Backyard Chickens

Raising small flocks of backyard chickens has been a trend among city dwellers for a decade or so, and putting the birds to work can be a boon to gardens. Rosemount, MN. You can have up to 3 hens, no roosters. You must get written permission from all the neighbors whose yards border yours. You must keep them in a coop between 12 and 24 inches above ground and the legs of the coop must be sunk in cement footers. And there is a $25 annual fee to keep chickens.
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Of the two, Nellie is the alpha” and the term pecking order” is clear to see, even with only two chickens. She is the one who emerges first from the coop, and when I toss out food, she is the one who secures it first for herself. Yesterday, I tossed squash seeds in various piles so that Esther could reach some, too, but Esther is not the sharpest tool in the shed.” She bypassed the pile close to her to try to get some that Nellie wanted, too, an endeavor she will never win. On the other hand, she may be cleverer than I think. The last time Nellie pecked at her to get out of the way, Esther flew up into my lap, as though to point out that I was the true alpha in the neighborhood. Poor Esther isn't very graceful, either. She occasionally trips over her own feet as she exits the coop and falls a few inches to the ground. The other day, Nellie sounded like she chuckled at the sight of it.
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I had been prepared for this since day one, but I was simultaneously a little insulted, as I had made it a real point to make sure that the coop was well maintained and smell free so that everyone was happy. I took a fair bit of pride in my attentiveness to this potential issue. Both Katrina and I have windows closest to the coop and never smelled anything before. What I didn't take into account was the sensitivity of a pregnant nose. Our neighbors were expecting a baby and pregnant women often have notoriously delicate sniffers, so that may be what it all came down to. Truthfully, I would have thought complaints would have been about the hens cackling each morning when they lay an egg. Their loud celebrations began to get annoying, even to me. In either case, it was an easy decision to make to get a shiny new coop and run and move our hens to a part of the yard that would cause fewer disturbances, would be even easier to maintain and would look nice for our neighbors.
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Keeping your birds dry is one of the main purposes of the coop. But don't try to make the coop airtight to conserve heat. Stale, humid air is much worse for chickens than cold fresh air. Healthy, well-fed birds can tolerate cold conditions if they're dry and out of the wind.
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Chickens are good for the environment and create a lively ambiance. Female chickens get along very well together and don't need a rooster to lay the unfertilized eggs we typically eat. When a rooster is around, he will mate with the hens, fertilizing the eggs that are produced. Fertilized eggs have an embryo that could then develop into a chick. But most food eggs come from unfertilized eggs.
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I am not a suburbanite transplant to the rural that is just learning how to keep chickens while I blog. I don't say this in a spiteful or snotty way at ALL. I think that is a wonderful thing to get out of the city and learn rural life, and writing about it as you learn is exceedingly helpful to others who are also learning. However - it is also good to learn from and publish information based on years of experience, because as you are gaining experience you may find that some of the things you once believed were incorrect. You may also find that something else works better than what you were originally doing. The information I offer is tempered by that background and experience.

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