Approximately two years ago my neighbor, Lou Buccella, decided to take a few chickens that his cousin was giving away. My wife and I watched with some amusement as he built a temporary pen out of an old dog kennel and placed some milk crates in it for nesting boxes. Every day he would open the pen in the morning and the chickens would wander out into the woods and neighborhood. At sundown, the chickens would march back in, cackling to one another, and roost for the night. Watching this I was taken back to my childhood when I had raised chickens with my family. The first taste of fresh eggs given to me by Lou that summer made me decide that I wanted to raise them again.

Once the garden was finished last fall, the Brophys built a tunnel for the chickens to enter the garden. They added yarn to the top of the fence to discourage the flying predators. The birds love the sunflower heads and bugs. Daughter, Jenna, age 6, collects eggs. At first, she sided with her "city-girl" mom, planning to move to Grandma's house if they got chickens. It didn't take long before the entire family fell for the friendly, lovable birds. Neighbor Lou Buccella was the inspiration Peter needed to start his poultry flock. Lou also helped Peter build his coop, or according to Peter, he helped Lou. Both the kids and chickens enjoy the hand feeding and social time.

I first mentioned to my wife that we should get some chickens “next year” sometime that fall. My wife, a confirmed “city girl” who grew up in one of the cities that make up Metro Boston, threatened to move home with her mother. So I did the only natural thing, which is to sell the idea to the kids. My son Brian, age 11, instantly thought I was kidding. Angie, my 10-year-old daughter was pretty indifferent, as she had barely warmed up to our family cat, who adores her. The littlest one, Jenna, age 6, informed me flat out that if her mother was moving back to Nana’s house, she was going with her.

Threats notwithstanding, I talked to my neighbor Lou about ordering some chicks from a hatchery in the spring of 2008. He had given his chickens away because they had basically stopped laying eggs due to their age. He agreed that it would be fun and we decided to make our order in February for the first hatching that would be available in March 2008. Because the hatchery’s minimum order was 25, Lou agreed to take 15 and I would take 10. We placed our order in February for 15 Rhode Island Reds and 10 Buff Orpingtons.

Sunday, March 1st arrived and as my family was getting ready to visit their Nana, the phone rang. The post office in the city near our home was calling as they had a box of chicks waiting for us. I called Lou and he happened to be near the post office. He picked the chicks up and brought them home. We had prepared the chicks’ boxes with warming lamps, water and chick starter feeders, etc. My wife and kids thought they were cute. She even relented to let me keep them in the downstairs bathroom, as we were having an unusually cold March here in Massachusetts and we thought they might freeze in the garage.

Within a month or so, after the chicks had feathered out, and also due to the fact that they had kind of started to stink, we decided we should get around to building them a permanent home. I researched coop designs on the Internet. I gathered some good ideas, like the egg door, from other people’s coop designs. But I did not find anything I thought would quite work out in my situation. I wanted the chickens in the backyard, near my garden, and behind the shed. Lou, who is extremely talented and can build anything, kindly offered his expertise. He had built his coop, a free standing coop, the previous fall. Together we built mine in the spring of 2008. In all honesty, built together is kind of a stretch. It was more like “hand me that board” and “I need more nails, Pete.” We basically added a 4x8 lean-to type addition to the rear of my 8x10 shed. The feature I like the most about my coop is the “egg door” which enables you to collect the eggs without entering the coop. The door opens up into the back of the nesting boxes and you just reach in and pick up the eggs. As you can see in the picture, even my youngest daughter can collect the eggs. The kids comically call it “egg patrol.” I gave Lou a gift subscription to Backyard Poultry as a token of my thanks.

We anxiously awaited our first eggs all summer. We got our first egg at about 18 weeks. Just a couple of days after that, one of the chickens got sick. I removed her from the rest of the flock, but unfortunately the next day she died. The man at the feed store recommended putting all the chickens on a two week round of terramycin, just to be safe. For the next month we grudgingly tossed out all the eggs that the hens laid. Once again, my good neighbor Lou came to the rescue and gave us some of his eggs to tide us over. Finally, on August 26th, we were back in business. As anyone who has ever had them would certainly agree, there is nothing like your own fresh eggs.

As fall descended on us and the summer garden had passed by, a new area opened up for the chickens to forage. We built a tunnel from the chicken pen to the garden. We covered the top of the garden fence with yarn to discourage the Red Tailed hawks that live in the area. A sliding board keeps the chickens out of the garden at night. Everyday when we wake up the chickens are lined up in the tunnel, anxiously awaiting their entry into the garden. They have torn the garden up pretty well and absolutely love the sunflower heads. I have noticed the yolks of their eggs are even more golden/orange in the past two weeks since they have been foraging in the garden.

The kids have really taken to the chickens. The hens love to be hand fed and are very social. Whenever someone walks into the backyard, the hens start clucking and cackling thinking they are going to get a treat or some scratch.

Raising chickens has been a great experience for myself and my family. We have also become closer to my neighbor Lou and his family. Lou and I take rides to the feed store together and frequently brag to one another about our hens. Yes, our wives probably think we are a little crazy, but yeah, chickens do make great neighbors.