05 Mar 411 on the Funky Chicken Coop Tour

The Funky Chicken Coop Tour®, founded in 2009, is an annual self-guided tour held each spring in Austin, Texas, by the nonprofit organization the Urban Poultry Association of Texas, Inc. The purpose of this tour is to encourage city residents to raise chickens at home by demonstrating the many ways that chicken (and other poultry) housing can be incorporated into urban residence without violating city ordinances or creating a nuisance.

On Saturday, April 7, 2012, Austin-area poultry keepers will open their backyards to the public for the fourth year in a row to show off their chickens and their urban coops. Besides being easy-to-care-for pets, chickens also provide manure for fertilizer and compost, along with helping keep both weeds and bugs in check, all of which helps create better yards and gardens.  Of course they also provide delicious fresh eggs right from your own backyard.  Most chicken owners report that it's just plain fun to have them around.  

Visitors to the tour sites will see how recycled materials can be transformed into a low-cost coop or how a design-conscious coop can enhance the beauty of a landscape. The tour hosts will be on hand to share their experiences with chicken care, coop design, maintaining harmony among the chickens, people and other pets, and more. Chicken coops often integrate into larger projects, such as organic gardens, sustainability and permaculture efforts, and school activities. The tour hosts will be on hand to share their experiences with chicken care, coop design, maintaining harmony among the chickens, people and other pets, and more. Many of the homes on the tour have featured various alternative energy sources, such as solar panels, along with other environmentally sound practices such as rainwater harvesting and xeriscaping.  A lot of the coops on the tour also have interesting and unusual features; for example, several of our tour hosts on this year's tour keeps dairy goats along with chickens and another is integrated in the picturesque landscape of a Bed & Breakfast.

So, make some time on Easter weekend to check out this event.  The self-guided tour will run from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m, rain or shine. The Information Center on the day of the tour will be at Buck Moore Feed & Supply, 5237 North Lamar Boulevard  Austin, TX 78751. Tour Maps will be available for $10 each, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Green Corn Project. The tour maps will serve as entry tickets, but can be shared by as many people as desired.  

If you would like to know more about us, please visit our website www.austincooptour.org. You can also stay up to date by following The Funky Chicken Coop Tour® on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/AustinFunkyChickenCoopTour and Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/afct. We now also have a fun Pinterest page with all things chicken related: http://pinterest.com/austincooptour/.

Thank You For Supporting The Funky Chicken Coop Tour®!!!!