egg per day for about 300 days a year. A small chicken coop with seven hens will produce about four dozen super fresh eggs per week. That's plenty of eggs to eat and plenty of high-quality protein to give away.

2. Chickens eat just about anything and would like very much for you to give them your leftovers instead of tossing them in the garbage or letting them get lost in the back of the refrigerator. If you want omega-3 rich eggs (about $6.00 a dozen around here) feed them some flaxseed along with their regular diet.

3. Chickens are a natural complement to your home garden even if you only grow a few vegetables in clay pots. Chicken droppings are high in nitrogen and make excellent plant food. If you let them wander around the back yard a few hours a day they will green your lawn.

4. Chickens are about the best environmentally friendly insecticide you can hope for. They will hunt and peck around your yard cleaning up the bugs for as long as you let them. As they scratch around looking for grubs, cockroaches, aphids and other insects they automatically aerate your soil. They also eat grass and weeds. If you make a chicken tractor you can put them to work anywhere in your yard.

5. Chickens are funny, low maintenance pets. Individual chickens have personalities. Not like a dog for sure but you never have to take them for walks, brush them, or give them baths either.

Raising chickens, even in the city, is not all that difficult. Neither is making world class creme brulee (there's a relationship here) once you learn what all the ingredients are and how you put them together. Raising urban chickens is (nearly) a lost art. Thankfully, it wan't that many years ago that urban chicken coops were as common as good manners - and, yes there was a day like that.

What you need is a single, inexpensive, immediately available, super reliable source to answer all your chicken raising questions. Martin Ashway has done all that for you with his Incredible Chickens book. It's the complete guide to rasing chickens at home in your backyard - just like the cover says.

Here's just a few questions you can get answered right away:

• Does the law allow me to raise chickens in my town?
• Do I need a noisy rooster?
• How many different breeds are there and which one is best for me?
• Should I start with fertilized eggs or baby chicks and where do I get them?
• Do I ever need baby chicks and how would I take care of them?
• How big should my coop be and how much space do chickens really need?
• What do chickens eat, how much and when?
• How do I keep my chickens healthy?
• How many eggs does a hen lay every year and do they lay all year?
• Can I breed my own chickens?
• How long do chickens live?
• Can I keep chickens year round?

You can build your own urban backyard chicken coop from this downloadable book of Building Plans for Chicken Coops. The plans are easy enough for two people to complete on a Saturday morning because each blueprint has an exact layout of how to pre-cut all the wood. You can do it yourself or have it cut at the lumberyard or building supply store. Assembly is a breeze with pre-cut materials.

You can make your urban chicken coop attractive to the neighbors too. The chickens have a little good taste and will appreciate a little style too.

There's lots more than chicken coop plans. You get guides for selecting the right chicken breed for your temperament and climate, and for how to raise healthy, happy chickens from A-Z, and more. Go to the Chicken Coop Building Plans website to see for yourself how easy it is to create a more sustainable you.

Ricky and Lucy talk about how expensive it is to live in the country. Lucy gets the idea that "We can make the country work for us..." The real chicken raising (Lucy style) starts around 3:00 minutes in 2/3 - when Lucy brings home 500 chicks...before the hen house is ready.