Backyard chickens’ popularity catches on

At Jeremiah Gregg’s grandmother’s house in Kansas, 25 or so chickens would mill about the yard as the kids helped pull weeds in the garden.

The Highlands Ranch resident looks back fondly on those childhood memories and wanted to give his own kids the same experience. So two weeks ago, Gregg and his family became the owners of week-old chicks.

“They are just perfect pets,” Gregg said. “They follow the kids around and make those nice barnyard sounds. So far, it’s been magical.”

Raising chickens in suburban backyards has been increasing in popularity, said Jamie Noebel, community relations manager for the Highlands Ranch Community Association.

“We have fielded dozens of phone calls about it,” she said. “People are kind of going back to nature, and it’s something fun for a family.”

A lesson in responsibility is what Jess Stainbrook had in mind for his three girls — ages 7, 9 and 11 — when he started raising chickens in his Highlands Ranch backyard one year ago. A Philadelphia native, Stainbrook said raising farm animals was not something he ever thought he would do.

“It has been a lot more fun than I thought it would be,” he said. “I was kind of the grumpy guy at first.”

Stainbrook’s four chickens are Barred Rocks, a breed from New England known for their cold-hardiness. They each produce one egg a day, six days a week.

“When you walk outside, you are collecting three or four eggs every day,” he said.

In addition to the eggs, chickens have other benefits. Stainbrook said they eat the bugs in the yard, fertilize the grass and eat leftover table scraps.

The project also is inexpensive and easy, Stainbrook said. Stainbrook used scrap lumber to build his coop, which protects the chickens from the cold and predators, like foxes. Chicks cost just a few dollars each, and a 50-pound bag of feed is about $15.

“The ongoing maintenance is not that much,” he said. “They are not real hard to take care of.”

The Highlands Ranch Community Association regulations allow four hens to be kept as pets, but no roosters. Coop plans must be submitted for review by the architectural committee.

Gregg said he sees the chickens as an addition to his family’s large vegetable garden and another way to produce their own food.

“I think a lot of people are looking at it as somewhat of a sustainability model,” he said. “You produce your own food in your own yard.”

Noebel agrees.

“It’s fun,” she said. “It’s educational. People want to go natural. We are encouraging it.”