Urban hens strut their stuff

Hens reached celebrity status Saturday during Spokane’s first Chicken Coop Tour when at least 40 people visited their coops, learned about their poop and raved about their eggs.

With breed names like Silver Laced Wyandotte, Rhode Island Red and Golden Sex-Links, it’s as if the feathery gals were destined for stardom.

Of course, the featured city chickens carried the whole thing off as if it were another ordinary day, except when it came to announcing the arrival of a new egg. Then they got sassy.

The Chicken Coop Tour was sponsored by Slow Food Spokane River Convivium, a local chapter of an international movement. The worldwide organization tries to persuade people to eat natural, locally grown foods, including chickens. In addition, it encourages people not to eat and run, but rather to take pleasure in cooking and sitting down at the dinner table to eat.

Kim Burkland, who helped organize the event, was pleased with the interest in the tour, which gave people a peek into how to raise a chicken in the city. “We tried to cap it at 30, but between 40 and 50 people attended.”

The participants were interested for a variety of reasons, Burkland said. Some had previously owned chickens while living in rural areas and were interested in owning them again. Others who owned hens were curious to see someone else’s coop. Several were considering raising chickens and wanted to learn more.

“I desperately want my own chickens,” Cheney resident Linda Long said. “Store-bought eggs are unfit to eat.”

Chicken owners on the tour said one of the reasons they decided to raise them was because they were against the “barbaric” treatment of the hens used in commercial egg operations.

Commercial hens are crammed into small, stacked cages, said Chris Dill, one of six Spokane residents whose home was on the tour. Her husband, architect Tom Angell, designed the cedar plank-and-log coop that occupies a corner of their yard.

Dill decided about a year ago to raise chickens.

“I really love to cook, and the (fresh) eggs are way better,” Dill said. “Also, I have children and it was a good project for them.”

At Kay O’Rourke’s home, tour participants witnessed the benefit of using chicken poop as fertilizer. Her plentiful gardens were bountiful and lush.

According to PlanTea Inc.’s Web site, which compares animal manures, chicken manure is the richest in nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash.

Spokane resident Michal Preston said she participated in the tour because she is thinking about getting some chickens. The 55-year-old occupational therapist said she was inspired by what she saw.

The six houses toured were nestled on the city’s North Side. Burkland said four chicken owners from the South Side had expressed interest in being a part of the tour.

“We’ll just have to do that next year,” Burkland said. “We thought six was a lot.”