2 March, 2013: Home to Roost Teaches Chicken-Keeping Class


Basic Backyard Chicken Care

March 2, 2013, 10:00 AM to 1 PM 

Location: Rebuilding Exchange 1740 W Webster Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60614 United States

chicken

Farm fresh eggs from your own back yard?

YES!

Please join us for this Cadillac of chicken-keeping classes! This 3-hour workshop covers best practices forBasic Backyard Chicken Care in Chicago and surrounding communities. Raising chickens as pets and for eggs is LEGAL in Chicago – and part of our growing local food and urban agriculture scene. Learn how to keep you, your chickens, & your neighbors happy – from daily needs and year-round care to relevant city regulations. You will leave the workshop with the knowledge, recommendations, and resources you need for your own home flock – and you’ll make connections with other chicken enthusiasts in Chicago.

For more info and to register, visit the Angelic Organics Learning Center site.

Goats and Chickens in Chicago: A Radio Spot on WBEZ


WBEZ eporter Lewis Wallace presented a piece on goats and chickens in Chicago as a lead-in to the upcoming Urban Livestock Expo. Check out her story and video here.

Momma and baby on the rain barrel

Momma and baby on the rain barrel

 

FoxNews Footage – Pat’s People and Places


Pat Elwood on Fox 32 Chicago covered Home to Roost and Chicago chicken owner Barbara G. this morning! See the footage from Pat’s People and Places. There are three spot segments on the page. What a fun morning! Huge thanks to Pat and Barb for making this possible.

Help out with Bioneers 2013


A message from The Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago Core Planning Team

The 2nd annual Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago Event will take place November 1-3, 2013 at Roosevelt University, along Chicago’s historic lakefront!  There are over 20 Bioneers satellite sites in the nation, and we are proud to be part of a larger group that brings messages of hope and change to our communities.

GET INVOLVED, MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

January – time for hibernation, but far from inactive: roots grow, animals dream, and Bioneers plan.  Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago is still young and growing in Chicago, but we are already busy planning our 2013 gathering, and we invite you to lend your hands, hearts and minds to help spread the word and the movement.

We are currently populating our core planning committees, and would love for you to join us! The shorter days and colder weather provide fertile ground for dreaming and re-imagining our neighborhoods, our city and our planet.

Please read the committee descriptions below, and contact us if you would like to get involved at this early stage.

Outreach Committee: Help get the word out! Work with the Outreach Committee to decide on and prioritize target audiences; develop a plan to reach these audiences; and to oversee and direct the materialization of the plan (materials and events).  The Outreach Committee also works with the Marketing Committee to coordinate marketing materials.  To get involved, contact carolina@chicagobioneers.org.

Marketing Committee: What is the face of Bioneers in Chicago?  Help us develop support materials and coordinate the preparation of communication tools such as our fundraising package, newsletter, press releases, PSA’s, ads, postcards, social media content, and the program guide.  If interested, contact steph@chicagobioneers.org.

Fundraising Committee:  Help us offer reasonable registration fees by soliciting gifts from major donors, attracting individual and in-kind donations, and running our online fundraising campaigns. Please contactlan@chicagobioneers.org to get involved.

Program Committee: Be on the team that creates the program for 2013! Contact presenters, review proposals, plan events leading up to November, and help ensure that we are providing the highest quality, most inspirational program possible.  If interested, email pam@chicagobioneers.org.

Logistics Committee: Liaise with our host university and other committees to ensure all details run smoothly during the gathering; ensure tech support is available for presenters; and arrange lodging and transportation for out-of-town guests. Contact info@chicagobioneers.org.

Food Committee: What’s on the menu?  From where is it sourced?  Have we accommodated food restrictions of our attendees?  What kind of packaging are we using? Is the food delicious??  If these questions are important to you, contact info@chicagobioneers.org.

Volunteer Committee: Looking for energized and committed individuals interested creating an even better second year!  We are looking to fill several positions, described below.  If any of them sound like your thing, contact elizabeth@chicagobioneers.org

  • Assistant Volunteer Coordinator –  Are you good at recognizing people’s strengths and delegating tasks? Work with the Volunteer Coordinator and develop a seamless all volunteer-based event!
  • Green Team Coordinator – Green it! Mean it! Do you like making a difference? Work with GLBC and the venue to develop and implement the event’s garbage/recycling service etc.
  • Workshops Coordinator –  GLBC offers one of the largest array of quality speakers, workshops and activities possible. Work with GBLC to further its vision by helping to create at atmosphere that inspires solutions guided by nature for people and the planet.
  • Main Stage Coordinator – Help set the stage! Work with GLBC to make this another world class event!

Great Lakes Bioneers Chicago is a local, self-organized National Bioneers Affiliate Partner.  To learn more visit: www.bioneers.org.

Urban Livestock Expo, 16 Feb., 2013


Interested in learning more about urban agriculture?

Come out for the AUA 2013 Urban Livestock Expo – FREE!

When: Sat, February 16, 10am – 1pm

Where: Garfield Park Conservatory (map)
Description: Open to all and FREE! AUA’s Winter Gathering will be all about livestock in the city! You’ll have the opportunity to learn key aspects of keeping chicken/ducks, bees, goats and rabbits, and discuss associated issues and needs for organizing, education, and problem solving.

THE BASICS of raising chickens, ducks, bees, goats, & rabbits in the city
• • •
INTROS to local livestock keepers & networks
• • •
SOURCES of info & supplies

Click here for the Expo_Poster.

Chicks at Belmont Feed and Seed, Feb. 5 or 6


Lidia at Belmont Feed and Seed will have chicks the beginning of next week.

Just an update on our chick shipment:
Our first hatch of chicks are to come in the first week of February. They will be shipped on February 4th, due to arrive on the 5th or the 6th of February.

We have: Araucana/Americauna, Rhode Island Reds, New Hampshire Reds, Barred Rocks, Buff Orpingtons, Black Austrolorps, Silver Laced Wyandottes, Golden Laced Wyandottes, Isa Browns (Red Stars), all Pullets and all vaccinated for Mareks. All supplies are in. Plan to come in and make your selection.

All supplies are in.

Plan to come in and make your selection.

For more information on Belmont Feed and Seed, see the Resources tab.

Enter the Chicago Chicken Enthusiasts Photography Contest


Enter an original photograph or digital art work to win a $10 gift card from Belmont Feed and Seed and the opportunity to have your photo or art featured on the cover of a 2013 Chicago Chicken Enthusiasts Resource Guide!
The Chicago Chicken Enthusiasts is sponsoring a contest to find the best photographs or original artwork to be featured on the cover of its upcoming 2013 Chicago Chickens resource guide.  The theme for the contest is “Chickens in Chicago”.

Anyone can enter. Join the Chicago Chicken Enthusiasts Google Group and post a photograph or digital image of an original work of art as a reply to the thread “[chickens] Official CCE Photo/Art Contest.” The image should be high resolution and suitable for printing.

Judging will be done by a committee of CCE volunteers in February of 2013.  Images of excellent quality that depict the theme of the contest will be given the best score.  Popularity among CCE forum participants will also be taken into consideration.  The winner will be announced on this forum and the prize will be mailed to the winner after judging is complete.
The Resource Guide will serve as a OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAdescription of raising chickens and other poultry in the city, as part of our outreach to policy makers and the wider public. It is anticipated that this booklet will be published in May of 2013.  Stay tuned for updates!
Fine Print: By entering this contest by submitting an image (photograph or digital artwork), you agree to the following terms and conditions.  You acknowledge that you are the creator of the image you submit and that you have not submitted a copyrighted image.  You give your permission for the Chicago Chicken Enthusiasts (CCE), and any successor organization, the right to use the image you submit for any educational, promotional or public relations purpose.  You also give CCE your permission to crop or make other minor alterations to your image in its publications or website.  Obscene or inappropriate submissions will be removed from the forum and disqualified from the contest at the sole discretion of the contest judges.  Non-winning images may also be used by CCE for the purposed listed above.  Please enjoy participation in this contest responsibly. CCE will do its best to give credit to the creator of the image in its publications and website, though failure to do so shall not be considered a material breach of these terms and conditions.  Photo contest judges and CCE forum administrators are ineligible for participation in the contest.

8 February, 2013: Mad City Chickens Screening in Palatine


Come to a screening of Mad City Chickens on Friday, Feb. 8th, at 7pm at the Countryside UU Church in Palatine. For more information on the group’s activities, check out their Facebook page at Village Homesteaders of Palatine.

Witness if you will Gallus Domesticus…the backyard chicken. A mere few pounds of feather, bone, and muscle; a creature regarded by many as a rather humorous, though not so intelligent agent of food production. And yet make note of a most singular phenomenon now taking shape across suburb and city. From backyard eggs to the family’s new favorite pet, the urban chicken is forging a fresh place in the pecking order of human importance. Mad City Chickens weaves multiple stories and contextual issues on city chickens and their keepers in a non-linear fashion that one rarely sees in a documentary. From leading experts to urban newbies, experience the humor and heart of what’s fast becoming an international backyard chicken movement. (IMDb.com)

Academy for Global Citizenship Institutes Net-Positive Campus


One of the first chicken consulting calls I had was from Dan Schnitzer at the Academy for Global Citizenship. The school is opening an innovative net-positive campus with a number of sustainable initiatives.

These building projects are the harbingers of the movement to create a future where solar panels on office buildings and schoolyard chickens are the norm.

Rescheduled – Home to Roost on FoxNews Chicago


The TV spot on Fox has been moved to Weds., Feb. 6, between 7:30 and 10 AM, due to George Ryan’s release from prison. See you then!