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A Home Chicken Flock

Those of us who have small home poultry flocks love to share stories about our chickens.

Virginia Beach City Code, Sec. 5-6.  Where fowl may be kept.

Fowl may be kept in the city only within areas zoned for agricultural uses.
(Code 1965, § 5-3)  Cross references:  Zoning ordinance, App. A.

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The Backyard Poultry Report

VA State Fair Poultry Show - Sept. 24, 25, 26 at The Meadow Event Park, I-95 exit 98 next to Kings Dominion. (Notice that the entire state fair has moved its location! ) Husband is mightily relieved that I will be working and not able to attend the "Chicken Show" (or bring home fabulous new chickens to cause new coop riots).  I had hoped to discover who was breeding what kinds of chickens on our side of the state but I guess I'll have to keep researching online.

VIRGINIA POULTRY BREEDERS ASSOCIATION 2009 FALL SHOW - The VPBA 2009 Fall Show will be on Saturday, November 21, 2009 at the Fauquier County Fairgrounds in Warrenton, VA. Judges will be Paul Kroll, Rick Hare and Frank Harris. For information or premium list - contact Tom Roebuck, Jr., 26341 Old Mill Road, Unionville, VA 22567 - 1-540-854-0881 or email Tom at  Goldenfeatherfarm@gmail.com

The Adopt-a-Chicken Site from Heifer International - http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2008/03/25/2008-03-25_dont_be_a_chicken__adopt_one-1.html  Apparently Heifer International has begun supplying inner-city neighborhoods with chickens via the Just Foods City Chicken Project.  Community Gardens and neighborhoods with an eight foot area for the hens can apply at the website.  No word in the article on how Heifer is getting around the standard city ordinances against keeping poultry (like the ones in Virginia Beach). Update.... turns out that there is NO ordinance against keeping hens in NYC.  Go figure! You can't have them in the "city" part of VB but you can in NYC.  Amazing!

September 15 - After a long, pleasant mid-summer and a hot, miserable August, the chickens are springing back to life in the crisp fall air.  Their afternoon forays out of the coop run are huge fun to watch. They spring about snapping up grasshoppers and small insects, challenging toads and leaping through the tall grass areas, snatching seed heads and moths. How they enjoy this weather! (As do we.) Slight slow down in egg production - someone's not holding up her end of the production schedule. Probably our oldest. The "wild child" chicken, Dottie, the B&W polka-dotted Speckled Hamburg, may be hiding eggs out in the grass.

We have new arrivals, an adopted set of a half-banty Mama Hen and her three tiny, tiny chicks. They came to us from friends who have "enough" chickens and didn't want harm to come to the babies while they are travelling this fall.  It's wonderful to see the bravery and fierceness of the little hen as she growls and squawks at anyone entering the run where she and her babies are isolated for the next week or so.  She is so dedicated to keeping them safe. Once the little ones get a hair bigger and Mama has adjusted to her new home, we will begin carefully letting the other hens have access to her area and vice versa.

Week of August 17th - It's just miserable. The chickens, even with their fan and lots of water, rest limply in the shadiest part of their run and sometimes pant lightly.  The humidity has them as slumped as we are. Egg production continues on schedule, every hen laying her one-a-day egg. They have to forgo their daily dust baths because the heavy rains have soaked even the most dry, sandy areas of the run.  They are eating less of the chicken grains but enjoying fresh fruits and veggies being harvested from the gardens.  How they love cold melon!  We carry out the melon rinds and any leftover canteloupe and watermelon - with all the delicious seeds, of course - and the chickens eat the juicy melon right down to a paper thin rind. I think they find it as refreshing and cooling as we do.
July 20 - So far the summer has been filled with reasonable weather and weekly rains that have kept the ground moist and provided cool areas in the shady parts of the chicken run.  I hope all backyard chicken raisers understand that, just like other animals - cats, dogs, whatever - chickens need access to ample fresh water and shade in the hot summer months.  We have added a window fan to the coop that stirs the air about for the girls and pulls in cooler air in the evening, aimed across the nest boxes and up into the rafter area where they love to roost at night.
June - the semi-world-famous Automatic Chicken Feeder and Japanese Beetle Trap is back in use.  I took the bottom off the bag of a Japanese Beetle trap and attached a 6' length of PVC pipe instead. The trap is then hung up in the chicken run so that the bottom of the pipe is only about 1" from the ground in the run. As the phermones up in the top of the trap begin to waft across our yard, the beetles come weaving in.  They fall into the open top of the bag, as intended by the trap's designers, but then tumble - not into a bag, but down the PVC pipe and land out on the ground of the chicken run.  Snap! Snap! the chickens dash over and snap up each beetle as it falls out.  Even more entertaining was the oldest hen.  She apparently remembered the beetle feeder from last summer and, even as we were tying it up to the top cover of the chicken run, was poking her head at the bottom of the pipe looking for beetles. Guess who got the first batch of beetles that came through?  The younger hens observed her carefully and, after a trial or two, got the beetle grabbing technique down pat.  Great invention - like all those traps, maybe it doesn't get EVERY beetle but the entertainment value is priceless.

Week of March 15 - Hmmm.  Our happy egg production from the young hens has suddenly dropped off.  No signs of molting or predators....  Well, I've been checking the forums at
www.backyardchickens.com and notice some others with the same problem, so I'll wait to see if things pick up.  I know the old hens belong in some stew pot... but I also know it's just not going to happen.  And least with me.  Checking the Farm Fresh, I notice that the Cage Free, etc. etc. eggs are close to $4 a dozen.  Sure makes chicken raising into a more worthwhile  endeavor.  We've fallen in love with the Tina Turner looking Polish chickens and I suspect that these will be the variety for 2009's chick shopping! 


Week of February 14 - All the new girls have entered their first spring as adult hens laying a faithful egg-a-day each. They insist on using the one nest (actually a recycled, covered litter box - nice and deep and dark with a perfect sized opening and lots of room for nice nesting materials in the bottom.  But now the old hens (second year) have stopped laying.  Ah, well. It will be interesting to see if anyone goes broody this spring - I'm not sure any of the eggs will be fertile. We are letting the little flock out of the run every few day to forage for an hour or so before returning to the safe coop at dark.  They are thoroughly enjoying the chickweed and "greens" that have come up in the warm weather.

Week of January 11 - Things are pretty quiet out at the Chez Poulet (Rob's sturdily-built chicken coop).  The girls love to find a sunny spot to enjoy as they scratch and putter about.  We have a quiet, mixed flock of 2 older Buff Rocks, 3 assorted pullets (young females) and one small rooster, Mr. Chicken. The younger girls, like the Silver-Spangled Hamburg, Dottie, in this photo, are now laying an egg a day each, so despite this being the "off season", we are staying supplied with delicious eggs, slightly smaller than the huge brown eggs the Buff Rocks were laying.

Most urgent concern?  Keeping the girls in fresh water. Chickens drink a lot of water and we check morning and evenging to be sure their drinking source hasn't frozen over.  They appreciate it, crowding around to murmur their approval as we break off the ice crust or set out the new water for them.

Great Chicken Websites

If you have, want or just love backyard chickens, you will enjoy these websites:

www.backyardchickens.com/  A terrific group of chicken raisers and the #1 site for backyard chicken farmers.

www.backyardchickens.org  Another general organization of chicken farmers.

http://www.successwithpoultry.blogspot.com/  Check out all the members chicken coop designs!

www.urbanchickens.org/   An informal forum of chicken owners

www.urbanchickens.net/ (yep, it's a different site)

www.wikihow.com/Keep-Chickens-in-a-City  A truly comprehense Wiki-How article.  Good reference.

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Dottie - Silver-Spangled Hamburg

Please Note: Before planning any backyard farming, check your zoning regulations. If you are in a development, there may also be specific homeowner covenants that restrict what animals you may own - even what kinds of plants you are allowed to grow, especially in "publicly viewed" areas of your property.

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The Chez Mays - The photo shows the little backyard chicken ranch at Sybil & Rob Mays' home in Blackwater.  Coop was built with a garden shed kit from Home Depot that allowed Rob to use 2x4 lumber with no angle cuts - it doesn't get easier than this.  The chicken run (outdoor area) is actually two chain-link dog runs (four 6'x10' panels each) that clamp together. They are easy to reconfigure when new space is needed.

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Mr. Chicken

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Holly's Grey Goose

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Banty Buff Rock Cross

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Barred Rock Hen



Have a chicken raising tip you'd like to share? Email it to the address below and I'll post it on our Tips page!

usefulgardener@gmail.com