Urban Farming...in Enumclaw?

Inside the city limits of Enumclaw doesn't scream "urban" to anyone, but just what do you call farming in a typical city backyard? "In-a-rural-city" farming? A little too cumbersome. At any rate...

A few weeks ago my daughters and I embarked on a farming journey. Those darn cute chicks at Del's Farm Supply and Country Farm & Feed reeled me in last year. I held my impulses in check until this spring when I recruited my daughters, ages 4 and 6, to beg Daddy for baby chicks. He very reluctantly agreed, stating emphatically that he would not lift a single finger for these chicks. I have a habit of jumping into projects, working hard for a few weeks, then petering out, leaving my poor husband holding the bag.

I assured him this would not be the case. So, when the time was right, we headed to Del's to get 3 chicks, one for each girl in our house. We already had names...EGGatha, MEGGan, and PEGGy. Yeah, I know, corny, but that's how we roll. To our surprise, Del's has a 6 chick minimum! I thought the city codes said only 3 hens per household. We were able to leave with only 4 little chirpers, plus feed and a feeder.

Our plans were to keep these little fluff balls in our garage, but since it had recently snowed (in APRIL, for Godness sake!), we set up shop in our living room. My nephew showed chickens in 4-H year ago, so he had all the supplies we needed. Our brooder consists of a Sterilite container, a heat lamp and food and water containers. He even gave us a bunch of shavings.

At first, our girls couldn't get enough of the chicks. They held them, told them stories, hand fed them...on and on. After the girls went to bed, we noticed their happy little chirping sounds. Lovely. Now, about 5 weeks later, things have changed:
*The cute fluffballs are now awkward, partially feathered birds. Mine (PEGGy) looks like a bird with a feather boa since she still has fuzz around her neck.
*They stink. Little birds, cute little poops...bigger birds, well, you know.
*They are more difficult to handle, simply because of their size.

As I write, we are waiting for the delivery of our chicken tractor, a movable chicken coop on wheels, thanks again to my nephew. I'm hoping if they are outside during the day and only in at night, the clean up will decrease. I'm proud to say, my husband has done minimal chicken chores, to this point. He cleaned our the brooder once when I was gone for the weekend, but that's about it.

Be sure to look for future "urban farming in Enumclaw" updates on "the girls." Well, we're hoping they're girls since no roosters are allowed. Did I mention I also have a worm farm?