Team Chicken

What could be more idyllic than a flock of hens happily clucking in your backyard? Team Chicken got six baby chicks and raised them to provide eggs, not meat. (We wanted protein we wouldn’t have to kill.) “They were just so cute!” says Jim McCann, Sunset’s Art Director and leader of Team Chicken. “They weren’t afraid of anything. They were like a litter of puppies. And it’s been nice to see them grow from fuzzy chicks into regal chickens.” They yield a side benefit, too: their droppings, which make great fertilizer for our garden. Plus, chickens are unexpectedly entertaining. We enjoy watching them scratch around, and we like feeding them treats. We feel the obligation to make them safe and comfortable and healthy. And we like their eggs a lot.

In The One-Block Feast, you’ll get loads of tips on raising chickens, from equipment to feeding.