Fresh eggs, coming soon to a suburban backyard near you!

[wildeyed]

I bought 5 baby chicks today. I am planning to raise them up in my laundry room and then put them in a coop in the backyard. With a permit, it is legal to keep them in urban yards in my city. Fresh eggs, mmmmm. Doesn't get more local than this :)

[hippywife]

1. Congratulations!

You're going to love it! The chickens are fun to watch and the eggs are fabulous! Just make sure they have the opportunity to eat plenty of grasses and bugs.

Have fun! :hi:

[Warpy]

2. My next door neighbor keeps them

and I like the sound of them clucking away back there.

Somebody on the next block has a rooster. I'm glad I don't live next door to him. I am not an early riser.

[Vinca]

3. I have to admit this has crossed my mind, but I'm worried

my house would turn into a rest home for elderly chickens when they stop laying eggs. I can't see myself "dispatching" the things when their productive days are over.

[MajorChode]

5. I used to get attached to them when I was a kid

My dad let me keep a couple of hens as pets after they stopped laying eggs. Some of the others managed to "run off" which mysteriously coincided with stewed chicken for dinner. I never put two and two together until years later.

[Vinca]

6. I remember some people who raised a pig and the kids named it Peter.

Bad idea. After Peter went to the great farm in the sky, the kids would have nothing to do with pork.

[MajorChode]

4. When I lived on a farm, we used to get about a dozen fresh eggs every day

We had a few more than you'll have, but still it's not unusual for some varieties of chickens to lay an egg per day when they are in their prime. So you might want to learn some new recipes for them if you haven't already. We used to give them away to our relatives and friends and still we had so many we ate them all the time it seemed. My dad was a very good cook and prepared them in every way you can imagine. When they get too old to produce they make fine stewing hens, which you can't get at the grocery store anymore.