If all this chicken bawking has you ready to rush out and fill your backyard with feathered friends, just remember: You’re adding a daily responsibility to your schedule. These birds require love and care, and if you treat them properly, you’ll spend more on them than you would buying eggs at the store.
In addition to his repeat customers, first-time consumers are drawn to his home by the “Fresh Eggs” sign that he erected in front of the property at 16737 W. Aptakisic Road.
Water is vitally important, as the growing birds drink a great deal. Water must be fresh and clean. Their first food is called “crumbles” and comes in medicated or non-medicated variety. The food is complete nutritionally, but the site recommends feeding the birds treats to get them comfortable around people. Worms or bugs make excellent treats for the chicks.
Within the City of Charleston, it’s legal to raise chickens, provided written permission is obtained from all neighbors within 150 feet. That stipulation means that most urban coops fly below the radar. City Paper spoke with three existing downtown chicken owners, none of whom wanted their names printed. All, however, love their hens. One lets hers walk around the kitchen and eat out of her hand. Another lost a hen to a hawk in broad daylight, a reminder of how the laws of nature still exist in the middle of the city.
Frillman, 25, grew up on the land, where he’s built a chicken coop and has started construction of a pole barn that will house his chickens, which will number 150 by spring. But the farming business is relatively new to him. His parents’ back acres are leased to Didier Farms, which grows corn there. While Frillman said he’s long watched tractors drive the fields, and credits the Didier family for some of his knowledge, until recently his experience was limited to cultivating his own vegetable garden.
He is already lining up regular customers who will commit to purchasing a dozen eggs each week of the year. He said he will assign each customer a pickup day to ensure they are receiving freshly laid eggs.