True 100 Years Ago, True Today? - Source: http://bit.ly/HyXs5U
According to a post on backyardchickens.com this ad was circulated in poultry magazines back in the early 20th century. After doing some research about the benefits of raising your own chickens and research done leading up to our family’s decision to not eat commercially raised meat I really found the message of this ad appealing. At the same time I found it very ironic with all the government subsidies going to mega food producers, burdensome regulations that make traditional family farms all but impossible, and local municipal and community association codes that further restrict such activity in our “modern” society.
But it really makes you think, what if we all had a couple chickens in our back yard? We wouldn’t have to use all the energy involved in processing, transporting, and refrigerating poultry based products, we’d have readily accessible manure perfect for enriching our garden soil, feathers for pillows, and much more! Not to mention the need for medication in small scale chicken operations is significantly reduced compared to mass factory farms, resulting in healthier chickens as well as mitigating super bacteria that have become resistant to conventional antibiotics.
Rooster Alarm Clock? - Source: http://bit.ly/IieHav
I know some people are going to immediately think “early morning rooster cries”, but it does not have to be that way. Not everyone has to raise the roosters. What if people that had large plots of land and could have roosters without waking their neighbors supplied fertilized eggs or chicks to those in more densely populated areas?
Chickens also have another added benefit, in a time of emergency the chickens provide eggs regularly for food and can be fed kitchen scraps or grubs found in the yard. When the hens live beyond their optimal egg laying years they can be harvested for their meat. If a situation where easy access to food becomes prolonged all one would have to do is obtain a rooster from a friend and then they would have a totally renewable food supply!
So what is keeping us from having a couple chickens in our back yard? For one, most people probably are not aware of all the benefits of keeping chickens, lots of people don’t want to put the time and effort into raising them, and for many they think you need acres and acres of land with barns and fences in order to keep chickens. Enter the chicken tractor…
A Chicken Tractor - Source: http://bit.ly/IfHMA7
Chicken tractors are small, portable chicken coops that allow people to keep chickens in relatively small areas, like their backyard! There are many great uses for chicken tractors but the main reason I mention them is because they show that without a doubt chickens can be kept in a area that most people with a yard have available. Additionally, many of them (like the one in this picture) have very simple designs, a key feature enabling us to create one on our own!
Our dilemma now is where could we place such a coop given our desire to maximize garden space and with the existence of our bee hives.
Check back again to read about how we solved our dilemma and came up with a whole new twist on bee hives and chicken coops!
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