BlogHer - The chicken, the egg, and the children - Comments

Chickens don't need to be smelly

grannysu — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 21:06:56 -0600

Granny Sue Stories from the Mountains and Beyond www.grannysu.blogspot.com susannaholstein@yahoo.com

..although they certainly can be if not cared for properly. I've had chickens for most of the past 40 years, first in a semi-rural neighborhood in northern Virginia, and then here on our farm in West Virginia. Too many chickens in too small a space is a recipe for odor and disease. But a clean henhouse, a good outside pen or run, and regular care will make your chicken house a pleasant place to visit. We use hay for bedding and change it regularly. We also use lime or wood ash to combat odor; the bedding goes into the gardens.

Your children will love having chickens, Amy. The eggs are such a miracle to them! And learning how to care for them teaches responsibility and nurturing habits. Of course, you may have a few egg fights to clean up!

Good luck with the ordinance.

When I was a kid our neighbors had chickens

Mata H — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:57:52 -0600

The neighbors had a large coop and large hen-yard. While the eggs were great, the smell on a hot, windy day was nasty. Our neighbors were very tidy people, so it's not as though they ran a hen-sweat-shop. But the scent --whewww!

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs right along at Time's Fool

Thank you, Susan. Sounds

Amy Gates — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:58:30 -0600

Thank you, Susan. Sounds like a great experience for your family.

Great points, Booklady Alison. if you could see my house, you'd see that we're not afraid of dirt around here. I definitely don't have a filthy house, but I'm not one to freak over germs. ;) I think it's important for kids to build up their immune systems naturally.

Cherre, you bring up an interesting point, that a connection to our food can be better for our mential and physical health, and perhaps we could extend that to our emotional and spiritual health as well.

Amy
Crunchy Domestic Goddess
BlogHers Act contributing editor

I love the idea

Cherre — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:31:45 -0600

I have friends who keep chickens in their relatively urban neighborhood and it's such a great idea! Theirs are in the garage. Me, don't know where I'd put them since we don't have space. But I wish we could.

There is a gigantic disconnect between people and their food. Growing up my mother always had me help in the garden, but to be honest it took a long time for me to really consider how we got our meat. And only recently to be open to the facts of the factory farming. It is eye opening, and I think connection to our food sources can be a the key to better health both mental and physical.

http://doesabodygood.blogspot.com

Better for your health

BookLady Alison — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:32:58 -0600

Contrary to the health risk of being around farm animals, there is growing awareness that being isolated from nature (dirt and manure) could be harmful to our health. I've read several researched articles that say we need to challenge children's immune systems and that isolation from dirt and manure could be the cause, or at least a contributor, to the high rate of allergies we are seeing in kids.

I'm not sure I'd choose to keep chickens, but I wouldn't have a problem with my neighbors keeping chickens, ducks, etc, provided of course they cared for them and shared the eggs! Chickens are often used as part of permaculture and I'd love to see more of that :-)

As to kids not knowing where vegetables and meat come from, that is scary! As a booklover it's also inconceivable to me. Folks need to read to their kids so that they understand basic stuff about the environment. We can't expect schools to do all that.

BookLady Alison

Blogging about life, the universe and everything at Homeschoolers Guide to the Galaxy
Gift Ideas for people you care about at GreatFunBooks.com

Although no chickens at our

lilmommythatcould — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:02:58 -0600

Although no chickens at our house, we are always at Grandma's farm helping with her two chickens, a Rhode Island Red and a Rhode Island White named "Ruby" and "Opal." As soon as we get to the farm our work boots go on and we feed the two old hens. Just starting to produce eggs, it was an event. A call from Grandma about the egg was a celebration in our house.

Now we are helping Grandma pick out more- an American (easter egg chicken) a Polish and a frizzle will be added to the coop! Amy it is so worth it and I too hope it works in your favor.

~Susan

http://lilmomthatcould.com/

The chicken, the egg, and the children

Amy Gates — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:44:14 -0600

Last night I went to a meeting about a proposed city ordinance to allow backyard hens in residential areas. Although my city was formerly a farming community, hens and other livestock are currently only allowed in areas zoned for agriculture. I'm interested in having backyard hens myself as a way to live more sustainably and because I feel it would be great for my kids. A teacher who attended the meeting, while pleading her case in favor of the hens, said she's had students that didn't know a hamburger came from cows. That got me wondering, how many of today's children really have no idea where their food comes from?

Penny, a New Zealand mother of two who blogs at Walking Upside Down, reinforced the point when she mentioned her son's kindergarten teacher told her she once took a class to farm growing cabbages and the kids asked, "Who put them there?" Penny said, "I was so surprised there were kids in my area who didn't know where veges came from!"

Belinda Moore, who writes Home Grown says, "Children need to know their food, be connected to it. Even if you’ve never grown anything before, learn beside your little ones. Sharing this knowledge now could foster a lifelong interest in gardening, a forgotten skill that some day could become vitally important once again."

I feel fortunate that we live in an area where we have access to local farms so that my children can see how different fruits and vegetables grow and that they don't just appear in the grocery store. We also planted a garden for the first time this year and they were able to experience something growing from just a seed into a vegetable we could eat for dinner. Those kinds of experiences, I believe, are important to give our children.

Another thing I appreciate is having access to local free-range eggs. I recently discovered a family farm a few miles from my home, Ollin Farms, that sells fresh, free-range organic eggs every Wednesday morning. The problem is, as I've come to discover on more than one occasion, you have to be waiting at the farm stand when they open at 10 a.m. in order to make sure you get your eggs. They only have a limited supply and they sell out fast. Just this week I went to pick up a dozen for both me and my friend Alison. Julian and I arrived at 10:15 a.m. and the eggs were already sold out. According to the farmer they only had 7 dozen this week because their older hens are slowing down production for the winter and their younger chicks still have another month or so to mature before they start laying eggs. Seven dozen in one week is just not enough to keep up with demand.

That is just one of the reasons that I would like to be able to own a few hens of my own. Not only would I like the organic, free-range eggs (which are far healthier than factory-farmed eggs), I would like to expose my children to the experience of caring for animals and to get better acquainted with their food. My daughter Ava, 4 years old, has already told me with pride on numerous occasions that she will be the one who collects the eggs every day.

Owning your own chickens is also better for the environment. According to Meg Hamill who writes for Planet Save, "Making backyard chickens legal is a good move for cities interested in reducing their ecological footprint. Urban chickens provide a local source of eggs, meat and manure."

Ever since the proposed backyard hen ordinance came about several months ago, it has received a lot of attention here and quickly became a very contentious subject. There are several people in favor of the ordinance, most of them interested in knowing where there food comes from (these are also the folks who grow their own tomatoes and other veggies), and in living more sustainably. There are also a good number of people who are opposed to it, citing concerns like smell, noise, unhealthy for children to be around, increased predators, decreased property values, etc.

It was the mention of chickens being unhealthy for children to be around that piqued my interest. Although a physician who was present at the meeting dispelled those concerns, I decided since I know quite a few people, both in person and on the 'net, who raise chickens and have children, it was worth it to ask them about their personal experiences too.

My sister-in-law Jennifer who lives in Kansas with her husband and 8 children, as well as numerous chickens, a cow, some pigs and goats told me, "Some people think that the feather mites that chickens have are a problem, but they are not transferable to humans. Any pet that is not cared for well or cleaned up after obviously poses a health risk of some kind, be that cats, dogs, rabbits, etc."

I think that is the real concern in our city. People are understandably concerned about the few folks who won't be responsible chicken owners and either won't care for their hens properly and/or won't clean up after them. While I'm sure there will be a few bad apples, I say why not cross that bridge if and when we come to it? Let's trust in our neighbors that they will do the right thing rather than assume the worst right off the bat. I believe most of the people who want to get backyard hens want to do it for the same reasons that I do and will likely be responsible hen-owners.

When properly cared for and cleaned up after, chickens should not pose health risks, and from what I heard from several people I asked, kids can't get enough of them.

My sister-in-law Jennifer said:

Our kids love their chickens. I don't know that chickens should be a petted-type pet, but ours certainly are. My children love carrying them around. They have put chickens in a swing before (not sure the chicken liked that so much, but she didn't throw a fit either). We get so much enjoyment from watching them. They go nuts for watermelon rind and tomato scraps and everyone in the house loves to check for eggs. They have found new and creative places to lay their eggs and thus we often have to hunt for them. It's Easter every day at our house!

Angela from Rahn Family Blog told me her daughter Shraddha spends hours with their chickens. She's got some adorable pictures of her daughter with her "babies." "I never realized how much fun we would have with chickens. We are always so excited to run out and feed them leftovers and they jump all over us in excitement whenever we come to visit...especially when leftover oatmeal is with us."

Amber from Berlin's Whimsy writes the Chicken Chronicles about her little flock. In her post Chicken Therapy she relates how she and her two kids have been too busy to spend time observing their chickens lately and they all miss it.

We miss our chickens. We see them fairly often but it isn't the same as walking out to the chicken house in the morning and watching them flee from their confinement----a spectacle of legs, wings, and squawks, leaving feathers floating in the air. I especially long for sitting outdoors with a bit of knitting while absent-mindedly watching our chickens interact with one another, listening to their chicken conversations. As much as it is amusing, it's just about the best prescription for stress relief----another lesson in simplicity. I know it sounds odd, but until you've tried it, you just won't understand.

Monica Brand, a home schooling mom to two girls and two boys, shares a picture of three of her kids, the Chicken Wranglers.

Leslie, from Recycle Your Day says her little boy loves having chickens.

Tristan loves to go every morning and feed them and check for eggs. He always crouches down and points to one and says “egg”! It’s really cute. When my niece and nephew come over they love to watch them and my niece will go and retrieve eggs if she see’s one or two! She always asks about them. Kids really find them to be fascinating. I’m happy that Tristan has the opportunity to grow up with chickens and horses. He loves em’ both.

Dawn from Kaiser Alex told me on Twitter that she has fond memories of hatching chicks in an incubator back when she was a kid in elementary school. I asked her how she liked it and Dawn responded, "Well it was 25 years ago and I still remember, so I guess pretty well."

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that this ordinance will pass so that we can take the next step in living more sustainably and so my children can have these special kinds of experiences and memories too.

Additional resources:
The City Chicken
Backyard Chickens
Chicken Raising with Toddlers
How to Keep Chickens in the City
Nine Books for Newbies to Urban Chickens
Raising Chickens on an Urban Homestead
Raising Urban Chickens: Part 2 - Building a Coop
Raising Urban Chickens: Part 2A - Building a Coop

Contributing editor Amy Gates blogs about green living, attachment parenting, activism and photography at Crunchy Domestic Goddess.