Wall Street Journal – Cooped Up: Chickens Come Home to Roost for Urbanites With a Yen for Hen

Jody Noble-Choder holds Attila-the-Hen outside her coop in Pittsburgh. Photo by Kris Maher/The Wall Street Journal

As Hobbyists Feather Own Nests, City Dwellers Flock to Tour Backyard Henhouses

By Kris Maher
Wall Street Journal
Aug 2, 2011

Excerpt:

“Some chicken people are coming out of the closet,” said Ms. Noble-Choder, a corporate lawyer who organized this summer’s first Chicks-in-the-Hood Pittsburgh Urban Chicken Coop Tour. She paid $1,200 for her coop, which has heated roosts and an automated door opener, but many coops are humble do-it-yourself affairs requiring little more than a few two-by-fours, some chicken wire and straw. Seven families displayed their coops, and adults paid $5 each to go on the self-guided tour. Between ticket and T-shirt sales, the fledgling group took in more than $1,800, which it donated to a food bank.

Coop tours are a sign that more city dwellers are becoming interested in urban farming and raising chickens, say city officials. Pittsburgh passed an ordinance requested by residents earlier this year that enables people to keep up to three chickens and two beehives on a 2,000-square-foot lot.

Read the complete article here.