Friday, April 15, 2011

#326...chicken abode

For awhile now, I've had my heart set on getting some pet chickens. Backyard chickens are becoming very popular and I really like eggs, so I want some. My Dad grew up on a chicken farm, and he will think this is an awful idea, but I want them nonetheless. I checked out Backyardchickens.com to learn more about it, and for the past few months, I have been under the assumption that the city of Houston did not allow urban hen pets. Last week for work I visited a house that had 3 hens and a really great set-up for caring for them. The home owner told me that the city does allow urban hens, just no roosters......so my chicken dream is alive again! I bought this book on Amazon to learn more about it.
Once Tyler is finished with the pottery cabana, I'm planning on conning him into building a chicken coop in our side yard. Dwell magazine has some great examples of modern hen houses like this, this and this.


My next door neighbors are about to undergo a big house remodel, and since that is the side I want to put my chickens on, I will probably wait until they finish construction, as it seems cruel to force my new hens to listen to saws, compressors and nail guns all day.

2 comments:

Teri said...

so, this is an argument in our neighborhood from time to time....I live in a hippie/green neighborhood, and lots of people want chickens. And there is nothing prohibiting them, (except roosters), but everytime it comes up, things get pretty heated--I think people are worried about the smell and asthetics (although I'm sure if they saw pics of those houses, they wouldn't be worried!) I say go for it. How cool would that be to have fresh eggs? Hopefully your neighborhood would be more supportive!

Ashley Kellogg said...

We've got chickens on 25th! I could steal one for you. Or you could just hit Wabash.