Hi, David Soper here. First, I want to congratulate you on your interest in growing chickens at home.

More and more of us are increasingly concerned about what we eat and what happens to it before it reaches our table.

Well, some solutions are relatively easy to pull off and can have profound results. Chief among those is raising chickens in your own backyard.

Some of the obvious benefits include:

• Fresh eggs readily available
• Meat raised humanely and without chemical assistance
• Recycling kitchen waste (Chickens will eat darn near anything!)
• A constant supply of very useful ORGANIC fertilizer.
• Not to the mention the fun factor. Chickens have personalities, some are quite friendly and come to you when they see you or when you call them. They can and do make excellent pets for you or your kids. (And, since they live outside, forget about housebreaking or finding your treasures chewed up by teething puppies.)

Now, one of your first decisions is simple. Do you want to be primarily an egg producer? Would you rather produce chickens for your family’s consumption? Or, perhaps, some combination.

Raising chickens is surprisingly inexpensive. (Baby Chicks can cost just pennies each.)

Once you have a notion as to your end goal, the question arises where to keep your flock. There I can be a big help. I’ve done the research for you. You see, I’ve discovered Bill Keene, chicken expert.