Growth Spurt

The chicks have been growing astonishingly fast. This week they sprouted tiny combs and their wing feathers and back feathers are starting to fill in. At the beginning of the week, they were a mix of fine chick down and big feather nubs. Now they have only a few wisps of their chick-fuzz left.

I took them outside for a while yesterday afternoon and again this morning, and was pleased to see that they are a lot more proficient at foraging than they were last week. This morning I raked some of the top layer of soil off one of our garden beds, and they rushed right in to find all the little worms and bugs lurking there. They are definitely learning to operate as a flock; no one strays too far from the rest of the group, or they are quick to sound the alarm. I only managed to get a couple of individual shots--here's one of Lucille that shows off her new barred plumage and a perfectly respectable set of tail feathers.

And here's one of Mathilda that shows her new jet-black chest feathers. Right now she's pretty mottled in color, but in time she should be entirely black. Not sure if she'll remain pied-billed, but I hope so.

Capitola and Nettie still hang out together--I think of them as "the cousins," since they tend to stick close to one another, and they both look so similar. Here they are venturing into some leaf litter in the back of the yard--that's Nettie in the lower left, Capitola in the upper right.  Note how much darker Capitola's feathers are coming in; she looks like she'll be at the brown end of the Rhode Island Red spectrum.

And here's Fanny, looking large and in charge, as she is wont to do. While the other birds will run toward me when I call, or come up to me when I reach out a hand, Fanny has not quite decided whether I'm trustworthy. So even though she came up to check out my phone, she was keeping a close eye on me.

Of course, as I said, everyone's happiest when they're all together.

With the marathon (and post-marathon recovery) yesterday, and rain this afternoon, we didn't do much work on the coop this weekend, but I'm hoping for more progress this week.

Meet the Girls!

So, it's been 10 days now since the chicks arrived. Last week they were little fluffballs, and this week they sprouted tail feathers and primary feathers and have started flapping around the brooder box.

This afternoon was lovely and warm, so I popped them into a bucket and carried them outside. Here they are, hanging out in the yard (daughter Jane took this photo, which she called a chicken-selfie):

The chicks seemed to have a great time, scratching in the dirt and foraging for sprouts and tiny insects. Even the chicken skeptics in my house had fun watching them and helping them practice their perching:

I took some individual photos of the chicks as well. Here's Capitola, our Rhode Island Red. She's a feisty little creature, really not afraid of much, although she looks fairly demure here:

Then there's Fanny, the Buff Orpington. She's the biggest of the group, and maybe a little pushy. This photo shows how she's already losing her chick-y down and growing real chicken feathers.

Next up, Lucille, our Barred Rock.  This photo doesn't show it very well, but she's already starting to grow her barred wing feathers.

Matilda, our little Australorp, seemed to be quite cooperative during her photo shoot, but if you look closely you'll notice that having her picture taken proved (how shall I say?) a little upsetting to her:

And here's Nettie, our Buckeye. If she looks a lot like Capitola, it's because Buckeyes are close relatives of Rhode Island Reds. How do we tell them apart?  Nettie has three little stripes on her back, and is usually a little more laid-back than her sharp-eyed cousin.

And here's a group shot. They're generally happiest when they're together. 

Rob and I also started work on the coop today--no actual construction yet, but we did some serious planning and acquired our materials. More on the coop next time!

The Chicks Arrive!

It's been nearly a week since the chicks arrived, and I've been so busy with work and chick care that I just haven't had time to write about it until now.

The chicks arrived last Wednesday afternoon. I received an email on Monday to let me know that they'd shipped, and should arrive here sometime between Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesday came and went with no word, so I signed up for USPS Text Tracking to see where the chicks were.  I learned that the chicks had been shipped from Meyer Hatchery in Polk, Ohio. Here's a video that shows their chick operation:

Finally, on Wednesday afternoon, I received another text notifying me that the birds had been delivered to the Champaign post office. I rushed to the post office, only to learn that the birds were actually at a different post office, drove there, and finally was handed a loud peeping box.

Here they are in the car on the way home.

I opened up the box right away, worrying that I might find the chicks droopy and dehydrated, maybe even dead--although all that peeping told me at least some of them were doing OK. Here's what I found:

All five were very much alive, and looking remarkably peppy!  I popped them into their brooder box, and took a quick photo:

Off to do some chick care; next time I'll post some photos of each chick so you can see how much they've grown.

Chicks!

Yesterday, I ordered my chicks. I had thought about buying my chicks here in town from Rural King, but really wanted to have some special heritage breeds that I didn't think they'd stock. So I ended up placing an order with My Pet Chicken, since they enable you to order just a few chicks at a time. Most of the other hatcheries require a minimum order of 25 (or more) chicks, and I just didn't want to go to the trouble of having to coordinate a large order with other people.

So here's what I ended up ordering.

First, a Buff Orpington. Aside from their English heritage and fluffy good looks, these birds are also supposed to be calm and good-natured, the "golden retrievers" of chickens.

Next up, an Australorp. As its name suggests, this breed was developed in Australia from some Black Orpingtons that were imported from England. They are heavy-duty layers and are also said to be gentle and easy-going, like their Orp cousins.

Another good layer and a staple of many backyard flocks is the Rhode Island Red. This is one of those classic American birds--they're even the state bird of Rhode Island!  How could I not have at least one of these?

Another classic American hen is the Plymouth Rock. I've loved the look of the Barred Rock ever since I saw one a few years ago, in a friend's flock.

And last but definitely not least, a Buckeye. Like me, the Buckeye originated in the great state of Ohio. In fact, they're the only breed known to have been originated by a woman, one Nettie Metcalf of Warren, Ohio. And most fascinating of all, they have a reputation for being "ferocious mousers." Who knew?

So that's the flock.  The chicks won't be delivered until April 7, so now I'll need to focus on getting my brooder ready, and my coop built.

Revising the ordinance

So, on that fateful day back in April 2013, after I concluded my remarks and sat down, City Council representative-at-large Tom Bruno spoke up.  He asked that the record show that he was willing to support a study session to revise the ordinance that kept Champaign residents from keeping a few hens. "You can have four Great Danes but you can't have one hen?  What is the logic of that?" he argued. To my surprise, he was able to persuade five of his fellow Council members to sign the request for a study session.

A study session is where the real work of the City Council takes place. In the case of the hen ordinance, the City's Planning and Development department was charged with drafting a study session report. Luckily, Planner Lacey Rains Lowe was put in charge of this task. In Fall 2012, Lacey had worked on an environmental sustainability plan for the city, Champaign Growing Greener, that advocated allowing poultry and bee keeping in the city, so she was already aware of many of the advantages of keeping backyard hens.

While Lacey worked on preparing for the study session, I met with council members individually to find out what concerns they had, and to help them understand why allowing backyard hens might be a good thing to do for the community. I also sent regular email bulletins to the people who had signed my petition or who had contacted me as a result of local news coverage.

The study session was finally scheduled for July 9, 2013. Worried that the meeting might be packed with anti-chicken forces, I emailed everyone I could think of to encourage them to attend or to contact their council member about this issue. When I showed up at the meeting, there were lots of folks in attendance, and nearly a dozen people spoke up in support of a change to the ordinance. To my amazement, the City Council voted 8-1 to have staff draft a revision to the municipal code that would allow residents to keep a few hens for egg-laying.

Naively, I had hoped it might still be possible to get chickens that summer, but soon found out that we would need at least one more study session and a Council vote before the ordinance could be revised. While Lacey put together a team of City staff to draft the revision, I focused on continuing to educate people about the issue. I sent out more emails, kept people updated on my Champaign Chickens Facebook page, and put together an information session at the Champaign Public Library with a panel of experienced chicken-keepers.

The second study session was scheduled for November 12, 2013. Lacey held a meeting the week before to unveil the proposed ordinance and coop registration process, and my friend Debbie and I both felt that it all looked pretty reasonable. The day before the meeting, the News-Gazette devoted special coverage to the issue, and once again I worried that it would bring the anti-chicken opposition to the study session. But once again, the Council voted 8-1 in favor of the proposed ordinance, suggesting just a few minor tweaks.

Finally, on December 3, the City Council gave their final approval to the ordinance. Effective December 17, Champaign residents would be able to register their coops, and chickens would once again be allowed in the City.

Year of the Chicken

So here we are, in the final stretch of 2013. It's been a good year, with lots of good things that happened. My daughter graduated from high school. My son got his learner's permit. We saw lots of family and friends this year, and went hiking in Colorado. And--which brings me to the title of this blog--Champaign legalized the keeping of backyard hens.

When 2013 began, I was already thinking of chickens. I had been wanting to keep hens for a while: our Urbana neighbors have long been able to keep chickens, and I couldn't understand why Champaign didn't allow it. In March, I took a class on chicken-keeping with Colleen Wagner from Common Ground Food Co-Op, and that made me more determined than ever to get the Champaign municipal code changed to allow backyard hens.  I figured it would be a lot more significant if I were able to show that other people wanted this change as well, so I asked the folks at the Co-Op if I could set up a table there and collect signatures.

It was great to talk with people at the Co-Op, since most people who shop there understood why I would want to keep a few hens for egglaying. I heard from lots of chicken-keepers and neighbors (and egg beneficiaries!) of chicken-keepers, and collected more than 100 signatures. Armed with my petition, I visited the April 2 meeting of the Champaign City Council, and during the public comment session, I stood up and made the following statement:

My name is Karen Carney, and I live at 1009 W. Park Avenue. Twenty-eight years ago,  I moved here from Cleveland OH to attend graduate school at the University of Illinois. I earned two degrees there, and work there now as a college dean. I met and married my husband here in Champaign.  Both of our children were born here, and both attend Champaign public schools. We’ve made many friends here, and I really love my life here in Champaign.

There’s just one thing. You see, I’d like a few chickens. Not a whole flock--just a few, that I would keep in a small enclosure in the backyard. Just a few, to enable my family to have fresh eggs anytime and maybe have a few eggs left over to share with the neighbors. But unfortunately, the Champaign municipal code prohibits people from keeping backyard chickens. The same ordinance, by the way, also outlaws backyard lions, tigers, and bears.

Now, I don’t want any of those. I don’t even want a rooster--you don’t need one to have fresh eggs. The funny thing is, I could raise a whole hutch full of rabbits in my backyard if I wanted to. I could have any number of large dogs, any one of which would produce more noise and more waste in one day than my three chickens would in a week. But right now, despite the fact that I’m a homeowner and a taxpayer and a voter and an all-around pretty organized and responsible person, I can’t have three little chickens in my backyard in Champaign.

Many other communities across the nation have passed ordinances allowing folks to keep a few backyard hens. These communities recognize that people might want backyard hens for the same reasons they want to grow their own vegetables or to buy from local farmers--because there are personal and societal benefits to eating locally. These communities include Naperville, Winnetka, Oak Park, Evanston, Chicago, Carbondale, Milwaukee, Ann Arbor, Iowa City, just to name a few. Some of these ordinances place no restrictions on backyard chickens or their coops. Some allow hens (but no roosters) and specify that they must be kept in an enclosure (no free-range chickens).

So am I the only Champaign resident who dreams of keeping a few chickens? Here are the signatures of more than 100 people I’ve personally talked with, all of whom signed this petition asking you to reconsider this issue. They and I respectfully request that you conduct a study session as a first step to revising this ordinance. Let’s allow Champaign to join other communities that recognize that it’s a reasonable thing for residents to keep a few chickens for egglaying. Just not lions and bears.

How did they respond? I'll save that for my next post.