Chickens? What?

Aaron and I, in our quest to have some sort of self-sufficiency and fresh local food for our family have, made the decision to raise urban chickens in our yard. We are wanting to have as much control over the food we eat and where it comes from. We try to buy fresh, local produce when available as well as fresh local meat. Eggs are a major part of our children's diets not only a breakfast food with toast and bacon but are used in baking, salads, fritatas, and I could go on and on. If we are able to have fresh, hormone free eggs that come from clean, healthy hens then we will. We are looking into purchasing (hopefully) a coop for the yard and then getting 4 or so Hens. We have been doing plenty of research about raising hens and different breeds and such. As far as breed, I think we will go with Barred Plymouth Rock chicks. I would love to have some Polish Hens since they are so very cute but they aren't overly reliable layers. We have purchased our coop and plan on getting things up and running over the next few weeks.

Here is a photo without the nest boxes or run.

The quest for some self-sufficiency in an urban setting can be a bit of a challenge. We are taking baby steps but I do think we are on the right path.