Want to add a little protein to your great CSA greens and vegetables? Raising fowl—chickens or ducks—might be just the answer. They don’t need much room, and they are usually the only type of farm animal allowed in urban settings. “I got chickens because it seemed like one more step toward sustainable living,” said Nancy Sullivan, a CSA member and resident of the Enright Eco-Village near the Imago Earth Center.It’s true—you can keep chickens and ducks in Cincinnati and many nearby communities. And people are interested in learning how, so Imago Earth Center in Price Hill is offering a class taught by an urban chicken expert, Heather Redden from Nature’s Harbor Farm. Heather will cover the basics of keeping chicken in the city, including topics such as housing, care and feeding, choosing breeds, keeping peace with neighbors, the biology of egg laying, the benefits of producing your own eggs, chicken behavior, and much more.
Chickens eat grass, bugs, and kitchen scraps, but most enthusiasts supplement the leftovers with chicken feed, at about $1 a day for a half dozen chickens. In Cincinnati, you must have some kind of enclosure for chickens and follow general health department regulations. If you add in costs of building a coop, you may not be getting “free” food from your chickens, but the eggs taste great—and you know exactly where they came from and how the chickens are treated.
The “Backyard Chickens” presentation at Imago is scheduled for Saturday, May 5 at 2:00 pm, and the instructional time with Heather Redden will be followed by a chicken and duck tour of the Enright Ridge Urban Eco-Village, where class participants will have the opportunity to see different backyard arrangements and talk with owners about their experiences keeping chickens and ducks in an urban setting.
The cost is $10 per person for Imago members and $14 for nonmembers. You can preregister online, by email, or by phone at (513) 921-5124.
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