Here's an article in today's NY Times about free-range city chickens:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/nyregion/16chickens.html?
_r=1&oref=slogin.

Are there any fowl friends still on this list? What's going on in
your fowl world?

Here's some news from mine:
My four hens have been laying for 14 months and have produced 864
eggs! That's not bad considering they're all so-called dual-purpose
breeds, not laying breeds. About half their diet is organic
commercial layer pellets, the rest is scraps from my kitchen and my
neighbor's kitchen, some greens that I grow for them, and Dumpster-
bound veggies that I get from a neighborhood seniors' lunch program.
To keep them quiet first thing in the morning, they get a few
handfuls of their favorite treats: sprouted wheat berries and raw
brown rice.

In the parts of my yard that they have access to, they've stripped it
clean of snails and slugs, as well as most plants! They don't eat
rosemary, fuschia or fig leaves, although they will eat ripe figs
within reach. Everything else I don't want them to touch I have had
to fence off or put out of reach.

This past weekend one of the birds finally figured out that she could
hop up the steps from the garden up to the deck. It's only about 6
steps but for some reason they never tried it before. She joined me
for a little R&R in the sun, and then when I went inside to refill my
coffee cup, she followed me right in. She poked around in the kitchen
a bit, and was curious but very polite -- she didn't even leave any
calling cards.

It would be good to know if anyone is still interested in keeping
this group active.

Cheers,
Jennifer