‘America's cool new pet‘

Area enthusiasts say keeping chickens is a hobby rich with environmental and other benefits

Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2009

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by REID SILVERMAN Top, Hester Burch of Valley Lee holds one of her family's hens last month. The Burch family has been keeping chickens for four years, with the current flock including eight hens. Hester describes her hens as "charming" and notes that she also appreciates the environmental benefits that come with the hobby. Just above, one of the Burches' hens steps warily near a photographer. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo

They peep and almost purr and "bawk, bawk, bawk" as they step daintily in the side yard of Hester and Chris Burch's home in Valley Lee, watchful for unwary insects and whatever else their next snack might be.

At first glance, the Burches' peaceful flock of eight hens might not appear to be a symbol of green living. However, raising chickens like the Burches have been doing for the past four years is an increasingly popular approach to increased self-sufficiency, natural insect control and humanely raised and hormone-free food that doesn't require transport from farm to store to consumer.

That all might sound awfully high-minded, but Hester said she also gets plenty of enjoyment out of keeping poultry.

"They're very charming," she said more than once during an interview one morning last month.

The Burches are not alone in their interest in keeping chickens, for whatever reason.

"Nationwide, we're seeing a big increase" in the number of people raising poultry, Elaine Belanger, editor of Backyard Poultry magazine, said recently. Just as home gardening increases during tough economic times, Belanger said the popularity of backyard poultry also increases.

Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture does surveys every few years to approximate the number of people raising poultry, current numbers are hard to come by, Balenger said.

But the number of subscriptions to her magazine is up. The number of media calls about raising poultry is up. "Hatcheries are running out of birds," she said.

It all adds up.

"Chickens are America's cool new pet," Balenger said.

Hester, a stay-at-home mother of two girls, said she had been intrigued by the idea of raising her own chickens "for a long time" before taking the plunge four years ago.

"I wanted fresh eggs, and I liked the sustainability of it," she said. "It's all these reasons … and I've always had an environmental mindset."

So, when the younger of her two daughters, Jade, was planning a pet-petting party to celebrate her birthday, Hester thought the time was right.

The party included a hamster, a rabbit, a hermit crab brought by party-goers and a collection of 25 mail-order chicks that Hester ordered just for the event. The chicks were a big hit.

"They come in the mail. You go to the post office and you can hear ‘peep, peep, peep," Hester said. "They are very charming."

That birthday party kicked off the Burches' crash course in poultry. They had a lot to learn. There was also a little drama to get through.

For instance, after initially ordering "straight run" chicks, meaning they were willing to accept males or females in whatever proportion the company sent, the Burches learned to only order females.

Once they mature, the roosters can be aggressive, something the family didn't want, particularly with young children.

They initially wanted to let the chickens be completely free range — no fences, no rules. "I pretty much let them go where they wanted," Hester said. She built the chickens a little coop, "but mainly they roosted in the trees," she said.

But Hester learned that there were some drawbacks to this free-wheeling approach. The chickens pecked at everything … destroying landscaping plants and getting into the vegetable garden. They scratched up the landscaping mulch in their search for insects.

It was a learning experience. "Absolutely," Hester said.

They fenced in a large section of their side yard, where now the much smaller flock contentedly lives, some hens still eschewing the coop at night for the chance to roost in the trees. And now, the hens' drive to scratch and peck at everything is put to good use.

The Burches located a compost pile in the henyard, so the hens' activity helps keep the material aerated as it becomes compost. Hester picks Japanese beetles off her apple tree and feeds them to the hens.

And then there was the time something, they think it was a raccoon, got into the shelter one night and killed 12 chicks, all only 4 to 6 weeks old. "It was a nightmare," Hester said. "It was awful. It was awful."

Another time, a hawk killed Duck, "one of the most gentle chickens" they had, horrifying one of the Burches' daughters in particular.

Hester learned to recognize the sounds her chickens make when they are alarmed by a nearby hawk.

One day, she heard their alarm and raced out to find a hawk dragging one of the chickens out of the coop. Hester grabbed the chicken and actually had to pry the hawk's talons off of the bird one by one to make it let go. The hawk flew away and the chicken appeared unhurt.

"Boy, that was a bold hawk," she said. "You just have to learn how to outsmart them.

"By being smart, you can reduce losses."

The family has also learned not to get too attached to the birds. "We used to name them all," Hester said. "Now, we don't name them all as much anymore."

But the benefits of keeping chickens are numerous, according to Hester. Just for starters, she daily gets four to five fresh eggs.

The flock seems to celebrate when one of its members lays an egg, Hester said. "They seem so proud of it," she said, laughing. "They all come down and ‘buck, buck, buck, buck.'"

In addition to the self-sufficiency aspect, Hester said she appreciates being confident that the animals are being well treated.

"I like knowing that the eggs I cook with did not come from chickens kept in unbelievably small cages," she said.

And she noted that studies have shown that true free-range chickens produce substantially more nutritious eggs than those that are commercially produced.

"They are sweet and charming. I like having them around. They provide fertilizer for my garden. [They are] inexpensive to own: their home can be made predominately with recycled materials. Also, allowing them to forage for their own food … grass and bugs … will offset feed costs," she said.

"I would definitely recommend it," Hester said. "It's not a lot of work."

Christina and Frank Allen of Lexington Park keep a flock of 20 chickens.

Christina, an artist with North End Gallery, is another advocate for backyard poultry.

"One of my goals this year was to get more people into owning chickens," she wrote in the couple's Christmas letter to their friends. "Don't get me going on their many virtues: tick elimination, kitchen waste consumers, low cholesterol fresh egg producers, etc., etc. We get loads of waste organic produce from the local natural food stores for a healthy diet for our chickens, and therefore, ultimately ourselves."

Christina recommends starting small.

"A few hens … are perfect for people who just want a few fresh eggs, very locally grown; natural tick and pest control; a small source of manure for little backyard gardens; and consumers of compost and all kitchen scraps. They also are very entertaining and great pets," she wrote in an e-mail.

While individual neighborhoods might covenants restricting keeping chickens, Charles and St. Mary's counties have no laws against it.

"We do not regulate poultry," said a representative from the St. Mary's County Department of Land Use and Growth Management.

In fact, the county has historically been supportive of keeping chickens. Protecting chicks from predators was important enough to require state legislation.

In 1880, a law was passed for St. Mary's County, enabling the commissioners to pay a bounty of 25 cents for the head of every hawk and owl killed.

Fifty cents was paid for foxes killed within the county. By 1937, the commissioners paid 50 cents per hawk head and 10 cents per crow's head.

scraton@somdnews.com

Staff writer Jason Babcock contributed to this report.

To learn more

Information on how to start keeping chickens is available at www.backyardpoultrymag.com. Christina Allen of Lexington Park also recommends visiting www.mypetchicken.com.