Guelph's Backyard Bok Boks is offering people in Guelph the rural farm experience in their own backyards.
The summer chicken rental program provides the complete experience, including set-up, coop, organic feed and three mixed heritage breed hens that reward you with a daily supply of fresh eggs.
In addition to the rural farm experience, it offers the opportunity to teach kids where food comes from and allows the chicken experience for those who might be on the fence about housing chickens or perhaps whose partner needs a little more convincing.
Started in 2012 by downtown resident Michael Craig, the business has flourished with a steadily-booked season, popular amongst repeat families, couples and grandparents – where kids frequently drive the decision.
“Kids love to look at, play with and collect the eggs. It’s a whole event of discovering and learning where food is coming from,” Craig says. “They learn that food doesn’t just come from a shelf in the grocery store.”
Although Craig admits it started out as kind of a joke, the business seems a natural fit for a former outdoor education and environmental studies teacher of 17 years who was teaching his students where food comes from and how to live more lightly on the planet.
Craig says the non-committal experience is refreshing for people and very much clears the air of whether a family is ready for a more-permanent set-up or, on the opposite spectrum, helps affirm that it’s just not the thing for them.
Packages start at $400 for a two-week rental package. Longer and more permanent packages are available.
“Some say ‘the month I had them was great but I think I’m done. I’ve had my experience and that was awesome but I don’t think I need to have them all year.’”
Guelph is only one of a handful of Ontario cities where it’s legal to keep backyard chickens, likely because of its rich agricultural history. Having a bylaw in place helps keep boundaries and peace. A coop must be located 50 feet away from neighbouring properties and is monitored on a complaint basis (sharing eggs with neighbours can’t hurt either).
The Bok Boks set-up requires a space of 10’ by 10’ in any shape. Expect to spend about 10 minutes a day feeding, collecting eggs and cleaning the coop (Craig likens clean-up to scooping out a litter box). You’ll typically collect two eggs a day.
“They just taste real and fresh. Apparently they’re healthier and more nutritious due to their natural coating and you don’t have to refrigerate them, which helps with taste,” says Craig.
Eggs aside, it’s the connection people generally gain towards the hens that surprise them most.
“The coolest thing about chickens is that they’re smart and have their own real personalities – which is really neat because we typically think of all farm animals as the same as they look similar,” Craig says. “Having chickens is like having a cat or dog – but then they make food for you!” he said. “We’re not used to that in the city – having a pet that provides breakfast.”
Stella Hawkins, a teacher and grandmother to seven ranging in age from two to 15, pondered the idea of Bok Boks with husband Bruce for about a year. The couple had never kept chickens and, still unsure of what to expect, signed up for the four-week program last summer.
“There’s a different awareness from each age,” Hawkins says. “The youngest accepted it as matter of course and volunteered to help clean the hutch. I found the ones aged 7 and 9 were most excited, but all were quite interested in feeding and getting things for the hens.”
Hawkins says she was initially worried and remembers thinking the hens would never lay due to stress from the kids’ attention, but soon realized they laid more when handled.
“The kids would catch and carry them around the yard, or sit in the sun with them in their laps, stroking and talking to them for hours and the hens accepted it.”
Hawkins admits that perhaps one day she’d like to have a whole flock.
“I work in a rural area and everyone at work laughed at me when I said I’d rented chickens. They said ‘What? You rented – you paid – for chickens?’ They think it’s the funniest thing ever because for them it’s perfectly natural to have several chickens.”
While the kids gained another aspect of where food comes from through the experience, Hawkins says she gained joy.
“I looked out in the backyard one day and saw a wild bunny, some squirrels and the chickens all eating together. Then the birds came around. It was interesting to see.”
For more information visit www.backyardbokboks.com.
