On the Urban Homestead, Chickens are Pets

Chickens scratch around in a small pen among a pile of straw, eagerly devouring any bugs they find, as their owner gathers their eggs in a basket. But you won’t hear the sounds of a tractor here – just highway traffic in the background. On an urban homestead, chickens are kept as pets even in small backyards, for the eggs they produce, their voracious appetite for insects and for their companionship.

Urban homesteading was already gaining popularity before the economy started this downward spiral, and given the money-saving benefits, it’s no surprise that it’s continuing to attract attention. The term ‘urban homesteading’ refers to a back-to-the-land movement among city dwellers, who find creative ways to use their limited space to support a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Among the more well-known urban homesteaders are the Dervaes family of the Path to Freedom project, and Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen, authors of the book ‘The Urban Homestead’. Both families keep chickens and often write on their blogs about how much of a joy it is.

From the LA Times:

“I used to think it would be so great to bring the laptop outside and just watch the chickens and work,” Knutzen said. “But I can’t get anything done when I’m out here because I can’t take my eyes off the chickens. They are hypnotic.”

Because neither Knutzen nor Coyne had kept chickens before, their venture began with lots of research on message boards and websites. They learned that it’s best not to name the chickens and get emotionally attached (they did anyway), and that chickens are social animals, so it’s better to have more than one (they have four). Then there was the whole question of constructing a coop to ensure maximum chicken comfort and safety.

“I was talking to a friend of mine who used to be an architect who keeps a lot of chickens, and we think that architecture students should have to design chicken coops,” Knutzen said. “It’s the perfect way to practice how to meet a client’s specific needs.”

More cities are beginning to allow residents to keep chickens as pets as they learn more about the realities of doing so. There are a lot of misconceptions about the smell, cleanliness and noise factors of keeping chickens – the truth is, it’s relatively easy to keep a chicken coop clean and hens merely cluck contentedly. Roosters are the noisy ones, and you don’t have to have a rooster unless your goal is to breed your hens.

Amy Gates of the popular blog Crunchy Domestic Goddess is currently working toward getting a city ordinance passed to allow backyard chickens in her town of Longmont, Colorado – you can read all about it at the blog Longmont Urban Hens, which has lots of info about chicken keeping. Green Frieda is another great blog that covers urban chickens.

Link [LA Times] via [The Huffington Post]
Photo credit: Cute Overload via Green Frieda

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