Funky Chicken

I have become completely obsessed with wanting to have chickens in my Brooklyn backyard! Ask Neil, he'll vouch for me. It all started when I was reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. There was a whole section on Polyface Farm, where they raise pastured chickens. Did you know that chickens prefer to eat grass and bugs (ticks and mosquitoes too!!) over the corn-based grain we give them? Did you know that the grass adds beta-carotene, which is what makes the gorgeous orange yolks you see more in Europe? Pastured chickens produce eggs that are higher in Omega 3s (because of the green grass) and lower in cholesterol (because they aren't eating corn). I thought that was really cool. So then I started looking online and that is where the obsession continued. Here's a great chicken site.

Then I started talking with my friend Allison who works for Heifer International. She is in charge of many (most?) of the projects in the US, and knows a lot about farming. Turns out she's interested in keeping chickens also! She found a couple of women who keep chickens in their Brooklyn backyards and we went to visit them this weekend. Both women live in beautiful brownstones in my very fancy neighborhood. Both couldn't have been lovelier and more generous with their time and knowledge. Chicken fever continued! The first family had a totally modern chicken coop from a company called Omlet. It's called an Eglu and it looks a bit like a colorful IMac computer. It came with these two chickens.



The second woman had a more "traditional" wood and wire coop in her backyard. Her garden was filled with herbs and vegetables. I think she's a chef as well as a classically trained singer. She had an araucana chicken called Uno (her dog ate the other two) Here's a photo of a hen. These ladies lay lovely blue/green eggs.



I'm torn about which breed I like best. I can only keep about 2 here. I am really smitten with the Polish variety of chickens, although they aren't the best egg layers. Who could resist a face like this? Or this?



Neil was completely opposed to this idea, but is starting to cave. He said that he would agree to chickens if the landlady said it was okay. Isn't he great?