Chickens before the eggs: Backyard hobby can yield plenty of yokes

West Plains chicken keepers offer advice on how to raise feathered fowl for food, profit and pleasure

By RYAN LANCASTER

Staff Reporter

Jennifer Oxrieder calls chickens “gateway livestock,” birds so simple to care for that their owners are tempted to bring other critters into the mix.

For the past three years, she and her husband Jacob have been raising chickens in the backyard of their suburban Cheney home. So far the couple has managed to contain their habit to chickens, bees and rabbits, but she said it's only a matter of time before they'll need more property.

“You put feed out, collect the...