Chickens and more to see during Tour de Coop

They're good for your garden, eat unwanted insects, and make a pretty good omelet. They are chickens, raised in your own back yard.

Hundreds of Valley residents will rise before the rooster this Saturday to join the third annual Tour De Coops, "A tour of the chicken coops in the City of Phoenix and surrounding areas," says Elaine Berlinger. She plans to join the tour to make a final decision on whether to set up a coop in her own backyard. "I am taking my time making sure that, not only myself, my husband, my children, they all need to participate."

Not everyone is as cautious about buying chickens as Berlinger, says Bryan White, a co-coordinator of this year's tour, "We have some people who go to the State Fair and have a few too many beers and end up with goats!" He says those who take the tour can visit 21 different coop locations across the Valley to see what it's like raising chickens in just about every scenario, "whether it's in a rental situation, someone who's been in the business for years, a school setting, or an upscale home in the center of Phoenix."

Caroline Van Slyke has a plush half acre in the Arcadia neighborhood where she raises French Poulet Rouge chickens direct from Pennsylvania Amish country. "They are prized by restaurants, but we're not selling any. We're keeping them in the freezer." For her toddler, David, it means no hormones, just fresh chicken at the end of the month. At the other end of their lot, the family collects fresh eggs from eight hens housed in a stylish, recycled barn. "I'm a commercial and residential interior designer, so form and function go through everything," says Van Slyke, who says the crystal chandelier and a brightly colored painting inside the hens' barn help set the mood, "Happy chickens lay better eggs."

Not only do they lay fresh eggs, White says the chickens, "Control insects, till the soil and deposit poop releasing rich minerals in the Arizona dirt for a healthy garden."