PECKING ORDER

The Inspiration For Our Chickens...

Chatting with the chicks at the CPC

Forever I have wanted to raise backyard chickens. Just two or three to keep us supplied with nutritious  eggs that we would know came from healthy happy chickens. I've also been aware for a long time of the less than humane ways of the poultry industry and that also played big into my reasons for wanting them. I had done research on urban chicks in our city. I found out there was no ordinance against them...it was written more like a good-neighbor policy combined with responsible pet ownership.

After a couple of years actually looking for urban chicken owners I found several sites that included a Facebook group of chicken owners specifically  for people in our part of town. Surprisingly,  some of them live just down the street and others I was already acquainted  with but did not know they had chickens. In the search I also found the Facebook group for Chicken Palace Cathedral ...part of the inspiration that pushed us completely into the realm of chicken keepers!

We were invited to visit the Chicken Palace Cathedral by its owners Dennis and Mark. A couple of great guys who make this truly a palace for their sixteen chickens. They have an amazing coop with things like piped in music, lights and doors on timers, curtains hanging from nesting boxes, and a large, amazing run for them. There are probably a lot more perks I'm leaving out but believe me these ladies have it made! 

Patriotic Chicken Palace Cathedral

Yes, Privacy Curtains For The Girls

Mark and Dennis are very involved in their church's ministry to feed breakfast to the homeless. There were quite a few people in the church interested in starting a flock or adding to theirs. Mark and Dennis had a seminar on basic care of chicks and even had the chicks ready to give out. In return the new chick owners would give a few of their extra eggs to the church to provide really healthy breakfasts to the homeless. Very cool huh?!

First Eggs From Breakfast Ministry

The CPC recently got a new coat of red paint!

At that get-together we had the chance to talk to a lot of urban chicken owners and really didn't hear one negative comment about keeping chickens.  Harry took a lot of photos of the chickens, their coop, the amazing run. I just walked around and fed them treats and watched how they interacted with each other and with the humans in the middle of their run.  I never had any doubts about having chickens but Harry had concerns. By the time we left the CPC that day we were both completely sold!

 Liz-