Her son, walking home from school one day, adopted a nearly dead chick. The warmth of Chatwin's hands revived it for a short time -- just long enough to spark her nurturing spirit.

When a Murray feed store offered spring chicks, she drove over. Twenty years later, she keeps 12 hens and one rooster in her back yard, allowing them to forage freely in winter, but keeping them penned up most of summer, with only occasional forays in the yard. Chickens' omnivorous habits could cause great damage during the garden season.

Chickens and humans have cohabited throughout history. We provide food, water and shelter to chickens, they provide food (meat and eggs), feathers, fertilizer and pest control to us.

The chickens' beady eyes spot any insect and the birds can effectively exterminate over-wintering pests. Chatwin finds the animals excellent pest predators, but only during the off-season.

"They'll eat everything. There isn't a bug left after a few weeks," she says.

But they also eat plants. "I'll have broccoli, you know, left in the garden at the end of fall, and they're still big and leafy. After the chickens are done with them, only the stalks are left."

The grass outside the pen is pecked away as close as a chicken can reach through the fence.

Besides keeping the bugs in check, Chatwin's chickens also create another valuable resource: natural fertilizer. Chicken litter is good for the garden, just remember that poultry manure is high in salt, which causes problems if it is applied too thickly. Composting the litter helps reduce any danger of "burning" garden plants.

Eggs collected daily during summer are a boon.

"I'm always looking for new recipes and ways to use eggs!" Chatwin says.

She gives me one dozen brown eggs, a dozen blue and a single white egg. "The yolks are dark yellow, you know, because they eat the grass," she adds. Most of these eggs are fertile, which by some reports makes the eggs more healthful.

The list of Chatwin's chicken types reads like a garden catalog full of plant cultivars: silkies, leghorn, bantam, brown sexlink and black sexlink.

Indeed, Chatwin's henhouse reflects her eclectic gardening style. Many of her chickens have come by way of friends of friends, just as many of her plants have been gifts or swaps with other gardeners.

I ask why she keeps the rooster, knowing they're not the friendliest animals, and a little noisy for a suburban neighborhood.

"Just because he's pretty," she acknowledges. "When new houses are built and people move in, I ask them if the noise bothers them, but they say, 'No! It makes us feel like we're in the country!' "

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Maggie Wolf is an assistant professor for USU Extension in Salt Lake County. E-mail her at maggiew@ext.usu.edu.