When my family we moved onto our half acre lot in Yucaipa, CA in 1983 there was an old abandoned chicken coop with washed out red siding and latch doors back in the far corner of the property. My dad broke it down and took it to the dump, along with the leftover pieces of a makeshift duck pond.
This memory floats slowly back into my mind as I now start to consider raising my own backyard chickens as an adult making healthier food choices and getting ready to start a small family. Wouldn't it be great to have the kids grow up around chickens?
I had my first encounter with backyard chickening (yea, thats my own term) while living in our two story 1920's brick rental house in downtown Riverside, CA. Our neighbors Cindy and Bryan decided to engage in keeping chickens and then purchased their first 3 hens about a year into our rental. They built their very own chicken tractor out of MDF siding and a small wheel cart complete with an old barn lantern and a few trap doors for easy egg picking.
Cindy would regularly bring eggs over for our enjoyment and on warm spring and summer mornings I would look forward to the muffled sounds of the 3 hens cooing and pecking from the neighboring yard. I remember the taste of Cindy's backyard eggs being far superior to those purchased at the grocery store (even though I bought cage free, hormone free ones from Trader Joe's) and they were just beautiful eggs. Some were green with blue and brown spots, some small and brown and some a creamy white. They were kept at room temp and were just delicious!
With the lease signed and the deposit down on our new house in Redlands, CA, I've now decided to start my own research in order to prepare myself for my own mini-flock of backyard chickens. There are a few great websites and books I've looked into, so far here is the best, most fun and most clearly written book:
Ashley English also has a great Homemade Living Lifestyle blog with great information on Beekeeping, Canning, Homesteading...etc: Small-Measure Blog
In addition to chicken literature, Ive also been researching the different types of build-it-yourself chicken coops and tractors. The tractor I like best so far is made from a rolling cart which was used as the chassis, then the frame and coop were built on top, making the entire structure easily movable. The design is the brainchild of Erin Moser and her husband Rusty. This model would prove beneficial as we are renting once again and may need to relocate the tractor and our chicken heads from time to time:
Here is Erin and Rusty's construction from start to finish:
You can see more of their amazingly simple designs on their blog and can even contact them to purchase one here:
As for breeds, the birds I like best are those that have high egg production are low maintenance breeds who are confinement friendly and those whom are not too fussy. The breeds I have researched and whom I prefer so far are warm weather breeds such as Plymouth Rock Standard, Wyandotte, Belgian D Anver, Dominique Standard, Dorkling, Hamburg, Holland, Longshan and New Hampshire Red.
Here they are in listing order:
I will be sure to post more as I continue my research. Goodnight for now and happy backyard chickening!
