Leslie Halleck is a modern day farmer. She grows peppers and squash in her backyard, and also raises chickens.
But the difference is, she lives in the heart of Dallas. She's part of a new breed of urban chicken farmers popping up in Dallas.
"I can count at least five people I know within a two block radius of me that have chickens, if not more." Halleck said.
Her chickens are different breeds, and have names like Einstein, Pecker, Phyllis and Scooter. They dart around her yard when she's gardening, but usually stay in their coop. Leslie decided to raise chickens since her only source of proteins is eggs.
"You can have a small flock of backyard chickens for fresh egg production if you want to get into that." Leslie added.
According to Leslie, the chickens arent' hard to raise. They eat chicken feed and scratch, but also like pecking at bugs and grass. But they will eat your garden if you don't keep them away.
"Off limits are my salad greens, my uh, anything I'm going to eat. Tomatoes that are coming on." Leslie said, while keeping an eye on her garden.
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Leslie's neighbors don't seem to mind the chickens. They'll produce up to 2 eggs a day in their prime, and her neighbors don't mind having their breakfast eggs so close.
"The neighbors next door think it great. They're waiting to hand their bucket over the fence so they can get their share of the eggs." Leslie said.
For more information on raising urban chickens, visit North Haven Gardens website, where Leslie is the general manager.
The chickens are inexpensive, usually under 20 dollars each. The center will have a seminar on Saturday, May 23rd on how to get started raising backyard chickens.
Incidentally, chickens are legal in the Dallas city limits. Roosters are not.
