Making the coop a big step
Workshop tips aid hen-keeping.

Photo by Nick King | Buy this photo

From left, instructor Billy Froeschner watches as Brian Bowles, Robert Johnson, Ian Thomas and Jaye Wright set upright the frame for a chicken coop they were building for a workshop Saturday at the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture, 216 St. Joseph St.

By Daniel Cailler

Sunday, March 28, 2010

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It has been nearly two months since the Columbia City Council approved the urban hen ordinance, and contrary to some folks’ worries, hens are not running amok.

photo

Photo by Nick King

Hens roam in a pen Saturday at the urban agriculture center.

And the fowl won’t be, if people provide them with adequate coops. That’s where the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture steps up to the plate.

The local organization has hosted several hen-raising workshops at its base, 214 St. Joseph St. The group led a coop-building workshop yesterday to show the nuts and bolts of construction.

“We’re going to come out of this with a good understanding of how it works,” said Billy Froeschner, an independent contractor who directed the class.

Using scraps from a demolished porch, a truck full of tools and basic drawings, the group spent several hours building a 6-foot long, A-frame coop capable of holding three hens.

When the basic frame was assembled and positioned upright, the group discovered that the structure was lopsided. A quick inspection found an oversight in measurement. After dismantling the coop, boards were trimmed and reassembled.

Laurie Florio, a Third Ward resident who wore a pair of safety goggles at the workshop, said she plans to keep three hens. “I’ll start in a couple weeks, but I figured I’d better have a coop beforehand,” she said.

Florio looks forward to getting healthy eggs and believes the experience will be good for her two grandsons.

Brian Bowles, who lives in the Quarry Heights neighborhood, said he plans for four chickens, adding that his two home-schooled daughters are excited about the idea.

Given the overwhelming support for urban hens at the Feb. 1 Columbia City Council meeting, one might suspect that interest is high for backyard fowl.

Mary Stilwell, an urban-hen proponent who has taught several hen workshops, said 40 or 50 people have told her they will be getting hens this year.

Melissa Haley of Bourn Feed and Supply said she’s received many phone calls from people asking about breeds and supplies. “It seems to be a growing fad. Self-sustaining behavior is on the rise,” she said.

Tom Payne, manager of Orscheln Farm and Home, estimates his chick business is up 20 percent since the season began about three weeks ago. “There’s been a lot of interest,” he said. “I think we’ll continue the trend through the spring.”

Deann McKinley, an Orscheln clerk, said the store dropped its 12 chicks-per-sale minimum after the city council passed the urban hen ordinance. She suspects most buyers live outside Columbia, but that it’s clear city dwellers have entered the market.

McKinley said folks are generally educated on the topic. “Two people I spoke to had done some research. They were really well-informed,” she said.

Many people who supported passage of the ordinance never intended to get their own hens, Stilwell said. “The ordinance was always about people’s right to food, not just people’s desire to own chickens in particular,” she said.

Reach Daniel Cailler at 573-815-1717 or e-mail djcailler@columbiatribune.com.
http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/201 ... -big-step/

One thing I did when I had layers, was grate up a half a carrot every day. This will raise the Beta-carotene levels in your eggs, and make them as good for your eyes as carrots.

Pull or cut some mixes "greens", grass and weeds and give them in their enclosure. The chickens will sort out which greens they can eat just fine.

urban-chickens-references-t5293.html

http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/tractors.html

A picture speaks a thousand words. So here are over 170 pictures of chicken tractors I have collected! No blueprints, no descriptions, just pictures. I hope they inspire your own project. A chicken tractor is basically a bottomless cage or pen of some kind. This is so the chickens can scratch (a chicken's raison de etre) and eat off of the ground such things as grass, weeds, bugs, etc. In the U.K., chicken tractors are called chicken arks. You can drag or roll your chicken tractor around the yard if you want. They often feature wheels. Without a cage bottom, the chicken manure goes directly onto the ground and becomes fertilizer. Chicken tractors are perfect for a small number of city chickens. If you don't want to move your chicken tractor, just let the manure accumulate. Throw fresh straw or wood shavings on top of the poop to absorb any standing water. When a bunch of layers of litter and manure have accumulated, just move the tractor, rake up the poop with a hard-tined rake, and compost or throw away. I have had success even giving away my dirty chicken litter. I put an ad for "free fertilizer" in my local for-sale newsgroup and gardeners come and take it. There's a book that's been around for awhile about chicken tractors. Do you have an awesome picture of your chicken tractor?