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Date: 7/26/2021
WESTERN MASS. – A former Granby resident is helping people across the state have access to healthy food and community building experiences by helping them grow chicken flocks in residential areas.
Khyrsti Smyth Barry owns Yardbirds Backyard Chickens. Smyth Barry said she’s lived all over the country, but moved to the Boston area in 2007. After living in Boston for a number of years, she moved out to Western Massachusetts where she lived in Granby for a while, and now lives in Greenfield. She said she originally wanted to be a vet when she began her education, but later changed directions.
“My education background is wildlife ecology focusing on urban ecology. I originally went to be a vet,” she said. Smyth Barry said she began advising and helping people with their backyard chicken coops in 2009 because that seemed to be what people wanted. “What people wanted to know and pay me for is backyard chicken keeping. That was in about 2009, so I’ve been doing that for a little while,” she said.
She shared during the pandemic she saw a significant increase in those interested in beginning and maintaining their own backyard chicken coops. “With the pandemic, urban agriculture in general and backyard chicken keeping took off, I had a lot of business last year,” she said.
Smyth Barry went on to say that she felt as though chicken keeping was “this category of lost skills.” She said while she had “two categories of clients,” all of her clients want to do everything they can to keep their flock happy and healthy. “People that reach out are really worried about doing everything they can to make them happy and healthy,” she said.
The two types of clients she worked with, she said, were those who do all their own research and simply want consulting, and the others who have a day job and require more hands-on services. “I get two categories of clients, there are the DIYers, folks who want consult services or to take one of my classes. They’re doing their own research and have information, I’m more of a guide and they do everything themselves,” she said. “The other ones are a little more full service, they have a day job. I work for an environmental non-profit, I do and have in the past done full coop design and installation. I work with companies to offer monthly coop cleaning services.”
She said both types of customers, however, receive “bi-annual health checks” for their flock. “I come out in the spring after winter. Late winter, early spring can be really hard on their bodies,” she said. Smyth Barry added that she also visits clients flocks again in the fall to do health checks on the chickens including checking their feet, checking for parasites and any other issues she may have noticed.
She said despite moving to the Western Massachusetts area, the majority of her clients still reside in the Boston area. However, with virtual consultations and services, she said she’s able to work with clients from all over the world. “The majority of my work is I get emails or calls from people saying this ‘thing happened.’ What do I do? I’ll do a quick health check in call, maybe a little more in depth video call, people send me pictures. If it’s a big thing, I’ll do a visit,” she said. “Most things, like with video and pictures, I can help as much as I could in person as I can remotely at this point which is pretty cool.”
Smyth Barry said the most significant issues when raising chickens in urban and suburban settings were regarding complaints from neighbors. “I do consulting with municipalities as well with creating their ordinances, what they’re concerned with is they don’t want to have to deal with is complaints for neighbors,” she said.
However, she added that as long as people were being responsible and taking care of their flock in the correct way, there typically weren’t any issues. She said it came down to being a responsible flock owner. “If they’re destroying your neighbor's garden on a regular basis or if you have a rooster in a densely packed area. If they’re keeping them in conditions that are not appropriate for the number of birds you have and there’s a smell,” she said. “If you’re not managing your flock responsibly with regards for those around you, you’re going to have problems.”
Smyth Barry said another misconception was that owning chickens caused rodent problems. However, she said this had more to do with the New England ecosystem rather than rodents being attracted to the feed. “Every few years you have really high rodent years, rodents are always an issue. Even if you have them in the most rodent proof troop, those years when you see more rodents they’re going to point to the chickens and see them as part of the problem,” she said. Smyth Barry added that issues such as noise, smell and rodents are easily managed and ordinances created by municipalities often are intended to account for such issues.
She said she believes the reason backyard chicken keeping grew so significantly during the pandemic was the increased conversations around diversity, equity and inclusion. These topics, she said, were one of her biggest sources of frustration. “Food accessibility and chickens themselves are very cheap, building a structure that is appropriate for them, has enough space, is rodent secure and being kept in a way that will satisfy city permits is expensive,” she said. “It may have a low monetary cost, but you need to have time to build it or expertise to build it or the permits.”
She said, “To do it ‘quote unquote’ right, not to say there’s not many ways to do it the right way, but the way urban settings require is quite expensive.” Smyth Barry went on to say that she’s been working with community co-ops where they “provide materials and birds, laying hens” and they are “co-managed by up to seven families, they each have a day where they do their care.”
She said she was hoping the community co-op would serve as a model for other communities as there were more benefits than just eggs. “Eggs aren’t necessarily a reason to do it, each of these flocks have about 20 young girls. On average they’re getting a dozen [eggs] per day, but they will start to lay less as they go into the fall and the winter and as they get older they get dormant,” she said. “They are partially for eggs, but maybe even more so for community building, education and experience. Many members are great, it’s another instance where it really is a big goal of these groups to have this be something that is truly accessible for lower members of the community.”
Smyth Barry described chickens as “magical creatures” and said to have a chicken coop “is a very powerful community builder for your area.” She said, “Individual families have a chicken coop, you know your neighbor and your neighbor wants to come over and see the chickens. If you have a community coop, everyone comes to see them.”
She added, “It ends up being something for owners and participants to get eggs, but an enriching experience. They’re delightful creatures, they have their own personality, they’re really pretty and really soft.”
Smyth Barry advised against getting a cheap coop to begin with. “A cheap coop is never worth it, I’ve never heard someone say ‘gee I wish I had less space for my birds.’ Plan to spend a big amount of money on their structure or you’re going to be fixing it later. You’re going to spend the money one way or another,” she said. “You really can’t get a coop for maybe less than $1,200 or $1,500.”
Those interested in more information or a consultation with Smyth Barry should visit http://www.yardbirdsbackyardchickens.com or email her at thechickeness@gmail.com.