While I was in Washington, I also got to visit my cousin’s chickens. She has four girls total and they will be egg laying hens when they get old enough – not meat birds. In this picture, they are hanging out in their chicken tractor, which moves around the property. The chickens really help nourish the earth with their pecking and pooping.
It got me thinking about possibly having chickens of my own backyard. “City chickens” are becoming more and more common in NYC, believe it or not. At this point, I’ve joined Just Food’s City Chicken Meetup group to learn more about keeping chickens in the city!
Do you know what the legal rules are for owning chickens in the city? Like would you need to get your landlords’ approval?
Oh yes – even if it wasn’t a legal rule, I’d clear it with my landlord first. I don’t know what other rules there are, either – I’d need to look them up, or I’m sure I could get direction from the City Chicken Meetup group. I’m friends with Jules and Robert, who are Astoria’s backyard chicken experts, so I could ask them, too. The bigger question is – would I be able to manage the caretaking of these beautiful animals with my current schedule/lifestyle? I still don’t have an answer, but I’m mulling it over on a low-level, consistent basis. So, we’ll see! 🙂
How many of these you would like to get ? Consider that when it hot the odor is quite intense….
I envision getting 2 or 3 chickens. Not sure I could handle more than that!
Dear Meg: I met them Jules and Robert at a library event and was asking them if they would do their talk for TCK and didn’t know you knew them was thinking of suggesting someone with a garden could host and recall Marija mentioning on the Socrates Farmers Mkt Tour her neighbor having chickens. They would not charge as long as it was fun for them. I have been wanting to
see your garden from the way you describe on your blog. It was Robert the musician that Markela was talking about entertaining us on his ekele and I met him after the tour on the way out. Wow what synchronicity. I never told them the group nor person I had in mind.
Pauline