Rent the Chicken
By Amy Lee Heinlen
I love eggs. Scrambled, poached, sunny side up, in a quiche, omelet, frittata, holding together a cake, really any way they come. When I was a hard-line vegan for a few years, eggs were what I missed most. As a vegetarian and a person generally concerned for the welfare of animals, I am mindful of my egg intake and try to only eat those that were laid by well-treated, happy hens. Local is even better.
I grew up 20 minutes north of Columbus, Ohio before it was overtaken by urban sprawl and the cookie cutter houses and strip malls stomped the farmlands to death. It was not unusual for the kids I went to school with to live and work on honest-to-goodness farms. While my parents didn’t operate a farm, we did have a barn in our backyard but the closest to farm animals we had were horses, dogs, and cats. My mom and I liked to talk about getting a few chickens. The idea of their fluffy white feathery selves pecking and running around our expansive backyard made us smile.
But the reality of building a coop well enough to keep out the raccoons, foxes, the cold and wet, not to mention adding the daily chore of scooping chicken poop to the three stalls we were already cleaning, put a damper on us counting poultry among our menagerie.
Since I moved to Swissvale, PA I put any dreams of a few chickens in my backyard aside. So when my neighbors announce they are getting chickens, I am elated. This is the best of both worlds. The chickens will be close enough for my husband, daughter, and me to visit with them, help out here and there, but we will not be solely responsible for them. And we will have a supply of fresh eggs!
The chickens arrive and they’re fabulous. Their white, feathery, fluffy bodies, Ethel Merman style plumes on their heads, and dark blue beaks, legs, and feet do not disappoint. The makeshift coop is a little disconcerting because of its mismatched wood and chicken wire not meeting the ground in some places. But the three chickens are curious about their new surroundings and are soon pecking the ground. When they look at us, they show off their classic beaky profiles. This is really happening!
My daughter gets her first taste of urban chicken farming.
Within a week, the goofy joy of the chickens fades. Two of the chickens have started cock-a-doodle-doing in the mornings. Our neighbors are not loving the amount of poop they have to scoop to keep things sanitary. And the birds are getting harder to wrangle when they fly the coop. Sadly, our neighbors admit defeat and the three chickens (or one chicken and two roosters) go to live on the farm in Braddock. Yes! There is a farm in Braddock!
But my dream of farm fresh eggs, laid by happy, healthy chickens I know personally has taken hold. And then I discover Rent the Chicken.
image from http://www.rentthechicken.com/p/blog-page.html
For a not insignificant sum ($350), you will be the happy recipient of two chickens, a coop, all the food needed for the season, water and food dishes, as well as guidance and instructions on how to care for them from the merry months of May through November. AND you will get 8-11 eggs per week!
For now, I’m going to have to settle for eggs from the farmer’s market, delicious because they are from happy, well-treated chickens, but chickens I have not met nonetheless. But come some May in the (I hope not so distant) future, my backyard will become the home to two happy, goofy, joyful chickens. And with the option to adopt the chickens at the end of the season, perhaps they will become more than just guests, but family.