Keeping chickens captivated Shen Chih-hsuan, a man with an engineering background, who quit his job for a hen and opened a new chapter in life

"To focus on keeping 'her' company, I quit my job." Shen Chih-hsuan, who has a background in industrial design, calmly tidies the balcony, where various vegetables are growing and where he can look out at the nearby buildings and community. The "her" Shen Chih-hsuan speaks of is a chicken living on the balcony, which at this moment is heads-down eating crushed eggshells nearby.

Could not afford pasture-raised eggs, so simply raised chickens himself

Arriving at a building near National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu, taking the elevator up to the 7th floor, as soon as the door opened a chicken's crow could be heard. "Yu-ji is welcoming the guest!" Shen Chih-hsuan explained with a smile, sliding open the balcony's floor-to-ceiling window, where a Hen full of energy could be seen taking a dust bath.

This hen's full name is "Chu-yu Chicken," meaning the chicken that deals with kitchen scraps, and Shen Chih-hsuan usually nicknames it "Yu-ji." His bond with Yu-ji began more than two years ago. "I didn't want to eat washed-and-selected eggs anymore, but I couldn't afford pasture-raised eggs either." After coming into contact with the concept of land-friendly agricultural products, Shen Chih-hsuan hoped to make some changes in his life, but his financial situation could not yet bear the cost.

"One pasture-raised egg costs more than 15 yuan. One egg a day means 450 yuan a month on eggs." After calculating, Shen Chih-hsuan had a flash of inspiration: "Is it possible to be self-sufficient?" The idea of keeping chickens sprouted from there, and he began taking classes everywhere, from food and agriculture education courses at community colleges to permaculture design courses, as well as exchanges with many urban chicken keepers.

Raising chickens on the balcony, designed with permaculture concepts, letting the environment cycle on its own

Raising chickens among high-rise buildings is not easy. "You first have to create a living environment suited to chickens." Using the concept of permaculture design, Shen Chih-hsuan made space on the balcony, put in sandy soil and fallen leaves, and set up a laying area and a resting area. "This wasn't settled in one go. The environment layout was improved many times, and all the changes were made with sustainability and cycling in mind."

Shen Chih-hsuan began explaining the design principles. "Any design must consider sustainability." He explained that, taking the chicken's living environment into account, the environment was shaped to imitate a forest, laid with well-draining, non-sticky sandy soil, and large stones were placed there. "In the crevices beside the large stones, insects and other creatures will come to live, so the chicken can go looking for insects to eat every day, and that way it won't be bored each day."

The fallen leaves on the sandy soil were carried back by Shen Chih-hsuan every week from parks and other places. Their purpose is to make the chicken more comfortable when moving around, and they can also add fertilizer to the soil. "Next I want to plant other plants, so it will be more like a natural environment." He said that after planting plants, there will be natural fallen leaves, and then insects will live around the plants, which can reduce human intervention and let the whole environment cycle more on its own.

Chicken manure and drinking water are both considered; raising chickens on the balcony also grows vegetables

For the building materials of the fence, laying area and resting area, Shen Chih-hsuan took all of them from discarded materials; for example, the fence was made from bamboo poles. The stacked design of the laying area and resting area took into account the chicken's egg-laying habits and Shen Chih-hsuan's convenience in collecting eggs. "Chickens like to lay eggs in high places, and they also need high concealment. Setting it near the fence makes it convenient for me to get the eggs, and I will disturb it less."

Another major benefit of raising the laying area is that it can solve the chicken manure problem. Shen Chih-hsuan explained that by raising the laying area, the egg-laying area is separated from the ground, so while Yu-ji lays eggs, the chicken manure falls to the ground. In this way, the laying area can stay clean, and after the chicken manure returns to the ground it can add fertilizer to the soil, achieving the benefit of cycling.

There is also a small fish tank on the balcony. "Yu-ji can drink water, and the guppies inside can eat mosquito larvae." As Shen Chih-hsuan spoke, he added crushed eggshells to Yu-ji's feed buckets. There are two buckets in total, pink and green. The pink bucket holds dry food, such as eggshells and chicken feed; the green bucket holds wet food, such as the kitchen scraps left over each day.

Shen Chih-hsuan's self-sufficiency is not limited to eggs; the plants on the balcony are all edible vegetables too. "This is sweet fennel; it's delicious stir-fried with eggs." He explained how to cook the harvested crops, and said that he still needs to buy ingredients now, such as large leafy vegetables and tomatoes, and later he plans to rent a piece of land to grow more crops.

Making his own traceability records for the eggs, suitable both for gifts and for personal use

Yu-ji's current egg-laying frequency is one egg a day, but it rests one day a week. "If it laid eggs every day, the burden on Yu-ji would be too great." Shen Chih-hsuan said that Yu-ji is a laying hen, and laying too often is bad for its health and shortens its life. In the first year of raising it, when it first started laying, because Yu-ji had not yet adapted to laying, the frequency and number of eggs were very unstable. Recently the situation has gradually stabilized, reaching one egg a day.

Shen Chih-hsuan picked up the egg Yu-ji laid yesterday and carefully placed it on the scale. "I record every egg Yu-ji lays." This time it weighed 62 grams, falling into the L grade, slightly smaller than the previous few days. "Recently the eggs have all been L grade or above, sometimes reaching LL, but actually L is already plenty for me to eat. If they are too big, it will consume Yu-ji's lifespan instead."