I have noticed a steady stream of memes regarding the price of eggs recently. Apparently the price has gone from $1.87 a dozen to $4 a dozen for regular and $8 for organic. Yikes! We have been raising our own hens for the last several years, and if you are interested, chicks will be going on sale soon at the local farm stores.

The first thing to do if you want to have your own backyard brood is to find out what the rules are in your county. We live in Washington County, so they require a permit. We had to fill out a form and pay a nominal fee. Multnomah county only requires a permit for keeping more than six birds, which is more than plenty for most households. Then you’ll need to get coop and build a fence, unless you enjoy chasing chickens around the block. Even in town, chickens can be victims of predators, so you’ll want to give them a safe hideout.

After that, I would recommend joining an online club of other backyard chicken keepers so you can share notes about the weird stuff that is bound to happen. There are plenty of well-written blogs about chickens, so I won’t repeat them here. If you do decide to raise chickens be sure to post lots of pics, they are very delightful pets!