See also http://oakpark.patch.com/articles/oak-parkers-flock-to-chickens article on raising chickens in Oak Park. (4/14/2011.
The morning after watching the movie Food, Inc. I decided it was time to raise chickens. I knew nothing about it – spent a great deal of time on list serves, reading, asking people questions – and jumped in with three 3-day old chickens from The Feed Store in Summit.
My coop is built completely out of materials that were salvaged from the alleys and saved from the landfills. (with the exception of the roofing material). I even installed a stained glass window on one of the walls so the chickens can have a soothing view at night.
The experience has exceeded my expectations – which basically were to collect cage 
free, hormone free eggs. We get 1 egg from each chicken every 25 hours. Chickens make fascinating, friendly, and happy pets. If you whistle, the “girls” come more quickly than a dog and will follow you around the yard. Their scratching is a great turner of the compost and the manure adds valuable nitrogen to the compost pile.
Submitted by Deb Jensen, Berwyn, IL
