MNN - Mother Nature Network

For those of you who have emerged from this past weekend with eggs — deviled, dyed, crème, or otherwise — still on the brain, here’s a great new video from NYC-based “online microphilanthropy” platform ioby (short for “in our backyards, a nice little riff on NIMBYism) on the topic of tending to urbanite hens. In the video, Bee Ayers of BK Farmyards details the basics (shelter, food, the emotional needs of egg-laying pets) of urban chickening in both private and communal urban environments. Sure, much of the territory covered by Ayers may not be anything new to you intrepid, city-dwelling hen masters and mistresses out there. But for those of us unaccustomed to the practice, myself included, the video serves as proof that a 60-plus hen egg-laying operation can indeed thrive in the middle of New York City.

 

The lovely brood — these gals don't seem to display any of that unruly city hen ‘tude — featured in this video reside in the 4,000-square-foot Imani Community Garden in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn where BK Farmyards oversees a wildly popular "Egg CSA." And by the way, BK Farmyards, a finalist in the 2010 Buckminster Fuller Challenge, was founded by Stacey Murphy, one of MNN’s illustrious “40 Farmers Under 40.”

 

For more on the groundbreaking work of BK Farmyards, be sure to check on the group's blog. Also, if you're not already familiar with ioby, a Kickstarter-esque organization that's here to remind us (particularly us New Yorkers) that the “environment” is “not just the Amazon rain forest or the Arctic glaciers” but our own neighborhoods, head on over to that website. This urban chicken-keeping video, produced by Good Eye Video, is the first in a new series of how-to videos from ioby. I can't wait to see what's next.

 

Experienced backyard/community garden chicken keepers: Is there anything that Ayers didn’t cover that you’d like to share?

 

Also on MNN: 8 awesome urban chicken coops