Neighbors talk backyard chickens

“It’s hometime, girls!”

The Hockaday School sophomore Harper Hill calls out as her Silkie, Cochin and Frizzle chickens run around the yard. Gathering at the door of their coop, Chickaletta, Eggo, Snow White, Sugar, Spice, Tweet, Fancy Nancy, Jean Gray and Banjo waddle inside, staring up at her as she makes her way back indoors.

Hill first became interested in owning chickens while working on Jacuzzi Ranch in Arkansas from 2021 to 2022. Though she loved caring for the horses there, Hill found herself heading to her boss’s chicken coop nearly every day after putting the horses back in their stables, fascinated by the rare breeds she owned.

“She had Polish, Silkie and Lavender Orpington chickens; it was one of her passion projects. I loved learning about them and catching them when they would run away from the coop,” Hill says. “When I got home, a 12-year-old me was like, ‘God, if I can’t get a horse, let me have chickens.’”

Convincing her dad through the promise of fresh eggs, Hill soon began the yearlong process of hand-building her very own chicken coop and run that extended from the coop to the fence, allowing her chickens to move around without the imminent threat of predators.

“The first chickens I got were tiny bantam Silkies, which have feathers that feel more like fur. Since they were unsexed chicks, I kept them in a brooder box with food, water and a heat lamp to regulate their body heat,” Hill says. “We gave away all the roosters, but I kept the three hens. From there, I got all of my uncle’s hens and my friends’ surviving hens after hers got attacked by a bobcat. One of them is a one-legged chicken named Jean Gray.”

According to Hill, looking after chickens can be a big responsibility considering how above and beyond she goes to ensure they aren’t in danger or broody, which causes hens to hatch eggs, starve themselves, pull out their chest feathers and overheat.

After one of her broody Silkies died of heat stroke in its broody-breaker cage, Hill and her dad installed misters inside their coop, one of many enhancements they’ve made throughout the years.

“We have a drain under the coop, misters and a heater. We also have a backup water in a black cup connected to the spout that my dad can fill remotely,” Hill says.

Although incredibly prepared, Hill has still run into some surprises with her hens over the years, including a spontaneous sex reversal, a rare scientific phenomenon that occurred to one of her hens while she was on vacation.

“I went on a three-day trip to Galveston with my dad and my dog. My new chicken Pickle was sexed as a hen when I left. When I came back, it was a rooster and was ‘cock-a-doodle-doo-ing’ all the time. I still have no idea what happened. We had to give it to my dad’s friend who has a ranch out in the country. We could hear it from the house.”

For Hill, caretaking involves daily egg retrieval, occasional baths with diatomaceous earth, and feed and shaving changes every couple of months. Though more labor is required long term, Hill finds the connections she has with them worth the work.

“It’s really sweet to see them bond with me. When I pull my car into the driveway next to the backyard, they’ll all come to the door of their coop to see me,” Hill says. “I enjoy sitting in the yard with them as they come up to my feet and jump up into the arm of the chair. They’re like my babies.”

On the other hand, resident and former council member Jaynie Schultz primarily owns chickens for their eggs, raised in a household focused on self-sufficiency and the natural environment. In addition to a flock of hens, she has her own beehive for honey and a garden for vegetables and herbs, demonstrating her dedication to sustainability.

“It’s important for people to be connected to the food system in a personal and responsible way,” Schultz says. “It’s so much easier and so much cheaper to do things in a more natural way.”

Adopting an eco-friendly approach to caretaking, Schultz recycles scraps to feed her chickens and maximize healthy egg production.

“There’s food that we compost and food that we give to the chickens,” Schultz says. “Every once in a while, we’ll grind up the eggshells for calcium and give them to our chickens so they can have stronger shells. It’s been really rewarding to reduce our waste.”

Schultz’s coop is what used to be her children’s playhouse. The wooden structure is a whopping two stories, with an enclosed outdoor run on the left side; her yard is even registered as a natural wildlife habitat.

Though not appearing as close to her chickens as Hill, she loves observing their behavior, noting that their interactions are incredibly humanlike.

“Watching the dynamic between the chickens is absolutely fascinating. You really do have the bossy ones and the timid ones, just like people,” Schultz says. “It’s really amazing how when you look and study any aspect of the natural world, you realize that we are just like them in so many ways.”

Reflecting on the unique relationship she has with her chickens, Schultz encourages other neighbors to consider purchasing their own, believing ownership to be meaningful and simple.

“It’s very rewarding because you’re tied into their lives through the eggs,” Schultz says. “It’s the easiest thing you can do and so much more fun than you can imagine.”