Considering Keeping Critters?

Update January 2010: For a new, permanent page on animal-keeping with current and updated information, please see this A La Carte Topic page on Animal-Keeping.

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Considering keeping critters? That is, considering keeping critters for food reasons, not just for pets.

Urban homesteading is a hot enough trend that even Gawker has weighed in on chicken-keeping.

While their assessment of the movement is, um, well, shall we say, slightly dire ("desperate poverty is transforming America's suburbs into a Third World hellscape"), my guess is most people are making the move towards critter-keeping mainly out of a desire to be more deeply and meaningfully involved in the production of their food. 

And it might not just be good for us, at least when it comes to bees.  This recent The World story on beekeeping in Germany notes that the urban landscape might be better for bees due to the diversity of the flora, whereas farmland's monoculture is a "desert" for bees when not blooming.

Also – and I am going out on a limb here – but I think another reason might be OMG BABY CHIX!! 

Of course, starting your own Little House on the Cul-de-Sac isn’t something one can really just do on a whim generated by cuteness.  It is, in fact, some serious biz.  There are laws to be followed, neighbors to be considered, and, most importantly, a lot of little creatures who will be dependent on you to do things the right way. 

So if you were always successful at keeping your Tamagotchi alive, have the yard space and are seriously ready to make a commitment, there are a lot of resources and events here in town that can help you get started with chickens, bees and even goats.  Here’s a list!  (And if you’re not sure if this is for you, check out July 11 below – Tilth has a tour of the city chicken coops coming up on that day.)

RESOURCES 

• The Pacific NW-based Urban Hennery blog now not only has hens, but as of April 16, a whole bunch of bees, too!  Lots of great pictures and information about their experience, and a collection of other resources and blogs on the right-hand side of their blog that is more comprehensive and in-depth than what I will have here, so bookmark it for when you get yourself started.
• The Puget Sound Beekeepers have beginner’s classes, info on local laws and links to other resources.  
• West Sound Beekeepers Association has a very in-depth website:
  
  • They have an archive of their quite detailed newsletters, which includes articles, pictures and other helpful info. 
  • They also offer a series of ongoing beginners classes.  The classes are designed to be taken together and give you a good intro to the first year of keeping bees.  That said, Association President George Purkett was kind enough to respond to my query and let me know that starting late is better than waiting another year.  (Current session started in Feb and the fourth class will be happening on Tuesday, April 21.) . 
  • And!  If you have a teen interested in beekeeping, they offer the opportunity to apply for a $200 study grant!  
• Speaking of youngsters and critters, today on Twitter, I learned (from SteamyKitchen) about Happy Chickens, the blog of a very cool 12-year old chicken farmer.  He’s not in this area, but his stories might still be instructive and inspiring.  
• Seattle Tilth has classes on keeping chickens and goats (upcoming dates listed below) and chicken resources and information online.  Note!  Their chicken classes seem to fill up very regularly.  Sign up early if you have interest.  I’m putting all the currently-posted events below, even those way out in Nov, since they appear to be so popular.
• The Seattle Free School also offers beekeeping and chicken classes for FREE! I spoke with Jessica from the school today, and while they don’t have any on the schedule right now, she is planning on adding them back to the calendar in the future as they are able.  So bookmark that site (for this and other FREE! food and non-food classes) for future reference or check back here as I always add their food classes to my calendar too. 

EVENTS

All pics from Flick Creative Commons. Bees via david.nikonvscanon, chick via Joyseph, goat via Courtney Nash.