A local organization called Seattle Tilth is having a workshop this coming weekend in Issaquah to teach the public how to raise and keep chickens, they call it “City Chickens“. I love the idea of it because then you can have fresh eggs, composting material for your gardens, and chickens naturally want to eat all manner of bugs and slugs. Thankfully, the majority of bugs they eat (and slugs) are non-beneficial to a garden so it’s a great way to organically treat a yard for pests. For years I have grown organic vegetables so when I saw that most municipalities will allow up to 3 chickens, even in the city, I thought this could be a great way to expand that practice. Plus, Michael eats eggs all the time for breakfast. I loved the idea of having more local food sources for us and our neighbors to share.
I’m thinking about going to the workshop because I have a desire to keep chickens but I’m not sure I can convince my partner, Michael, that it will be a reasonable thing to do. The first time I brought it up we had 4 pets, and now we have 7, no thanks to a guy we helped out by fostering his cat whom he gave to us pregnant without telling us. So, now we have 3 dogs and 4 cats. The cats are all indoor animals so they won’t attack chickens but our neighbors do have roaming outside cats so I’d be more leery of them and would need to make sure a coop was well closed up at night and also set up to keep other critters at bay during the daytime.
Be sure before buying any chickens for yourself that you check with your local city ordinances about whether chickens are allowed, and how many, in your area. Plus, for those of you who live in HOA developments, you’ll want to make sure there aren’t restrictions in your covenants.
Check out Seattle Tilth’s website for many other gardening classes!
