Fowl Diaries: Bayport Teen is a Master Chicken Farmer

The Fowl Diaries all started with the discovery of an online classified ad by a Bayport teen looking to sell off about a dozen chickens and within a few days the Sayville-Bayport Patch ‘Fowl Diaries’ was born.

This series of vignettes reveals why local residents from West Sayville to Blue Point are raising chickens and what it takes to care for chickens, and illustrates that it’s something everyone can do from the young age of six to 60.

This week’s Fowl Diary spotlights a Bayport teenager whom has been running a chicken coop for most of his young life.

Ask 16-year-old Kevin Kerns how he got started raising chickens and he’ll give a shy smile and in a soft spoken voice say it was all the fault of his grandfather who has had chickens his entire life.

“I grew up seeing my grandfather and it was such a good experience that I wanted to do it,” said Kerns, who launched into chicken farming at the ripe old age of 10.

The Bayport-Blue Point High School junior has been running a coop in his family’s backyard that housed nearly two dozen chickens, and one lone rooster, up until this summer when he made a decision to reduce the headcount to under 10. 

The flock reduction is due to Kerns spending his summer working on a fishing boat in Montauk. His family will be watching over the smaller herd until he returns in late August.

The coop, which is at the far end of the family’s yard, is bustling during a recent visit. Lots of pecking and strutting. Kerns points out a few chickens that have been with him from the very early days. While some chicken raisers name their chickens, Kerns doesn’t but he clearly has an affinity for the fowl residents.

Raising chickens isn’t easy work and it’s hard to take a day off given they need food and water daily, and various shelter accommodations during the various seasons. 

The hardest time of the year, says Kerns, is winter. Several feet of snow make water delivery a bit tough and the coop has to be shoveled free of snow as chickens are not keen about walking in the snow. But they need to get out of the coop at times during the winter.

During his decade as a chicken raiser Kearns has done the full gamut of incubating eggs to birthing baby chicks and then raising them till they’re able to live in the coop on their own.

He also does the daily egg gathering. His chicken flock produces about 20 eggs a day between March and October, some that his family enjoys and some that are given to family and friends on a regular basis. He doesn’t run an egg sales business. The chickens’ egg laying stops between November and February.

During the years he’s learned how to keep predators, such as hawks and red foxes, at bay. He’s also part chicken doctor, as the flock sometimes requires some special nutrients, vitamins and feed to supplement its daily menu.

He recommends that novice chicken raisers begin with about seven to eight chickens and to buy Rhode Island Red chickens as they “lay like clock work,” he says, and can acclimate to hot and cold climates.

The teenager’s unique hobby has gotten respect and admiration from his peers during the years, he admits with another small smile.