If you've never heard of six girls named Shark Fin, Big Gobbler, Dark Beak, and the Triplets, you've never been to Nancy Ellingsen's back yard.

There you will find, nestled away beside a lush row of green brush, a little wooden house that is home to six friendly Rhode Island Red hens.

Ellingsen and partner Paul Montgomery brought the chickens in from Paul's farm so that they could enjoy fresh and free eggs every morning.

“The eggs are delicious and some of them are double yokers,” said Ellingsen.

“It's very exciting to see how many eggs you get every morning – sometimes you're six for six.”

In the past, residents of Merritt would not have had the opportunity to have chickens on their single family residential lots, but the City of Merritt is currently conducting a pilot project to assess the feasibility of urbanized fowl.

So far, there are three participants registered with the pilot.

“If you're going to do this, you have to make sure you build a nice house for them,” said Ellingsen.

Montgomery constructed their chicken house over a weekend shortly before the two settled the girls in their back yard.

“Don't get the chickens until you're ready,” advises Ellingsen.

Before the pilot was granted permission, earlier this year, city councillors debated disturbance issues involving chickens but roosters appear to be the main culprits for such issues as noise and smell.

Only hens (the quieter ones) are allowed in the pilot project. Ellingsen says her neighbours have not made any complaints about noise or smell.

“I'm planning to put a picture up of a rooster (in the chicken house) just to give them and idea,” says Ellingsen with a grin.
“It's as close as they're going to get.”

Although Ellingsen and Montgomery's home on Merritt Bench may not look like a farm, at least they can bring some legitimacy to the city's country music capital slogan.

“It gives you a real feeling of roots and country,” explained Ellingsen of having the chickens.

If residents of Merritt couldn't be bothered by the thought of having chickens they might want to consider the advantages that having chickens brings.

“You can feed them all your scraps – it's great recycling,” says Ellingsen.

“It's ten times better than a yapping dog.”

If that isn't enough to provoke you to find the nearest farmer and buy chickens, perhaps knowing that you would be heating hormone-free and virtually free-of-charge eggs every morning with your bacon and hash browns would encourage you.