Abe and I are planning to acquire a few chickens at some point this spring or summer.

In order to have our chicken operation be on the up and up, we need to a) have a coop and b) change our home insurance.  Apparently American Family Insurance will cancel your policy if they find out you have chickens, because they are considered a farm animal.  *Sigh*

It seems odd to me that owning a few chickens would increase the risk of insuring a home, but I’m an not an actuary.  Really… look at these ladies…

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Do they look like a huge liability to you?

If anybody has suggestions regarding insurance companies, I’m still looking into our options.  Your suggestions are most welcome!

I have researched local regulations and found that within city limits, we can have 4 farm animals, small.  We cannot have roosters (and for the sanity of our neighbors, I would not get a rooster anyway).  The coop must sit 10 feet from the property line.

The Coop

While I would love something very cute and artsy like this:

Realistically, we will start out with something more utilitarian like this:

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We don’t need a very large coop, since we are only allowed to have a few chickens. 

My parents have kindly offered us their old dog run as it might convert nicely into a chicken coop.  It is 10×7.  I am still trying to determine if those dimensions will work for the space we have (remember how it has to be 10 ft from the property lines?  This really limits where it can go).  As working with donated items is less expensive, I suspect we will make it work.

Once again, advice is welcome!

The Hens

I want to purchase established hens less than 2 years of age instead of chicks, so I know in advance what I can expect from a particular chicken.  I’m thinking an Ameraucana, a Barred Rock, and a Silkie, maybe? 

Silkies don’t produce as many eggs as the other two, but they are very docile (good for interacting with small children) and funny looking.  I think Gilbert would thoroughly enjoy petting one of these:

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That’s where we are at in the process of acquiring chickens.  I have been surprised, thus far, at the number of things that must be considered (insurance, property boundaries, the definition of farm animal, small etc).

That is where I’m going to leave it for today, since I’m out of time.  My new process is to write the blog post in the evening and then proofread and post it at the end of my lunch break the following day.  I’m thinking 4 posts per week is doable?  We’ll see…