I'm Thinking About Raising Some Chickens In My Backyard

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

By Norris McDonald

Rooster

My garden is giving me great joy this summer. I have everything growing back there and I am feeding about 6 other households on my suburban block.

Maybe if I am successful with chickens, I might get ambitious and go for a couple of pigs. That way I could use the organic waste generated in the house.

Organic Fence & Garden in March

But is it legal to raise livestock in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.? Yes it is.

In the Washington area, the District alone has an outright ban on farm animals, but suburbs such as Montgomery, Prince George's and Fairfax counties allow pigs, chickens, goats and other livestock under certain conditions.

Organic Garden in June

I'm going to name my rooster Rooster and maybe get 3 hens. I'll produce my own eggs and use the egg shells to fortify my garden plants with calcium. Three hens and a rooster should generatte about a dozen eggs a week I hope. And I think they will be 'free range.' I will let them run around in the garden. I already put up a deer fence. It wouldn't take much more effort to make it chicken exit proof. All organic of course. The garden fruits and vegetables, the animals and the fence.