Just like bringing home a newborn baby, your little chicks will need a place of their own.

“We recommend having it all set up before bringing the chicks home. Turn on the heat lamp before you get your chicks, so that it’s nice a warm by the time you get home,” Assistant Manager at Big R on Trent Avenue, Cody Tylock said.

We kept our girls in a feeding trough. We used a screened window frame to cover the top. They graduated to larger cardboard boxes every other week until they were ready to be outside.

Ron Welker manages the Aslin-Finch in the Spokane Valley. He recommends heating up only one area of your chick space, whether you’re housing them in a bathtub, a feeding trough or a cardboard box.

The sun rises on a warm spring morning. You wake up from that sweet slumber to the sound of a rooster crowing. The smell of coffee is wafting through the house as you greet the new day with a smile. That’s until you hear the neighbor firing up his truck through your bedroom wall and you remember that the Spokane Police Department arrested a guy in your front yard last night (true story).

Living in the city has its pros and cons. One of the pros is that you too can be an urban farmer waking up to that rooster crowing in the morning. Or to chickens cackling as they lay the farm fresh egg you’ll be eating for breakfast.

My husband and I became urban farmers last spring. We brought home four two-day old baby chicks and watched them grow up in the blink of an eye. We don’t have these particular chicks anymore but we’d like to share their journey and ours for those of you thinking about raising chickens. This is the first post of a continuous series.

Can you even have chickens?

Check the ordinances and municipal codes for your area. Sometimes those websites can be a career project to navigate, so calling is always an option. However, it is important that you print or obtain a copy of the chicken raising related laws.

In the City of Spokane you are allowed to have up to four chickens, including one rooster. The chickens are included in the small domestic animal definition. 

That means your cat, Buckwheat, and dog, Mojo, count toward that four total, leaving you with only two chickens roaming around the backyard. Half the fun of raising chickens is the variety of colors and personalities they come with. The more the merrier.

Another moose was spotted Monday afternoon on Spokane's South Hill. Diana Roberts, WSU extension agronomist, happened upon a moose calf hanging out on the High Drive Bluff just below Bernard Street along the trails.

Roberts says the calf's mother was further up the hill out of sight.

Geoff Forshag's wife saw another moose, possibly the cow, Tuesday morning. He wrote on Facebook: "She and a friend came around a corner and there she was - they wisely beat a hasty retreat."

Neighbors are reminded to keep a wide berth from moose and to keep dogs on leash. When moose are spotted so close to neighborhoods, not only does it become a hazard for residents, it's also dangerous for the animals.