Critter Geek

Today Steve and I spent the morning touring…chicken coops!

Generous members of the California Wine Country Chicken Chat group opened their coops to others in the group for an informal tour of member coops. It was a great chance to see how other build their coops and manage their flocks of chickens. And we saw lots of beautiful chickens!

I was happy to see that everyone had mixed flocks and not just one breed. We also got to see several “mutts”, chickens of no particular breed that turn out in a nice variety of shapes, patterns and colors.

Two things stood out from what coop owners told us: their hens have plenty of nest boxes, but fight over one favorite, sometimes crowding themselves three at a time on top of one another, laying all their eggs in one box. And many started with a chicken tractor (a movable chicken pen), but found it to be too much trouble and converted to a regular coop.

Click on the thumnails below to browse photos of the tour, or head on over to the photo set on Flickr.

I’m a strong believer in raising your own flock of backyard chickens. It’s enormously rewarding, and it brings a yard to life like nothing else. And you can bet your eggs will be a lot better (and better for you) than the ones from a place like this that describes themselves as a “family farm.”

If you’ve been thinking of getting your own chickens, don’t forget the Critter Geek backyard chicken resources page, with lots of links to tips and information.

Thanks again to everyone who showed us their coops this morning!