Tess Freeman / The Bulletin One of Erik Hotvedt’s chickens lies on a nest while attempting to lay eggs inside the coop he built from reclaimed and recycled materials.

The chickens stayed put Saturday, while chicken fans crossed any number of roads to go see coops and henhouses at 13 stops along Bend’s Chicken Coop Tour.

Rebecca Charlton, owner of Cowgirl Cash and organizer of the tour for the last three years, said concerns over the local avian flu outbreak nearly convinced her and others involved in the process to cancel. Instead, each participating coop was issued a tray filled with sanitizing solution, where visitors could wet the soles of their shoes to minimize the risk of transmission.

All proceeds from the sale of $10 tour guidebooks are being donated to the High Desert Museum, which maintains a flock of heritage chickens alongside its better known raptors, otters and reptiles.

Charlton said many of the coops on this year’s tour were cobbled together from scrap lumber and other found materials, demonstrating how easy and inexpensive it can be to set up a backyard flock.

“This is not the Sunset Magazine tour of chicken coops, it’s real Bend families,” she said.

At Erik Hotvedt’s home near Pilot Butte, he’s constructed a chicken coop out of salvaged pallets and other reclaimed materials tucked in among his vegetable gardens. The bird feed is second hand as well — spent grains from Worthy Brewing and castoff vegetables he gets from Natural Grocers.

Adding chickens seemed like a natural next step after establishing the vegetable garden, Hotvedt said, a way to keep bugs under control and generate a steady supply of nutrient-rich manure. As his backyard farm has expanded, his neighbors have taken notice and started building their own gardens and coops.

Hotvedt said opening his backyard to the public for the tour is his way of showing a wider audience what can be done even in a relatively small space.

“I really want to teach people how to garden, and maybe, bringing people through here will help that,” he said.

At the other end of the spectrum are Jack and Michelle Bridges. Upon moving in to their home on 5 acres east of Bend last winter, Jack developed an elaborate vision for orchards, gardens, beehives and chicken coops, none of which he’d ever experimented with before.

He cut down 53 juniper trees, put in a greenhouse and irrigated raised beds, and with the help of a contractor friend, built three “townhouses,” as he calls them, for a flock of 50 chickens and 15 turkeys.

The bright red townhouses are climate controlled and include gravity-fed feeders and waterers fashioned from large PVC pipe. Behind the townhouses, the Bridges’ chickens and turkeys roam a large outdoor pen strung with fishing line and bright orange flags to scare away hawks or other predatory birds.

Jack Bridges said he’s collecting two dozen eggs a day, most of which are given away to family and friends. As his fruit and vegetables come in and his meat birds mature, he expects to have far more food than he can eat and intends to find a local meals program that can use his surplus.

“As my wife can tell you, I overdo everything,” he said.

For Tami Chapin, raising chickens came to her by accident.

About four years ago, Chapin’s mother was helping with an elderly woman who was moving from her house in Powell Butte to an assisted living facility. Renters spent a few months living in the house, but when they moved out, Chapin’s mother found evidence of chickens on the property. After a long search, Chapin and her husband found a sickly looking hen hiding under a board.

The surviving chicken — named Frieda, after the elderly woman — came home with them, and was given a spot in the family’s rabbit hutch.

The hutch was modified to better suit Frieda, and though she died last winter, she’s survived by the birds the Chapins have added, a variety of breeds with names like Devil, Chirpy and Chicken Nugget.

Chapin said her birds largely take care of themselves.

Chapin said her five kids have started selling eggs to neighbors, but she’d keep the chickens just for the entertainment and companionship they provide.

“They’re soothing, it’s like you always have a friend,” she said.

— Reporter: 541-383-0387, shammers@bendbulletin.com