Backyard Chickens

I am now a displaced farm girl moved to the big City, and Portland lets us have backyard chickens. [See Chapter 13 of the code. Keeping three or fewer chickens doesn’t require a permit ~ AF] We have several folks with backyard chickens around us here in SE Portland. So I followed tradition where we used to go buy a new Rooster every couple of years at the Clackamas County Fair to keep our farm flock of Rhode Island Reds gene pool mixed up. We went and purchased our back yard “Flock” having some fun getting a speckled black and white, a buff cross, and of course a Rhody Red hen for our back yard chickens from 4-H kids. There were still plenty more chickens available from the 4-H kids for about $15 a piece, if you want to replenish, start, or diversify your backyard chicken flock. It is a good deal to help the kids, and you know you have good birds to start with raised by a 4-H kiddo.

For those who haven’t raised chickens before, Powells on Hawthorne has a great book for beginners called Chickens in Your Back Yard by Rick and Gail Luttmann. The chickens are a great addition to your compost program, as they will eat about anything, especially grain based things (bread heels, old rice) that you cannot put into the composter. There is very little the chickens won’t eat. They love slugs, bugs, and other garden pests, and will mow small patches of grass. You do have to have a place for them to live safe from raccoons or skunks. But the Backyard Chicken book will guide you through.

Today is the last day of the fair, so if you want a fun afternoon [despite the dreary weather ~ AF] go on out to Canby, where you can buy your chickens and pick them up at 8PM to bring home. Stop at Wilco or the Canby Farm store to get some chicken scratch and a pen until you can get a roost built, and start composting and recycling food waste.