Interview with Andrea Both

Interview Highlights (1/30/12)

1. Where are you from? Where did you grow up?
   I'm from Virginia and my husband is from North Kansas City. We met in the military actually.
   I'm really not sure how long we'll be here before we decide to move out to the country, there's a lot of inner city violence here. 
2. What kinds of activities are you involved in?
   We are a part of our neighborhood association, but no one in our neighborhood owns chickens (laughs). 
3. What do you currently do for living?
   I'm a stay at home mom. My husband works for UPS. I know that down the road, I do want to work in environmental studies. 
4. What got you started on having chickens?
   What appeals to me, is that you know where your egg is coming from. I hope that people start having an environmentally conscious lifestyle, where recycling becomes another part of your day rather than something "we'd like to try out". I do hope my own children will take from this. 
5. Tell us about your coop?
   My husband built our coop. He works for UPS so they had a scrap bin that he dug into and used for the coop. Essentially we repurposed the garbage into building material and created a double layered coop. 
6. Do your chickens have names?
   We named our chickens after the waitresses of our favorite restaurant. 
7. How do you feel about the city ordinances?
   I think they limit people from being to live an environmentally conscious lifestyle. 
8. How do your neighbors feel about the chickens?
   They seem to be onboard with it. We haven't gotten complaints, I think our neighbors have bigger problems to worry about (inner city violence) than complain about chickens. 
9. Think there's a difference in your eggs and the ones at the store?
   Taste-wise, probably not.
10. Do the kids participate in raising the chickens? How so?
    Yeah, they like to feed the chickens. And sometimes chase them. 
11. Any funny chicken stories?
    One time, I was on the phone with my sister from Virginia while inside the coop and somehow locked myself in. We built it so that the kids couldn't climb in or reach it, and my husband was gone so I didn't know if the chickens would start attacking me or what. One time two hopped on my back and scared me. I started squawking like a chicken. 
12. If you were a chicken...where would you live?
    Well, probably out on a farm. It's no fun breathing city air.

Andrea lives on the north side of Kansas City, MO.

They are also into gardening, which prompted the chicken purchase.

This is a Rhode Island Red hen. It's known for it's high egg production (290 eggs!).

These hearty birds are still young and not laying just yet. They use sand rather than chips (it's like a chicken litter box) because it prevents mud clumps from forming on their feet. It also makes it easier to scoop the rich poop that feeds their compost pile.

Andrea shows us that their coop is double layered and keeps the hens warm in the cold.

The compost pile.

 They actively involve their children in their outdoor hobbies.