urban farming on the front page of the chicago tribune.

[mopinko]

THE FRONT FREAKIN PAGE.
oui, ce moi

http://digitaledition.chicagotribune.com/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=1b487217-77e5-42f3-95b3-2423d34dabd1

[madaboutharry]

1. Great photo too!

[tblue37]

2. This passage about the chickens' names made me laugh:

*********************
One chicken, which Cahill said resembled a queen, was named Cleo. Others, like Fat Tony, Elena and Sonia, are named after Supreme Court justices. The fowl drink from a tire converted into a water bowl.

“I ate my beloved Whitey Bulger,” Cahill said later, when asked whether she will consume named chickens. “I love them, but they’re still chickens. This whole thing is still about food.”I
**********************

[mopinko]

3. that tire thing is sorta wrong.

and sadly has been picked up by a couple of the wtf crowd.
it is a gorilla tub fitted into a tire. all that black help keep it from freezing in the winter.

the supreme thing got started cuz i had a little pullet that reminded me of ruth badar ginsberg. unfortunately, she met an untimely end.
but yeah, i think it is pretty funny.

and whitey was delicious.

[tblue37]

6. Are you actually the Mo of Moah's Ark? If so, very cool!

I am an idiot. You say in your OP that it is you.

[Bayard]

4. The kind of senior citizen I want to grow up to be

I'm mostly there now! I don't understand why her roosters are crowing after dark though. That's pretty weird. I am jealous of her front-end loader.

Very glad to have my little 10 acre farm in the country.

[mopinko]

7. being guard animals, they react.

they do seem to sing a little about 4-5, anything other than that is in reaction to something. possibly calls from other birds. they learn other bird's distress calls.
but you honestly cant heard them inside the coop. it's a whisper.

[japple]

14. Yep, our Jon Snow crows around 4:00-4:20. Then he goes back to sleep

for a bit and crows again around 5:40ish.

[mopinko]

9. and yeah, the bobcat might just be

my favorite thing about this project.

[Kaleva]

5. I can see there being an issue with roosters.

If I was her, I'd have chickens for eggs only and 4 birds would be more then enough to supply that for one person.

[mopinko]

8. it's not just for me. it's a farm, not a garden.

i sell several dozen eggs a week.

lots of reasons for the roosters. but they are hardly the biggest noise in the hood. and you cant hear them when they are in the coop.

[Kaleva]

10. Sorry. I was talking more about personal preference ....

and not trying to suggest you do what I said. If I was anywhere where one could have chjckens, I'd have no more then 4 hens and no roosters.

[mopinko]

11. that's about right for the average person.

6 or so for a family. and yeah, you dont NEED roosters. especially if your birds are penned up.

but in 5 years i have yet to lose a bird to a predator, and hope to keep it that way. we have hawks here all the time, likin their chops over my hens.

having dogs pretty much keeps the coyotes away. they have been seen scoping the place out. there are plenty here in the city. but between my dogs, and all the dogs that have to pee at my back gate because of my dogs, i think a coyote would estimate a pack of at least a dozen big dogs. lol.

nice thing about the truck as a coop is that it is pretty raccoon, etc proof, being made of steel and all. and up off the ground, so it is rat proof also.

the other big thing about the roosters is that it allows me to keep a closed flock. no factory farmed chicks needed. and no need to slaughter all the old hens to bring new girls in.
free to add a few good hens every year, and not worry too much about how the old girls lay.

[GusBob]

12. LOL I just read this article in my old home town newspaper

I was visiting Daytona Beach and picked up a copy. Front page in the lifestyle section.

I knew it was you it sounded familiar

[mopinko]

13. omg. srsly?

pic and everything?
a friend told me that it took over his google news feed.

lordy. i so resisted being the chicken lady. i wish i had known sooner. think how famous i would be by now.

imma raise my egg prices.

[japple]

15. Awesome article. Awesome that you made the front page!!! Beautiful

pics, too.