What I learned from Pat Foreman's Two-Day Intensive Chicken Workshop

I confess, this blog post is late! I participated in a two-day intensive chicken workshop with Pat Foreman, the author of City Chicks, back in early March. I meant to write about the experience months ago, but better late than never. We met at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach.

Pat Foreman, Chicken Whisperer and Workshop Presenter Extraordinaire!

Pat Foreman's Sidekick, a Rare Chantecler Hen Named Oprah Henfry

 Pat gave us lots of handouts and advice. Much of it I had read in some of her books, but the refresher was useful. I came away realizing that our society and our world need to do more to conserve our soil and our sources of fresh water, which we are rapidly and suicidally depleting. Chicken-keepers can help by employing chickens and their manure in organic gardening.

The chicken-handling portions of the workshop were the parts that were most useful to me. I am much more confident handling my hens and much less likely to accidentally harm them as a result of this experience. I am glad that local chicken-keepers are giving free workshops through 4 Chesapeake Hens and other groups, but I wish that everyone who raises chickens could get to spend the time with Pat that we did.

Here I Am, Talking to My Buff Orpington, Minerva (photo courtesy of Craig Mills)

Oprah and and this participant seem to have hit it off!

Lisa Dearden was Pat's Co-Presenter

My Friend, Lanette, Handles a Gentle Dominique Rooster, a Colonial-Era Breed from Williamsburg

Pat Brought In Some Day-Old Chicks. How FAST They Grow!

Can You Spot the Chick?

This Chick is Hard to Miss!

Some random tidbits that I found useful: avoid the use of particle board in coops because they harbor mites. Pat prefers plastic or metal nest boxes to wood ones, and plastic nest-box liners, for the same reason. Never use cedar shavings in coops because they off-gas and can cause the birds respiratory and other health issues. Aspen shavings are preferred. Sprouting grains improves the nutritional availability to the chicken; they *love* sprouted wheat berries! Heritage breeds of chicken need higher levels of protein than the factory-farm birds, up to 28% of their diet. The shells of chicken eggs, crushed up and fed back to them as a source of calcium, are much more nutritious than crushed oyster shells. NEVER grab and squeeze a laying hen; it can kill hens if you break an egg inside them.

Speaking of eggs, Lisa Dearden demonstrated the differences between pastured eggs and supermarket eggs. She scrambled some of each up, and it's easy to tell the difference. The richer color of the pastured eggs is evidence of superior flavor and nutrition.

Can YOU Tell Which Part of These Scrambled Eggs Came From the Supermarket?

The color of the eggshells, however, has nothing to do with freshness or nutritional content, despite popular belief to the contrary. Still, the variety of colors and sizes is fun and nothing like what you find in stores:

Different Breeds of Chickens Produce Eggs with Different Colors of Shell

Pat recommended Countryside Organics feed. A friend keeps reminding me that it is available at New Earth Farm in Virginia Beach. Maybe next time I need to buy feed I will hunt this down.

For more pictures and another perspective on this workshop, check out this blog post by my good friend and urban homesteader, Lanette Lepper. Unlike me, she managed to post her thoughts in a timely manner. For more about Pat Foreman's workshops, visit Chickens and You.

Certified Backyard Chicken Keeper?

A few exciting things are happening regarding chickens, specifically laying hens, in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia. If you read this blog regularly, you know that our group, 4 Chesapeake Hens, got laying hens legalized in residential backyards in Chesapeake, Virginia, with certain restrictions. If you need details, the ordinance passed was TA-Z-12-07 with changes to allow up to six hens and removal of the privacy fencing requirement. The text of the new ordinance is available online here. There's also a 1-year sunset clause on the ordinance.

Spring is on its way, and fans of our Facebook page are excited. They are ordering eggs to hatch and chicks to raise. Or they are finding sources for pullets and building their coops or chicken tractors. My husband, Don, has been busy fencing in 1/3 of our backyard to protect our "girls" from our dogs. He has also been building a chicken tractor. I promise to post pictures soon. I have two Buff Orpingtons and a Delaware that have been waiting at a nearby farm. Hopefully, I'll be able to bring them home this Sunday!

The change in the law got some positive publicity on a local television station, WTKR. Chesapeake resident Anna Ogle has two children with autism. With the new law, the children can finally have their therapy chickens! Here's a link to the video.

Our group will be presenting about chickens at a family-friendly event at the Chesapeake Central Library on Saturday, February 16, 2012, at 2 PM. There will be songs, stories, and a craft for the kids, and information for the parents about keeping backyard laying hens. That same weekend there will be a Sustainable Living Fair at Old Dominion University in nearby Norfolk, VA, so our group will be working with Portsmouth Hen Keepers, 4 Virginia Beach Hens, and Hampton Roads Hens to run a display and spread the word about laying hens and sustainability.

On March 2-3, Pat Foreman, the author of City Chicks, will give a 2-day intensive workshop in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Successful completion of this workshop will lead to a "Certified Backyard Chicken Keeper" certification. For more information about the Master Chicken Keeper program, visit Chickens and You.

Guess who signed up? First I longed for urban chickens, then I became a chicken activist, now I'm the "Chesapeake Chicken Lady." Why not a Certified Backyard Chicken Keeper to top it all off?

Time to Fight for the Right to Have Hens!

Patricia Foreman, the author of  City Chicks, wrote some rousing words about an upcoming public hearing in Lexington. It is so appropriate to our situation here in Chesapeake that she gave me permission to tweak it and re-post it here.

Chesapeake Chickens - Public Hearing Announcement

ALERT!! Chicken Public Hearing, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 7 pm City Hall

Please WEAR SOMETHING RED to the hearing to show you are a local foods supporter.

The proposed code is at this link. 

It has restrictions that passively-agressively prevent most families from keeping chickens. 

This public hearing is not just about chickens—it's about so much more that affects us all—and our lifestyles.

• It's about having access to local, HEALTHY foods. 

• It's about employing chickens' skill sets in gardening, (as herbiciders, pesticiders and fertilizer creators).

• It about reducing carbon footprints with food that doesn't have to travel 1,200 miles through feedlots and factory farms. 

• It's about biomass recycling of food and yard "waste" and creating topsoil.

• It's about reducing the solid waste management stream that saves taxpayer dollars.

• It's about living green and walking your talk.

• It's about humane treatment of animals.

• It's about teaching kids where food comes from, including gardening.

• It's about the right to grow food on land you own.

• It's about emergency preparedness.

• It's even about national security. The Department of Defense has repeatedly stated that our weakest links in National Security is America's food and water supply. 

Keeping a family flocks, and supporting local agriculture are the most important things communities can do to help navigate these challenging times. For more information on why, and details about the Chicken Training Series, see www.ChickensAndYOU.com. Or hear Pat Foreman herself give an evening talk on Tuesday, October 9, at 5 PM at the Chesapeake Central Library. Tickets must be purchased here in advance-- proceeds benefit the Gossamer Foundation.

Even if you don't want chickens, please support those who do. 

Pass this message along to others who might be able to come and show City Council that the chicken movement—and locavore foods is happening all across America. This is a serious matter, and not just a personal frivolity of a few. 

Update: On November 20, Chesapeake City Council voted 6-3 to allow hens with certain restriction in residential areas.

Hampton Roads Sustainability Expo!

4 Chesapeake Hens spent the day at the Hampton Roads Sustainability Expo in Virginia Beach. Tom Powell and his family were there, as was my friend and fellow Chicken-Activist, Wendy Camacho. The Expo even allowed us to bring a couple of hens as poster-girls for the movement. Here we are, with our poster-chickens:

L-R: Wendy, 2 Gold Sex-Link Hens, Mary Lou and Tom

I was pleased to have a chance to meet our local online food co-op and several of its vendors at the event. The Virginia Urban Homesteaders League was there, beekeepers and beekeeping groups, local food activists, and so many others! Many of them are rooting for us to win the right to keep our backyard hens, and we thanked them all for their support, interest, and appreciation today. We are not alone!

Tom's son, Xavier, poses with us, too!

Wendy and I presented "A Case for Chesapeake Hens: Chickens on the Road to Sustainability," which was well received. 

Photo courtesy of Lanette Grovesteen Lepper

 Many people stopped at our booth. Tom, Wendy, and I all talked until we were hoarse. It was a pleasant surprise to see how many people already knew us, knew our group, liked our page, read this blog, and were willing and able to help us in some way. It was a great feeling. Several people told us they loved the hens--who stole the show!-- and that our booth was their favorite at the whole event.

We gave out lots of flyers advertising Pat Foreman's upcoming appearance at the Chesapeake Central Library on Tuesday, October 9. We encouraged residents from Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach to check out http://www.backyardchickens.com/ as well as our own Facebook page to network with others to change the laws in their own communities. We urged Chesapeake residents to dress in red and come to the Planning Commission meeting on October 10 at 7 PM, where we plan to object to recent recommendations regarding changes to the zoning laws by the Planning Department. Supporters will arrive dressed in red, the color of the "Little Red Hen."

Why do we object? One provision would limit hens to four per household, despite the fact that both local and state laws make it a misdemeanor to sell chicks (under 8 weeks of age) in flocks of less than six. We do not mind the proposal that the hens be kept in pens but find the requirement of an additional six-foot privacy fence around the entire back yard to be unnecessary and burdensome. Everyone who heard about requiring a fence in addition to a secure pen thought it was ridiculous, and many people promised to come out in force as a show of support.

We hope they follow through. We suspect they will.

How will the Planning Commission React? Stay tuned to find out. Or, better yet, come to the Commission meeting, dressed in red, and be among the first to know.

Update: On November 20, Chesapeake City Council voted 6-3 to allow hens with certain restriction in residential areas.

The Chicken Activist's Letter to Dr. Ella Ward

Our group, 4 Chesapeake Hens, is working to change zoning laws in Chesapeake, VA, to allow more residents to own pet laying hens. The current law only allows hens on land zoned agricultural or on residential estates of three acres or more. We have made some progress: City Council voted to send the issue to the Planning Commission, which will probably review it on October 10. On October 9, Patricia "Pat" Foreman, the author of City Chicks, will give a book-signing, reception, and lecture at the Chesapeake Central Library. If readers are interested in attending, please keep in mind that books and tickets must be purchased in advance of this event.

In the meantime, we are continuing with our program of "City Council Member of the Week." This week's council member has been Dr. Ella Ward. Here is my most recent letter, addressed to her:

Dear Dr. Ella Ward:

On behalf of "4 Chesapeake Hens," let me thank you for your vote to send the "hen issue" to the Planning Commission for a recommendation. Our group is confident that the Commission's diligent research will produce recommendations in favor of the hens.

We hope that you or a representative of yours will be able to make it to Patricia Foreman's talk about the benefits of chickens at the Central Library on Tuesday, October 9. Pat has degrees in city planning, animal science, genetics, and nutrition, so she knows whereof she speaks.

In the meantime, if you have any concerns or questions for us, feel free to let us know. We will make our best efforts to address them.

Sincerely,

Mary Lou Burke

 Update: On November 20, Chesapeake City Council voted 6-3 to allow hens with certain restriction in residential areas.

City Chicks in Chesapeake!

  Through a Facebook page called 4 Chesapeake Hens, I've been organizing a grass-roots network to change the zoning laws in Chesapeake, Virginia, to allow more residents to keep laying hens as pets. Current zoning allows chickens only on land zoned agricultural or on three-acres "residential estates." Recently the City Council voted to send the "hen issue" to the Planning Commission for review and a recommendation with only one "no" vote, as explained in prior posts.

The Planning Commission will review the matter as early as its regular meeting on Wednesday, October 10. On October 9, Patricia "Pat" Foreman, the author of City Chicks: Keeping Micro-flocks of Chickens as Garden Helpers, Compost Makers, Bio-recyclers, and Local Food Producers, will appear at the Chesapeake Central Library as part of her East Coast Book Tour.

Pat graduated from Indiana University with a Masters of Public Administration.  She went on to graduate school and received her BSC both from Indiana, and then from Purdue University, where she majored in Animal Science, Genetics and Nutrition.  She is both an author and licensed pharmacist. We've been told her lectures are fascinating.

During this lecture, she will explore the role chickens play in the following four subjects:

• Enhancing Backyard Agriculture
• Diverting Food and Yard “Waste” Out of Landfills
• Decreasing Oil Consumption and Lowering Carbon Footprints
• National Defense & Emergency Preparedness

Our group has gotten positive media coverage in the past from the Virginian Pilot, the Chesapeake Clipper, and WTKR News Channel 3. Reporter Marjon Rostami, in a recent article in the Clipper, pointed out that "dozens" of our supporters came to a recent City Council meeting decked in red, the color of the "Little Red Hen." 

"4 Chesapeake Hens" at City Council

We've been told that one of our key roles in the community should be to educate the public, and we are doing just that. We have invited our media contacts, the City Council, the Planning Commission, and others to Pat's highly educational, interesting, and well-informed lecture. If you would like to help, please attend our event, distribute flyers, and encourage others to do the same. Books for the book-signing portion of the event must be purchased in advance of the event. Tickets are limited and available for a donation to the Gossamer Foundation but must be acquired in advance through this website: http://citychicksinchesapeake.eventbrite.com/.

If the media took notice of a few dozen supporters, imagine the kind of attention our cause will get at an event of over 200 people that sells out! Please, help us make that happen!

Update: On November 20, Chesapeake City Council voted 6-3 to allow hens with certain restriction in residential areas.

Initial Victory 4 Chesapeake Hens

There's been a lot of excitement around here! Our group, 4 Chesapeake Hens, has been trying to change the zoning laws in Chesapeake to allow more residents to have backyard laying hens. On Tuesday, Councilman Robert Ike presented a resolution asking that the "hen issue" be referred to the Planning Commission. This was the first time our concerns have been an actual agenda item. Our group showed up in red T-shirts to show our support. All-told we probably had close to thirty supporters there:

4 Chesapeake Hens at City Council

Several members of our group spoke in favor of the resolution, as did one other resident. If you'd like to watch the speeches, go to this video and forward to about 2:09. I presented our online and handwritten petitions and our suggestions for a zoning ordinance, which I forgot to mention in my speech! We modified them from a proposed ordinance we found online that I later learned was adopted by Amherst, Massachusetts.

Ike's resolution was adopted, with the lone "no" vote coming from Vice Mayor John de Triquet. Next the  the Planning Commission will study whether changes should be made to the zoning laws regarding chickens.

We feel excited about it. We're making progress.

Now we are figuring out what to do next to keep the momentum going. Pat Foreman, the author of City Chicks, has offered to help us. Among other things, she is willing to make Chesapeake a stop on her next East Coast Book Tour. We will be happy to work with her!

Update: On November 20, Chesapeake City Council voted 6-3 to allow hens with certain restriction in residential areas.

How Much Space Do Laying Hens Need?

I live in Chesapeake, Virginia. I want to keep three or four laying hens in my residential back yard for reasons I outlined in Longing for Urban Chickens.  Chesapeake used to allow chickens only on property zoned for agriculture with an exception for a flock of up to four hens that could be kept as "household pets" in certain residential zones, but only on properties of three acres or more.

This law was unnecessary and elitist. What this meant was that in residential areas only the wealthy could own a local source of fresh, healthy eggs. Those wealthy enough to own large lots could enjoy the benefits of chickens in their gardens. But the average hard-working Joe, who probably needs the nutritional and other advantages of keeping chickens much more than his richer neighbors, was shut out by the "Powers That Be."On November 20, 2012, the Chesapeake City Council voted to allow up to six hens on single-family residential lots with certain restrictions. There had been a one-year sunset clause on the legislation, but our Facebook group, "4 Chesapeake Hens," successfully worked to keep chickens legal.

The March/April, 2012, issue of Urban Farm magazine outlines the minimum space requirements for keeping chickens. And--surprise!--three acres is major overkill for a microflock of three or four hens. Author Kelly Wood has been keeping chickens, bees, and other critters on her 1/2 acres farm in Oregon for more than eight years. According to her article, laying hens require, per bird, a minimum of:

• 1.5 square feet inside of a coop
• .75 (that is, 3/4') of perch space inside same coop
• 1.5 square feet of space in a nest box in the coop
• 8 square feet in an outdoor run

And that's it! Even multiplying this requirement of less than 12 square feet per bird by three or four hens, there was obviously no reason to require three acres to keep hens other than to deny the benefits of chicken-keeping to most working-class families in Chesapeake. And, in case you are curious, other types of chickens, such as bantams and broilers, require even less space than laying hens, so the requirements were not in place with the protection of any other type of chicken in mind.

Chicken Health for Dummies recommends a 1/2 square foot of space (inside) for chicks up to four weeks old, 1 square foot for chicks from 4-8 weeks old, and 2 square feet for chicks 8-12 weeks old. Meat chickens kept in mobile pens that are moved daily should have 1.5 square feet of space. Full-grown bantams need 2 square feet in the hen house and 6 in the run. Layers need 3 square feet in the hen house and 8 square feet in the run. Large-breed chickens need 4 square feet inside plus 10 square feet in the run. Making sure the birds have enough room helps to prevent health and behavioral problems.

A reader questioned whether laying hens need perches. Everything I've read says they are much happier when they have perches. They stay cleaner, too. Perches should be 2-3 feet up off the ground so the chickens can fly up to them. Heavier breeds may need lower perches to keep from injuring their legs or feet getting on and off them. If the birds don't have room to fly, or if the perches are higher, provide a ladder so the hens can get up there. And perches should be all of an even height so the hens don't fight over who gets the highest one. The higher perches are more desirable, and the hens can squabble over them intensely as part of their efforts to sort out their pecking order (pun intended).

Hens share nest boxes, by the way. One box for every three to four hens should suffice.


**Update on 5/10/12: A recent article on chicken gardens suggests 250 square feet per hen for free-range birds. If you plan to free range them, plan on more space that in the urban farming article. But please note we STILL do not need anywhere near three acres to keep a few hens!

**Update for November 26, 2013: Chesapeake's City Council voted to make the "hen ordinance" permanent. HOA rules still apply if you have a homeowners' association, and ducks, keets, and other domestic fowl are only legal in areas zoned for agriculture.