Raising chickens within a city is something that is becoming more common. It is wonderful that people are able to have chickens without a ton of land and I happen to be one of those people!
My family and I live in a small city in rural Michigan right across the street from our local hospital. When we bought the home several years ago we never even thought about keeping chickens so having a big plot of land didn’t seem necessary.
Fast forward to last year and we started thinking about life outside the city and having our own homestead with free range chickens and other livestock. One problem: land is very expensive and not an option for us at the current time; so…I went out on a whim and decided to start a small flock, right in the middle of town!
We checked into our city ordinances and got the clear to have four chickens without any additional permit or permission needed. That very same week I had four new chicks in a brooder box in our house!
I am new to chicken keeping and this is my first set of chicks which means I am still learning A LOT. I thought it was important to share a little bit of our journey and offer some insight on what we’ve done so far in hopes to help anyone who may be in the same boat.
While the chicks were safe inside, my husband and I started clearing the side yard to make room for our coop and run. Our side yard is maybe 20ft long and 6ft wide. Not much room at all right? BUT we made it work (it is plenty of room for our four chicks. They are happy and healthy!)
We purchased a small coop from TSC and got it all set up and ready to go.
We moved the chicks out to the coop once they were fully feathered and watched them closely. They adapted to their new surroundings quickly and very obviously enjoyed being able to peck around and find tasty treats.
Now obviously we would love to let our girls free range but that is not an option where we are. However, we do a few things to make sure they are enjoying their lives to the fullest. Here are some of the things we do:
- Throw them grass clippings, leaves, ect multiple times a day
- Let them roam around outside of the coop supervised.
- If my children find worms, bugs or anything that the chicks would enjoy they immediately toss it in the coop.
- We put a large log and rock in the run so the chickens can perch or climb anytime they want.
We are in the process of putting up a fence to make a larger run, but in the meantime our chickens seem to be perfectly content with the current set up. The happiness of our flock is of utmost importance to us and for that reason we will not add anymore chickens. I want to make that very clear, because we live within city limits and have limited space we will always have a small flock (and you may too) and that’s okay! The four hens will provide more than enough eggs for our family.
I believe it is important to mention that we have neighbors (very close) on all sides of our home. At first I worried that one of them would say something or be offended by our chickens so I was ready to defend my girls! However, I’m not even sure if my neighbors have noticed that we have chickens to be honest! When I started looking into keeping chickens something I heard time and time again was “chickens stink!” Therefore, one of the biggest things for us is keeping the coop very clean so it does not smell and or draw rodents/pests. I think this is something that is very vital to being successful when raising chickens within city limits. Keeping the area clean will definitely make the neighbors happy. Here are a few things we do to maintain a clean coop:
- Change the bedding/shavings AT LEAST once a week.
- Sweep up the food/bedding/waste that gets outside of the coop once daily.
- Keep all the food product in a metal container so it does not attract animals.
- Deep clean the coop every two weeks. I use a vinegar solution and scrub everything.
The purpose of this article is to show that keeping chickens CAN be done with just a little bit of space. I hope that if you are in a similar situation to mine, you will find the inspiration to get those chicks and start your flock.
