CityView Magazine

14 March 2023 The Dodson and Brattin children started the how-to seminar by telling funny Cluck Cluck Cluck! jokes at Bell's Seed Store. groups of people who share in their interest. "e groups are great for advice, and people are always willing to make sure you are doing things right. We started with baby chicks, but I would tell others to start with pullets, which are like teenagers. Starting with baby chicks takes constant care and heat lamps. ey also don't lay eggs for a while," says Hartman. Hartman says flock swaps and chicken and rooster sales are frequently posted on Facebook groups like NC Chickens and Ducks. "You can get them for $10 a bird, and it's a whole lot less work. Our chickens just started laying again, so we are getting four to six eggs per day. But we will soon get at least one a day per chicken," says Hartman. She uses water and pickled lime to preserve about 100 eggs when the chickens are not laying in the winter. "It's like a fresh egg aer you rinse off the pickling and crack the shell," says Hartman. e Hartmans sell to people at their church, to customers of her husband's honey business and to Facebook friends who are looking for farm-fresh eggs. Her husband is now a full-time bee farmer, selling honey through his business, Secret Garden Bees. An Army veteran and former civilian contractor, he also volunteers with nonprofit groups like Boots to Agriculture to help military veterans transition into farming. eir son Tristan, 17, and daughter Abbey, 14, a senior and freshman, respectively, at Berean Baptist Academy in Fayetteville, help with the chickens too. "ey help feed them and collect the eggs. e chickens don't always go in the coop to lay eggs in the nesting boxes, so you find them laying eggs in other places and have to look," says Hartman. e Hartmans say they have loved raising chickens and the work is worth it at the end of the day. "If you want farm-fresh eggs to save time going to the store or not needing to deal with rising prices, chickens are easy. You won't get rich selling eggs, but it is nice to have farm-fresh eggs when you want them," says Hartman. Growing trend Interest in raising chickens in the Fayetteville area is growing, as it is across the country. More than 100 people gathered in the back room at Bell's Seed Store downtown in early February to hear the Dodson and Brattin families lead a free how-to seminar on backyard chickens. Kyle and Kelly Dodson have three children: Baker, 15; Maddie, 9; and Elsie; 8. ey lived in the Kings Grant neighborhood in North Fayetteville when the COVID-19 lockdown came in 2020. "Neither one of us grew up raising chickens, but in 2020, we were bored and

• Cover