Audio By Carbonatix
I have visions of owning chickens.
I see myself going only as far as my backyard to pluck freshly laid eggs (small, speckled blue ones) from one of 3 or 4 chickens in my modern-style coop.
At least that’s the dream.
Then the reality of chicken ownership kicks in; Incubating hens from chicks, dealing with the errant rooster, mucking out coops, treating sick chickens. It’s these thoughts that keep my backyard barren.
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Seeing examples of how other locals are raising chickens at Saturday’s Tour de Coops, however, makes that dream seem a little more do-able.
See more photos after the jump.
The Phoenix Permaculture Guild created the 2nd annual tour in which, for a nominal fee ($10 for 2 people), those entertaining ideas of hen-ownership can see how others — 18 others around the Valley, to be precise — live with chickens.
One house had a small, simple coop for 1-chicken (Luna) which had the run of the backyard. Another mid-century modern hen house might have been nicer than my own home. Others used chickens as a part of a bigger farming eco-system: chickens make fertilizer, fertilizer makes healthy gardens, garden waste turns to compost and also feeds aforementioned chickens.
Oh the circle of life!
A look at some of the coops on the 2010 Tour de Coops:
1) A chalk drawing of a chicken marks the entrance of one of the tour stops
2) A new modern-style coop was recently built for 20 young chickens in North Central Phoenix
3) Chicken waste makes great vegetable fertilizer, as demonstrated by one home’s expansive garden
4) A basket of eggs hangs at one of the coops
5) One fine looking hen
6) Composting is one part of the farming cycle
