Every morning, I pull out my cast iron pan and crack and cook six eggs for my family’s breakfast. Eggs are delicious scrambled, fried, or hard-boiled, I even tried poaching them one day (emphasis on tried). How can we possibly keep up with that kind of demand for eggs? That’s almost 2200 eggs a year! Luckily, I have several chickens living in my backyard to thank for a nice, steady supply.
With an enjoyable breakfast finished and cleaned up, it’s time to check on our feathered friends. My two-year-old holds my hand; with her other hand, she carries a bucket for collecting the eggs. Every morning, she runs excitedly out into our backyard. She can hardly wait to see who has already lain. We open the nesting box door to find six eggs laying on the wood shavings and straw placed inside. So far, we’ve broken even for the day, but we’ll be back later for the stragglers. Our eggs are a veritable rainbow of colors. We have the standard whites and light browns you might see in the grocery store, but we also have dark red browns, grayish whites, pale pinks, blues, and even green eggs!
Our chickens live in a coop in the corner of the yard; we don’t live on a farm by any means, but like many other families in Heber Valley, we brought a little ‘farm’ to the middle of our neighborhood. Although it might seem a bit daunting, raising chickens is the easiest ‘chore’ I’ve ever done, and well worth all the work. Our hens are incredibly hearty and fairly self-sufficient. For us, it’s just a matter of keeping them well fed and watered, and keeping the coop clean and full of fresh shavings and straw, as well as making sure they stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
Their coop is perfect for just that. Coops should be weather and predator proof, have good ventilation, enough room for all your chickens, and include nesting boxes, a secured roost, and access to a roaming pen or outside. To protect your feathered friends from predators it is best to always lock them in their coop overnight.
Raising chickens can take as much or as little studying beforehand as you like. You can do all the research to find out what breeds are the best for the climate you are in, approximately how many eggs will be laid per year, what color the eggs will be, and even what the birds’ temperaments are like. For example, some breeds are very docile and playful and will allow you to hold them, while others are skittish and don’t want to be touched. Or maybe you only want a few chickens for eggs and are happy to get what you can; either way, they’ll still be a wonderful addition to your family. My wife is the kind that does all the research! She sought out exactly which breeds would be ideal for our family; she was looking for those that not only lay the most eggs in quantity and color but also hens that are on the more docile and playful side for the kids.
I was surprised to learn there are hundreds of unique chicken breeds; however, they all fall into these four categories: Heritage, Egg Laying, Dual Purpose, and Meat breeds. So, which breeds are considered the best layers? If that’s all you’re looking for, go with Leghorns, Rhode Islands, or Australorps, they are the top layers in the chicken world. I’ve been most impressed by our two Rhode Island Reds. They lay extra large brown eggs; think of your normal grocery store variety but almost double the size! We have two Aquilas, beautiful birds with deep black iridescent feathers; they will even lay through the winter along with our Leghorn, who lays white eggs. The green eggs come courtesy of our Easter Egger and Barred Rock. That Sam-I-Am guy might have been on to something; those green eggs are delicious!
I like to check on our birds throughout the day, especially during the summer. If it’s a particularly warm day, I’ll bring a pitcher of ice and dump it under the coop, where the birds like to rest in the shade. Unfortunately, we learned this trick a year too late; we lost our Lavender Orpington to the 100-degree temperatures last year. I also check to make sure they have enough food and water. We feed them a grain mash, which we store in 50-gallon drums in the garage. Before we discovered that we could buy the feed in bulk from a mill in Utah Valley, we were purchasing 25-pound bags from either Tractor Supply or Ace Hardware in Heber. Chickens are the perfect way to eliminate a lot of food waste as well. We keep a bucket by the door to the backyard for scraps, old vegetables, popcorn kernels from the bottom of the bag, or fruit that’s a little too ripe. Some days, it feels like we have pigs instead of chickens! I will say that while we love to feed our chickens scraps, we do have to be careful, as some scraps can be toxic for chickens. No moldy foods, fruit seeds or pips, potatoes, onions, garlic, raw beans, citrus fruits, green tomatoes, or coffee grounds. These are the big ones! Chickens are also great for pest control and can debug a 120-foot garden space in about one week. Chicken manure is one of the best fertilizers. It adds organic matter and increases the water holding capacity in addition to providing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to you plants. Overall, chicken manure is better than horse, cow or steer manure.
Raising chicks is one of the most enjoyable parts of keeping backyard chickens. We had so much fun last year, that we decided to expand the flock. We picked up several chicks at our local Ace Hardware. We kept them in a plastic moving box in our bathroom under a heat lamp until they were feathered and ready to move outside.
Some counties do not allow residents to keep chickens; luckily for us, Wasatch County is not one of them. There are rules and regulations in place for chicken owners though. Heber’s are: chickens should be kept exclusively in the backyard, in a coop no closer than 25 feet from any dwelling. Roosters are not allowed due to noise ordinances — waking up to a shrill “cock-a-doodle-do” may be your choice of alarm clock, but I dare bet it’s not your neighbors. Finally, any eggs you gather can’t be sold commercially. Though not a written rule, I would argue the best rule to follow is to have fun, love your chickens, and care for them like you would any pet — cuddling and petting are optional — but highly recommended!
