K, I admit it, I am obsessed. You may ask what I am NOT obsessed with and that is actually a very fair question. It is a professional hazard to covet all things beautiful. This time, however, it isn’t a trendy piece of ridonculously expensive furniture, but…and I am almost ashamed to admit this…chickens.

My chicken obsession dates back several years ago when I went with good friends Nick and Jesse to Nick’s parent’s farm in upstate New York. One night, while sitting out on the patio looking at the night stars (likely after drinking too much wine) Jesse came up with the brilliant idea of a midnight hen house raid. Not having ever been close to an actual live chicken (I am a city girl, yo) it sounded like a dangerous mission, but, you know, danger is my middle name. After a prolonged display of sneaking and giggling, we surprised the poor hens who were sleeping innocently in their beds. Once we were actually in the hen house, the four of us stood there staring at the hens and they at us, right up until I sprang forward and stuck my hand under a hen’s butt only to get a vicious (and semi-painful) peck. OK, hen 1, city girl 0. After a bit of squawking and squealing (mostly on my part) and with the help of some padded oven mitts we managed to get some eggs. All in all, not the most professional display.

The birth of an idea: About two years ago, I read an article in Sunset Magazine about the joy of keeping your own backyard chickens. Up until that moment, I thought chickens only lived on farms; I never thought of raising them in my own backyard.

From that moment on, I pestered my poor husband endlessly with talk about raising chickens. My husband, who grew up in Kerala (a state in the south of India), has had ample experience with chickens — enough to know he doesn’t want any part in the endeavor. And although he has tried to ply me with all sorts of chicken facts — they smell, they are noisy, they are stupid, they make a mess…yadda, yadda…my obsession hasn’t waned, I just merely put it on the back burner.

Until I saw this:

and THIS!

Note: this is called a ‘Silkie Bantam’ chicken, but looks more like something out of a Dr. Seuss book if you ask me. I love the ball of fluff with the little beak sticking out, although I wonder how it sees?

and then Operation Chicken was shifted into 5th. So, I decided I want chickens and I decided that my authority over the backyard is clearly greater than my husband’s who hasn’t stepped foot in the backyard in 5 years ( and that is NOT an exaggeration), but there was still a MAJOR hurdle to overcome and that is The Great Chicken Negotiations with my landlord.

I started by emailing them pictures of my hypothetical chickens (which I have named Snowball and Snicket) — who can resist such cuties??!! And then a barrage of chicken facts and finally, a link to San Francisco city laws which permit the keeping of up to 4 hens without a permit (but not more than 3 dogs which apparently requires a permit). They clearly think I am a freak, but they agreed to let me have two chickens. Negotiations actually got easier when I explained that I don’t plan to EAT the chickens — Just steal their eggs and make them into pets.

So, now that I have permission to HAVE chickens, I need to figure out what I need to do to keep them alive and happy. I recently took a great organic gardening class at The Garden for the Environment which has a Chicken Raising class in the fall. As it turns out, the internet is a wellspring of information on how to raise chickens in the backyard (who knew chickens were so en vogue?) The first order of business is to pick a chicken living situation. The chicken cribs hen house (shown above) is suited for small spaces, but I worry that the chickens will be able to see their predators (in my backyard cats and raccoons) which will give them a chicken anxiety disorder.

The other option is to build my very own chicken crib from a chicken plan, which it turns out you can also get online (ah, the interwebs). My Pet Chicken is actually a great resource for coops, plans and all things chicken, including a tool to help you choose the best chicken for you according to your criteria.

So, Operation Chicken is now in effect. Shhhh, don’t tell the Hubz.

This entry was posted Thursday, June 10th, 2010 at 6:18 pm and is filed under Random musings. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.