Thinking about getting chickens

Feed stores have chicks, but you want to call ahead to see how many they have, and what types. Fuzzy chicks and pullets need extra care and protection, but once they are full feathered and almost their full size, you can relax a bit.
I'm not in Albany, so I don't know Here's the link to Albany ordinances regarding chickens: http://www.albanyca.org/index.aspx?page=812
What to do with sick or nonlaying hens depends on how you see them; pets or food. It is $60-80 to take to a vet to put down, but you have to be very ...hands on... to do it yourself at home. Depending on the breed, some are very hearty layers for a few years, while some start to slow down after 1-2 years of laying. I've found my Rhode Island Reds and Barred Rocks to be great layers.

As a new urban chicken farmer myself, I don't know the answers to your questions, but you should know about backyardchickens.com, which is where I turn with all my questions.  You can probably look up Albany laws and chick sales online.  One place that sells chicks sometimes is Biofuel Oasis.  (We do not take our chickens to the vet.)

Best of luck!  We are happy with our hens and I hope you are too.  

I don't know about Albany ordinances (check with the city) but we are in El Cerrito and have had hens for about three years. Our favorite place to get chicks is Rivertown Feed in Petaluma. They have a great selection from really reputable hatcheries, including heritage breeds. All our chicks from there have been very healthy and accurately sexed. You can see a chart of what chicks are available each week throughout the spring here: http://www.rivertownfeed.com/poultry/ . We make a day trip of it, drive up and get lunch by the river, eat ice cream at the cute shop downtown, walk around before going to pick out the chicks. Our kids love it! If you don't want to make that drive, BioFuel Oasis on Ashby in Berkeley sells a smaller selection of lovely chicks, as well as basic supplies: http://biofueloasis.com/products/baby-chicks/. 

Chickens eat a lot and we have found the best local place for high-quality feed to be Animal Farm on San Pablo. We fill up the frequent buyer cards quick! 

Our girls are still laying so we haven't had to deal with culling, but I have heard that if you don't want to do it yourself, there is a halal chicken processor locally who will process older chickens (something you may also need to know if some of your chicks turn out to be roosters). 

Last advice: Be prepared to really fortify the coop, and don't be shocked if you loose some chickens before it is perfect. We had an ongoing arms race of sorts with the local raccoons. This batch of hens is our third and they have lasted two years with only one close call, but we lost two groups of hens before that. The raccoons will try everything to get into the coop and if they do you will likely lose all the chickens asleep inside. It was quite a lesson in nature for our kids (who are almost 4 and 7 now)! We have since added a dog and that has seemed to be the most successful predator deterrent to date.

Good luck!

Having chickens is awesome and super easy.  looks like Albany allows them  http://www.albanyca.org/index.aspx?page=812  I always get my from a feed store which there are several in the east bay , just google feed stores in your area and Im sure quite a few have them.  Even though the chicks you buy are suppose to be sexed I always get extra in case one or more dies or they turn out to be roosters which you can't keep.   There are also stores in petaluma where you can buy full grown chickens already ready to lay.   Chickens will lay regularly for 3 years and then their egg production drops off,  I have never culled a chicken because they usually get culled naturally by leaving the coop open and predators getting to them.  If in another 3 years you really want to replace your chickens after 3 years then you should learn how to do that yourself, its not difficult and you can do it very humanely.

There is a family on Santa Fe between Portland and Thousand Oaks on the east side of Santa Fe in Albany that has free range chickens. They are often in the front yard grazing. They are the most beautiful birds! The neighbors of that home had half of their house painted in a chicken-themed mural! If you're ever going by, I wonder if the family would be open to connecting and sharing their best practices. Those birds are really something to see. So healthy and vibrant.

Hi,

I don't know much about Albany, but we did have chickens when we lived on the east coast and I can offer our experience (FWIW):

The temperament of chickens varies greatly with breed. We had 3 types: Rhode Island Red, Barred Rock (aka Plymouth Barred Rock), and Auracana. The Rhode Island Red was quite aggressive; I would not do this again. The Barred Rock was the sweetest bird, very social and calm, and not a drop of aggressivity. The Auracana was a bit timid and fearful. I belatedly learned the above characteristics are typical of their breed. For this reason, I would counsel anyone who wanted chickens to get the breed they want, even by mail-order, in order to get the right fit animal for your family. I would simply get barred rocks today. The Auracanas lay light green/blue eggs which is also pretty cool. The Reds have a reputation as great egg layers, but frankly, we saw the same yield from the other two, with the barred rock laying the largest eggs.

Once you get chicks, it pays to socialize them well. We made it a point to hold the baby chicks in our hands for 10 minutes a day for the first couple months, your kids should know to be gentle (the chicks fall asleep in a warm cupped hand; its pretty darn cute). You will need to have a warm spot for them when they are small, maybe even inside with a heat lamp. With this treatment, ours would follow us around like imprinted ducks; the barred rock like to stand on my husband's feet. They really become very good pets. 

In case you didn't know: chickens start laying at about 6 months of age and will go for several years at full production before dropping off. I don't know about culling because we never did. Our vet saw our hens when necessary. We had 3 hens and we had more than enough eggs for us. Count on about 1 egg per hen per day in the summer, maybe a little less when the sunlight gets less abundant (egg-laying varies with light).

We got a rooster by accident (the sexing process is not 100%). Roosters are mean and aggressive; I would not trust them around kids and avoid them like the plague. We were lucky to be able to rehouse our accidental rooster at a ranch were he harrassed horses instead of people.

Last but not least, our 'girls' favorite treat was a half cup of rolled oats soaked in buttermilk, nuked to lukewarm/room temp and studded with raisins. They got this every morning when we got breakfast.

Good luck!

Mike's Feed in San Leandro usually has 6-10 varieties of chicks at any given time.  Alamo Hay & Grain likely has chicks too but is a bit far.  

You can take chickens to the vet but there is not a regular or frequent need.  I don't think I've ever taken mine but maybe for mite or other pest issues once?

Some chickens will get "broody" and stop laying temporarily but that isn't a reason to take them to the vet or be concerned; it is a natural, maternal behavior and will pass after a while.  I've never had a chicken with a stuck egg issue but know some people with exotic birds who have had that problem - it is a very expensive problem to solve.

Finally, their life expectancy is about 7-8 years but I'd say they average more like 3-4 years, if you're lucky.  There are so many potential predators/hazards around (raccoons, hawks, opossums, dogs, cars) that it is hard to protect them at all times if you let them go free range.  And chickens are completely defenseless at night.  A good coop with strong locks is necessary.  The good news is that they will instinctively head to the coop at sundown but you still need to be around to lock it at nightfall.  Even with a good coop, if a chicken is brooding in a bush or tree where you cannot reach, that chicken is unlikely to survive more than a few nights outside the coop.  

If your chick turns out to be a rooster, make sure it goes to a good home (and not just to anyone, due to cock fighting concerns).  There are farms in the Central Valley that will take them (and most feed stores will take them back as well).      

Here are the Albany City rules:  http://www.albanyca.org/index.aspx?page=812

Mike's Feed on San Leandro Bivd, San Leandro is a GREAT pet store. I know they have chicks right now because they sell lots of them for Easter. They will also feed and other supplies for the chicks.

We've had 8 chickens over the past 7 years. Started out with a flock of 4, and after a couple died, added two more. Down to just one now (left over from the original flock). We live in Berkeley, not Albany, so I don't know about Albany regulations. Got the chicks from Alamo Hay & Grain (a bit past Walnut Creek, off of 680). A couple of them got sick and died over the years - we just let nature take its course. More of an issue is predators:  most likely raccoons, which have caused some slaughter in our case (when we forget to close the coop door sometimes). If you can automate the closing of the door at night (which I hear is possible) it would GREATLY improve your life. Chickens do go back to the coop by themselves, but they don't close the door behind them!

You can get chicks at Mike's Feed in San Leandro; they sell great feed mixes there too. Alamo Feed is another option. We bought our coop there and built our own covered run.

There's a nice vet in Castro Valley off 580 across the street from Safeway. They helped us with a sick hen, but most of ours stayed very healthy. I'm sure out near Pinole you'd find good vets for hens.

They are a wonderful addition to the family; good luck!

Hilary 

We used to have chickens. You can get chicks in the spring from feed stores, like Concord feed. They are pretty cheap. They lay pretty well for a few years, then taper off. A few times we bought straight run and culled the males at home and made chicken stew. Female silkies make nice pets but are not great layers. We have had many varieties, my faves were the Welsummers and the Plymouth rocks (and the silkies). Not as find of the orpingtons, Rhode island red, or the Cochin. That could be just our birds. It's fun but messy, my kids liked it. Hens can be noisy, just so you know.

Hi there,We have 3 egg-laying hens in our backyard in SF.I looked on CL last year and found someone who calls himself 'Mr Chicken' advertising pullets for sale at his place in Petaluma. $25 ea.(I wanted pullets because I was not interested in the chick phase.)Btw, there is a fantastic feed store in downtown Petaluma- has everything and more. We brought 3 pullets home in a smallish dog crate, plus straw for the coop (my fav is called 'Koop Klean ') and a feeder and a waterer. Chopped Straw is a great coop liner. You can get these things on Amazon if you don't go to a feed store.Google the Albany ordinance. I am allowed 3 in SF.If you want to learn about the chickens, everything is online. I remember a great blog that was all about backyard chickens. Very easy to find. YouTube has great stuff for how to clip a wing or build a coop. There is a lot of info to learn but none of it is difficult. (Don't worry about if they get sick, until they get sick. They probably won't.)They live a lot longer than I plan on keeping them. 12 years? Their best egg laying years are only the first 3 years. (Mine lay daily and we've had them about a year. They molted in the winter and didn't lay then)The thing I have the biggest problem/annoyance with is, they are pretty loud in the mornings. I've checked with my neighbors and they don't mind. (I mind!) anyways that's the thing I don't think people warn you enough about. I can't sleep in as well on the weekends with the girls in the backyard. They're up and bok-ing & squawking by 8am. Have fun! They are fun, silly, great with the kids, and the eggs are fantastic.

We have 9 chickens who we raised from when they were chicks.  There is a big store in San Leandro that sells baby chicks and all the supplies you need to start them off (a heat light, bedding, special food). It's a little while before they are ready to go out into the coop.  We handled them a lot as chicks and now as grown Hens they are super friendly.  We keep them in a big coop but let them out when we are home.  Our chickens lay everyday when it's nice out and slow way down in winter. We feed them mostly chicken food and some compost (lots of greens are ok, light on other food, like corn and bread).  There is one vet in berkeley that will see chickens.  I think it is called Berkeley Dog and Cat.  We have loved our Chickens (we have a variety of kinds).  My only warning is with chickens and their food come rodents.   Our neighborhood cats have really helped but be prepared!  Best of luck with the chicken adventure.