Coop Confessions

Ten Years of Suburban Hen Hosting

Photo by Ben Moreland

Last week I wrote about my favorite urban omnivores, backyard chickens. This week, I wanted to offer what I’ve learned after almost 10 years of raising three to six chickens every season. Included are some reasons why you might want to give things a try, the do’s and don’ts of daily chicken wrangling, and what you’ll need to get started. 

Now I know this week is paid content. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been folding in a little more of a paywall these days because I hope more of my free subscribers (now more than 5,000 of you) will see the value in all these tips, tricks and recipes. If you’re enjoying what you’re reading, and want to support my cause, please consider a paid subscription. A little goes a long way.  

I am also hoping to work on some video, audio (dare I say an Enlightened Omnivore PodCast), and more social media content. Despite more than 20 years in marketing, and retail, this stuff isn’t my comfort zone. I’d rather just use the written word, but I know we all like a little of that phone candy on occasion. 

In the meantime, if you don’t have time to read Enlightened Omnivore, consider listening to my posts via the Article Audio function on the Substack App. An awkward lady bot will read them to you!

One last thing, for those of you who have been following along since the beginning–and there are about 2,000 of you OG supporters–I have one or two more Dispelling Beef posts left to write, and an expanded series on my adventures with olives in France. If you want to read more about those or other topics, let me know in the comments. I would love to hear more from all of you. 

When I started this Enlightened Omnivore experiment, I wanted things to resemble more a dinner party conversation–albeit a very large and awkward one. So please continue to share your thoughts, your curiosities, and your interests via Substack Notes, Instragram or Facebook; or just email me at enlightened-omnivore@substack.com. 

Ok, enough shameless plugging. Let’s get clucking!

Suburban Chicken Farming 101

Why should I raise chickens in my backyard? 

There are so many reasons to start raising chickens. I have to admit I started this adventure after my eldest daughter’s kindergarten class wanted to hatch some hens from eggs. But you might have a bunch of other ideas. Here’s just a few to get you thinking.