If you’re planning to keep hens, keep Marans so you get these beautiful mahogany eggs….
There is nothing like a fresh laid egg. I ate them a couple of weeks ago in Pennsylvania and the taste is incomparable.
Even so I think it’s a crazy idea to keep hens, even Marans, in your city backyard. I used to live in a house downtown and the state of neighbour relations made the gaza strip look peaceful.
Barking dogs, tree fights, screaming kids, noisy air conditioners, tree fights, parking, marauding cats, rats in the city-provided composters, tree fights…
Add even a couple of hens to this volatile mix ….imagine the difficulties and expense of containing the hens so the rats, racoons and neighbouring dogs don’t get ‘em.
But the urban hen trend continues. . The WSJ-on line (July 15) traces the controversy over a community of illicit henkeepers in Salem, Oregon, with some pertinent examples. When Jason Caldwell’s lab killed an invading hen, he felt obliged to replace the bird. Then the dog ate the replacement and Caldwell felt obliged to buy another – they were expensive heritage breeds.
So far civility reigned, but not for long. This time he warned “If there are any more chickens in my yard, I’m going to let the dog do whatever he wants.”
