Why not do what my neighbor does. He places cartons of eggs in a cooler and sets it near the road, leaves a small container for money and puts up a sign that says 'EGGS $2/doz'. Or you could put up a free/donation sign! Another neighbor did the same with veges.........and he just supplied a donation jar.

I think you'll be surprised at how fast they go.

We pay three dollars a dozen from our local egg lady up on Vancouver Island. She has a TON of customers, and sometimes runs out of eggs! Oh, and some people charge three fifty. When its free run, people will pay at least three dollars, at least up here.

Yeah my girls are "free range" they hang out in the back yard all day and go in their tractor at night. They are amazing at keeping the weeds at bay and love to scratch and find all the little european slugs that I'm plagued with. The only reason I don't wanna put them in a cooler by the street is that I live by a couple of schools and don't want them taken and thrown at cars or houses.

I'm in the same situation. I have had three hens in a chicken tractor for a few years now. Even with two adults and two growing boys in the family, and with me doing baking, we *still* don't eat all the eggs. So I give them by the half-dozen to all my neighbors. Don't you have neighbors?

I am in Portland, I've never had eggs except from the grocery store. I'd be thrilled to try some. I thought about fresh eggs the other day when I passed a farm with a sign out but had no cooler with me. I would not mind paying for them.

I am intrigued by keeping back yard chickens too.

Would be happy to meet other local gardeners and trade some plants too if we ever get some decent weather.

Ordinances and other circumstances permitting a permanent sign can be put out on the road and a storage unit set up near the house, with an honor system for payment.

When keeping poultry outdoors fencing and housing adequate to deter predators must be provided. Cats, dogs, coyotes, raccoons and hawks are all interested. One local nursery once had a weasel family animal of some sort get into its exotic pheasant display and do damage, so excluding all manner of troublemakers should be allowed for. If your feeding system does not prevent spillage you can get lots of rodents and songbirds coming to help clean it up. These bring whatever parasites and diseases they happen to be afflicted with, this is not a potential threat just to your birds. For instance, in wooded areas mice may bring hantavirus, and wharf rats (seen frequently here, we recently had to get rid of one coming into our garage - this wasn't the first time, and the exterminator found that the insulation on the wiring coming into our fuse box had been gnawed away at one point) are also known as plague rats. Coops with spilled poultry feed and framing and roofing they can scamper up into when disturbed are probably quite suited to this last pest species in particular.

What's a chicken tractor? We used to keep bantie chickens and they sure kept the bugs under control. They were a mixed lot and very pretty and we really enjoyed having them. Unfortunately, we live on a lake and the mink and raccoons found them. It was a slaughterhouse.

Four years ago someone posted on this forum: free chicken. I was so excited I forgot to ask anything about the beast - turns out it was a rooster, naturally, but luckily enough he had made friends with the neighbor's Easter chicken, a hen, so I got them both.

Betsy and Buster Cluck were the beginning of a serious love affair with chickens! We got a few more to complement them, and then a Rottweiler to scare away the raccoons (who did some serious damage, even coming around in the middle of the day). The dog NEVER chases the chickens but has successfully rid our yard of noxious critters.

If you want to really learn about chivalry, get to know a rooster who is watching over hens. They are amazing! They find good tidbits and call the hens over, then pick up and drop the food at the hens' feet. They never eat until the hens have had their chance, and even let the hens take food right out of their beaks.

They hunt for good nesting places, then coo at the hens until they come over and snuggle down together in the nest. At night when they roost you will often see the rooster put his wing over a hen protectively.

They wait until all the hens are in the coop at night before they go in, and if there is danger, they defend the hens even to death. That's how I lost my dear Buster to a raccoon. But all the hens, and all the babies survived.

Chickens are funny, serious, chatty, busy, curious, with unique personalities and quirks. Endlessly fascinating.

Go to backyardchickens.com to find out how to keep them. You do need to construct a run and coop that protects them from predators, and they have lots of ideas at that website. Also tons of books at the library, tho they tend to be geared to more commercial production.

Buzzy a lovely story. We loved our little flock too. One time, my daughter brought over a couple of fertilized African Goose eggs, we put them under a banty and she hatched them. It was so funny. Initially, the little goslings looking like yellow rubber duckies followed Mom around. But they kept growing until they loomed over Mom. She looked after them but the other banties didn't like them and tried to kill them. So we separated them until such time as they were big enough (read enormous) to fend for themselves. We had sheep at the time and I am sure tyhe geese fended off predator dogs and visitors with their loud honking, but other times they just scratched around the yard thinking they were chickens. They never strayed. One day, it was quite windy and suddenly a gust picked them up and they flew out onto the lake. I think they were REALLY surprised. Within a couple of hours, they were back and stayed put until we decided we had enough goose droppings and found them another home. btw, there was a male and a female and they laid eggs, but the coons found them before any ever hatched. I treasure the memories of our little flock of chickens and geese.

i've been looking for a nearby egg source since the husband won't allow me to have my own hens. what part of vancouver do you live in?
if you're not too far out of the way, i'd be happy to hook your chickens up with some scratch for some eggs once in awhile.

I live right by Columbia River High School in NW Vancouver.

i emailed you for more info. thanks!

thanks for the story - those hens are wonderful mothers, aren't they? Talk about unconditional love as the big old goose babies tower over them.

Buster was a light Brahma rooster - they're huge, almost 2 feet tall. His babies by other big hens were hatched out by a modern game hen - a skinny little thing no bigger than a few ounces, so we saw the same thing... funny!

My flock has just discovered the joys of lawn furniture so I'll be hosing off poop, but I don't mind. Have you seen the chicken diapers? Hilarious!