It was a beautiful early spring morning. A mild overnight temperature allowed us to keep our windows open to enjoy the fresh air and the promise of the approaching garden season. I took a deep breath as the rays of sunlight entered the kitchen. The air was fresh, cool and moist as it filled my lungs. Right on cue another sensory
experience brought an immediate smile to my face. Cackles, clucks and squawks from the garden signaled the start to the day. I find it amusing that we are not allowed to keep roosters in our town because of the noise they make around daybreak. Apparently no one told my small flock of hens that a noisy morning was not allowed.
The chickens were celebrating the new day just as I was, albeit in a slightly more raucous fashion. I couldn’t help but to let out a chuckle of my own as I knew the neighbors must also be taking in the sounds of our small backyard farm and, for some, may not have been enjoying the wake-up call as much as I was. For the most part our small, quiet street was enhanced by our chickens – many neighbors thrilled to receive the occasional delivery of surplus eggs.
Several years ago when our town passed an ordinance to allow small backyard chicken flocks (I was an active promoter of this movement), I rushed up to the town hall to make sure that I would secure one of the 25 permits that were to be issued for our backyard chicken pilot program. My family teased me when I insisted we hasten up to the borough office to obtain one of the permits for the program. We ended up with permit #6 and only about half of the available permits were claimed by families in town. Still, I was thrilled to be one of the pioneers and I signed up for the training and made arrangements to pick up our new residents for our garden.
I had done quite a bit of reading on keeping backyard chickens and spoke at length with the farm staff where we would purchase our birds. After the construction of our coop and nesting box, we were ready to pick up our flock. We drove to Far Wind Farm and picked up our young hens. After a period of several days of keeping the chickens in their new coop so they would connect with their home roost, we gradually allowed them to explore the garden. Everyone in our family was knowledgeable about the care of our chickens and the working of the coop. We had much to learn.
In the early days of caring for the flock I became a bit too confident in their daily patterns. One evening I waited too long to confirm their return to the coop and found two of the chickens roosted in the walnut tree above our house. Unable to retrieve them, I woke up early the next morning to offer them a special treat of melon which they immediately descended from their overnight perch to enjoy. I have since become vigilant about the timing of closing the run and coop.
We were also overly optimistic about the chickens meeting our two dogs. Both canines were elderly gentlemen, but we found out that nothing brings out the vim and vigor of an older dog like a tempting flock of hens. Though there was an initial close call (let’s just say one of our dogs got a mouthful of feathers), the chickens were all fine after an initial emotional scare. We also found the chickens most ambitious when it came to exploring the gardens. We have had to balance the location of our plants, both flowers and veggies, with the range of our chickens when they are roaming free.
The learning process continues and our family immensely enjoys having the flock enhance our garden. We have shared our egg bounty and chicken experiences with family, friends and neighbors. Membership in the community backyard chicken guild has increased and we often share stories and tips on care and maintenance. Despite the enthusiasm of receiving fresh eggs from our backyard birds, to my knowledge we have not recruited any new backyard chicken practitioners among our family. But we are now life-long backyard chicken owners!
Excerpt from Adventures in a Backyard Garden - coming in 2025 from Schiffer Publishing by Merchantville Residents Ron and Lisa Smith