Tour highlights Savannah's urban chicks

As an old farm boy from Wisconsin, Jake Kawatski is matter of fact about the four hens in his urban backyard in the West Victory area of Savannah.

“I grew up having chickens,” he said.

He spouts tips as he shows off his two “Easter egg” Araucanas and two white leghorns scratching around their enclosure:

Put chicken manure back into your garden for fertilizer.

Stick to one breed so they don’t fight.

Pick up crushed shells from Tybee for a cheap way to aid digestion and egg production.

Such advice and more will be coming at visitors Sunday on the third annual Tour de Coop, a guided tour of local chicken coops sponsored by the nonprofit Savannah Urban Garden Alliance.

The tour is the brainchild of Kelly Lockamy, SUGA’s founder. It meshes well with her vision of providing “local, healthy food one garden at a time.”

“It promotes the idea of being more self-sufficient in feeding yourself,” she said. “It’s along the lines of a backyard garden but also having protein.”

Plus, the tour is a chance for chicken enthusiasts to get together.

There are plenty of such fowl friends in Savannah. A Facebook page devoted to Savannah Backyard Chickens boasts 161 members. The chickens’ popularity is part of the reason a county task force is working to re-write and clarify ordinances about keeping livestock.

Shannon Willhite, whose apple-green coop is also on the tour, is exhibit A of the group’s enthusiasm.

The Ardsley Park resident got her chickens in July. When her favorite hen, Cora, began crowing on Monday, he was renamed Carl and quickly relocated. Now she’s down to four hens who eat their oyster shells from a tea cup, dine in their own screened porch and feather their nests in what she calls the “Chick Inn.”

“I should get an egg any minute now,” she said. “I’m beyond excited.”