Home to Roost Helping city folks raise chickens!

Can Rep. Bruce Braley work on bipartisan issues if he threatens litigious action when a neighbor’s chickens meander into his yard? Read more here.

*We apologize for our earlier misspelling. Our editor was out of the office when this post was published. The responsible parties have been sacked.

Roosters’ fertility problem hits U.S. chicken supply, lifts prices (Reuters) – The world’s largest chicken breeder has discovered that a key breed of rooster has a genetic issue that is reducing its fertility, adding to problems constraining U.S. poultry production and raising prices at a time when beef and pork prices are already at record highs.

My work with Heartland Housing involved designing and installing a chicken coop for a hotel that was converted into affordable housing units. It was a fun and challenging project, and included working with the architects’ ideas of aesthetics and the hens’ need to be chickens!

The end result earned the architectural firm, Landon Bone Baker (LBBA), a first-place Driehaus Award for Architectural Excellence in Community Design! Congrats to LBBA and Heartland for all the hard work on this project. It was a delight to be part of the process! 

Note that the WGN piece will run Thursday, May 15, 2014, at 9 PM, not May 17, as originally reported.

Today, May 4, honors the humble fowl whose meat and eggs feed so much of the world’s population.

I hope you had a chance to stop and think about all that chickens have contributed to civilization.

For more information on International Respect for Chickens Day, click here. 

And May the Fourth be with you.

• Do you live in River Forest and want chickens? Contact reporter Deb Kadin, who is working on a story: deb AT oakpark.com

• An Oak Park client is looking for a gently used coop: s.raphael AT comcast.net

Animal Krackers Pet Center now carries chicken feed and supplies. 

Animal Krackers Pet Center
3309 W 115th St, Merrionette Park, Illinois 60803
(708) 389-7248
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Animal-Krackers-Pet-Center/144717968878482

Hi, Oak Park readers,

Please keep an eye out for a chicken:

Our chicken got out and we have not seen our Red Jewels since 4/17, Thursday noon. We live around 1100 South block of Grove Ave. Thank you!

If you see her, message me, and I”ll connect you to the owners.

Thanks!

Purina released a recall on poultry feeds distributed in the Pacific Northwest.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – April 16, 2014 – The Purina Animal Nutrition LLC feed plant in Portland, Ore., has initiated a limited recall of certain poultry feeds due to the potential for lower-than-expected vitamin and trace mineral levels. The products were distributed to retailers in Oregon and Washington.