Last Saturday, me n’ Tiff went on the Henside the Beltline: Tour d’Coop around Raleigh. All’s we had to do was turn in two cans of food, get a map of the 20 urban chicken coop locations, and we were off on a journey of knowledge and wonder.

The Tour d’Coop turned out to be really cool. When people think of raising chickens, you think of a farm out in hickville, but it turns out a lot of people in Raleigh raise chickens. Each house we went to was in a “normal” neighborhood. Most of the houses had really nice backyards, with little vegetable gardens, water cisterns, homemade chicken coops, and rain barrels.

There were probably around 10 visitors at each stop, and the yellow-t-shirt-clad owners were happy to dish out folksy nuggets o’ chicken-raising wisdom.

Fun Facts about Raising Your Own Chickens

I learned these here chicken facts during the amazing Tour D’Coop.

• Heat is more dangerous to chickens than cold (most can survive outside in winter)
• Make sure the chicken fence goes at least a foot into the ground to keep out burrowing predators
• Protect chickens from hawks, raccoons, dogs, cats (some dogs and cats can get along with them)
• At night, the hens get sort of “dumb” and slow, so make sure they’re safe
• Chicken poo is a good fertilizer
• Basically an egg a day per chicken!
• Easy to take care of, “like an aquarium”
• No rooster needed, so you won’t be waking neighbors up at the crack o’ dawn
• Orange yolk instead of yellow, because of more beta carotene

After all that learning, I think I’d like to raise me some chickens in my backyard one day. All the eggs I can eat (and give away), plus I get to watch chickens run around. It’s a win-win situation, I tell you! On that note, I will leave you with some pictures of the homemade chicken coops that I laid my eyes upon that fine day.

More sources:
Make Magazine - Backyard Hens
News Raleigh

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