With her son, Jack, cradled on her hip, Michele Farnung gently pokes at some bushes alongside her house, trying to herd Ruby, the hen, back into a coop beneath an apple tree in her back yard in Seattle's Phinney Ridge neighborhood.
"This can be a bit challenging," Farnung says, adjusting Jack on her hip as Ruby darts across the yard, closer to a small coop that sits almost unnoticed among the trees, shrubs and flowers lining the wooden fence between Farnung's home and her neighbor's.
Farnung and a growing number of Seattle-area families are adding chickens to their list of pets, in some cases out of eagerness to eat local, in others just to recreate a bit of rural life in their own back yards.
Interest in chicken-raising has boomed in the last three years, says Angelina Shell, city chickens coordinator for Seattle Tilth, a group that promotes organic gardening. "A big part nowadays is people wanting to be more self-sufficient and wanting to know where their food comes from," Shell says.
There's also the simple fact that people love having animals around, and chickens are easy to keep, according to Sherry Rind of Bothell, who has raised chickens for more than 16 years.
"They provide that closeness to some other kind of life without demanding a lot of you," says Rind, who is writing a book on how chickens have played a role in her family's life.
Farnung first got chickens five years ago, well before Jack was born. For her, it was an opportunity to recapture the fond memories of trips to her aunt's home in Modesto, Calif., where each summer she would get to pick a chick to raise.
"Gentle, Jack. We're gentle with Ruby," Farnung says, as 16-month-old Jack excitedly swings his pudgy fists near the bird. Ruby takes it in stride, flitting right, then left while softly clucking as she pecks the grass in search of a snack.
"Ruby lets the kids get really close," says neighbor Katy Hanson, visiting with her 4-year-old daughter, Eva.
Hanson, who has two children, isn't in the market for any chickens of her own but says she's thrilled that Farnung has one. "It's a community-builder, and it helps teach kids where food comes from," says Hanson, who also enjoys some of the six eggs that Ruby lays each week.
Farnung says she hasn't had any complaints about the hen. Occasionally, neighbors of chicken owners grumble that the birds smell or that they're loud, or complain that someone has freed them in a park. But Shell says such gripes are pretty uncommon. A few words of advice she's quick to suggest: Be a good neighbor and share your eggs.
Each city has its own rules on how many pets people are allowed to have. Some allow chickens. Others don't. Seattle allows three on a standard 3,000 square-foot lot, but no roosters because their cock-a-doodle-doos would violate noise ordinances. Bellevue permits up to six, and just this year, Renton started allowing residents to keep up to three chickens.
Shell says she gets calls regularly from people bemoaning that they're not allowed to keep chickens. In Redmond, for example, chickens are not allowed on property less than half an acre in size. The restriction also applies to ducks, geese and rabbits, and requires that shelters be at least 30 feet from property lines.
"They can be somewhat noisy," Carl McArthy, Redmond's code compliance officer, says of chickens. He says he doesn't field many requests to change the law.
Since many cities don't require chickens to be registered like dogs or cats, it's difficult to track how many are kept in urban settings. Shell says she personally knows of about 500 families who raise chickens in Seattle alone.
Seattle Tilth holds periodic classes on chicken-keeping basics as well as coop design. They're popular and fill up quickly. Extra courses have been added in recent years for people interested in more specific topics such as breeds, nutrition and disease prevention.
Fresh eggs are the obvious benefit of having your own chickens. As they roam their yards, they also often eat slugs and bugs that might otherwise munch away at any flowers, herbs or veggies growing in a garden. They also like worms, which some gardeners wish the birds would leave alone. Chicken droppings are rich in nutrients and can be added to gardens to enrich the soil.
Keeping chickens is relatively easy. Aside from chicken feed – a 50-pound bag costs about $20 – all the birds need is clean water and shelter where they can nest, hunker down in bad weather and hide from raccoons, hawks, stray dogs and other predators. Coops can be made on the cheap by hand or cost thousands of dollars for elaborate designs.
Joan Engelmeyer and her family turned a large doghouse into a coop for their chickens. They used to let them roam the backyard but lost a couple to local wildlife – a hawk, she thinks. Others died of "old age," she says. If predators don't get to them, domesticated chickens can live five to eight years, sometimes more than 15.
At Engelmeyer's farmhouse in south Seattle, there are five chickens joining rank with the family's two dogs, two cats, and, by 10-year-old Audrey Irish's count, 28 slugs.
The family has had chickens for five years. The latest flock, four pullets (hens less than 1 year old) and one cockerel (the male equivalent), joined them in March. "They're not old enough to lay eggs, yet," Engelmeyer says. "They should start around July."
As Audrey sees it, chickens are low-maintenance. She feeds them three times a day and gives them fresh nesting material of hay or straw once a week.
"It's not really that hard," the girl says while sitting in the coop, feeding the chickens fat wriggly worms she's dug up in the yard.
Chickens will also eat vegetable scraps and pasta. "They are almost like a garbage disposal," Engelmeyer says with a laugh.
But mostly, they're just fun to watch. Even Engelmeyer's husband, Steve Irish, warmed up to them.
"They're like pretty flowers walking around the yard," he says. "I didn't know I'd enjoy chickens so much."
The New Scoop on Chickens in Seattle
Keep it legal: Check with your city clerk’s office to find out if chickens are allowed and if so, how many each household can keep. The rules in Seattle recently changed, upping the number of chickens allowed for each household to 8. Roosters are still banned in Seattle. Coops must be placed at least 10 feet away from the house.
Read up: Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Damerow; Extraordinary Chickens by Stephen Green-Armytage.
Read up some more: To learn about chicken-related topics including information about the new city code, Avian flu, where to find chicken keeping items, check out Seattle Tilth.
Take a class: Seattle Tilth offers several classes a year. The next one on city chicken basics happens on Saturday, April 18th from 10-1 p.m. at Good Shepherd Center; room 107, 4649 Sunnyside Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103.
Keep the girls happy: They need chicken feed. With a feeder, it’s a once-a-day job. Give them fresh water daily. Vegetable scraps are a nice treat. But be on the look out for rats – notorious for pilfering chicken scraps.
Coop them in: They like to roam but need a coop to stay safe at night. This can be as basic or elaborate as you like. The minimum: 9 square feet per chicken with a place for them to roost.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a chick cost? Depends on the breed, but they’re usually around $3, cheaper than a gerbil.
Where can I get chicks? Check with local feed centers such as Bothell Feed Center, Hay’s Feed in Burien or Grange Country Store Co-op in Issaquah. You can also order chicks online from Murray McMurray Hatchery.
Do I need a rooster to get eggs? Nope, you only need roosters if you want chicks. Lisa Taylor of Seattle Tilth says hens, which lay eggs regardless, will actually be happier without a rooster around.
What do they eat? They’ll eat vegetable scraps and grains but the typical diet is chicken feed that can be ordered from feed stores or Mud Bay Granary.
What kind should I get? There are different breeds, so do the research to find a good fit. Polish chickens have crazy plumage, and Ameraucana, the kind Martha Stewart raises, lay light blue and green eggs; they’re also called “Easter Eggers.”
When will I start getting eggs? Chickens typically start laying eggs between 5 and 7 months of age.
How many eggs will I get? One chicken usually lays an egg every 25 hours. That frequency drops after a year.
How long do chickens live? They can live five to eight years, although some have lived more than 15 years.
Melanthia Peterman is a Seattle journalist and mother of a 10-month-old boy. She blogs about what it's like to be a gardener while raising a young child at www.gardeness.com.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated since it was originally published in June of 2008.
