Duo raises chickens Queens style in apt.

He was unfamiliar with Ruth Harrigan, who raises three chickens in her Douglaston yard and was featured in a Queens Chronicle story last year.

McMinn, a public policy associate at the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, and Corkery, an executive assistant at Catholic Charities’ Beacon of Hope House, are trying to spread the word that chickens make great pets and offer benefits to their owners beyond providing eggs. The couple spoke to children and adults last Thursday at the Astoria Library, accompanied by their three Serama chickens, a mini-breed from the Philippines.

The birds — named Esmeralda, Dearie and Penni — were well-behaved, seemed to enjoy being handled by all at the talk and made little noise.

The couple clean the floor regularly, keep a litter box filled with sand so the birds can bathe themselves and put hay on the wooden floors for them to peck.

“I don’t advise people to have chickens in an apartment,” he said. “But it works for us.”

McMinn explained that the ideal place for city chickens is in a backyard, which he hopes to eventually have. Meanwhile, the two take their small flock for regular outings in parks and community gardens, where they can peck for bugs and eat weeds.

“Chickens help us by eating insects and weeds in our yards and their poop makes great fertilizer when added to compost,” he said. “The poop doesn’t smell and is not disgusting to pick up.”

Corkery noted the chickens each lay about three eggs a week, and though smaller than regular eggs, taste fresher and better. “It’s enough for me,” she said.

Although the three feathered friends have the run of the apartment, they rarely go into the couple’s bedroom and at night “put themselves to bed” in a wire cage because they are “connected to the sun” and know when it’s time, she said.

McMinn indicated that it’s legal to have hens in New York City, but not roosters, because they make too much noise. His flock eats a lot of natural food, including fennel tops, carrot ends, cooked rice, squash rinds and ground-up egg shells for calcium. For protein, they get dried meal worms, sardines and beans.

To help spread the word about the benefits of raising chickens, McMinn hosts a radio show called “Bucky Buckaw’s Backyard Chicken Broadcast.” It’s mostly carried in the New England states but can be gotten over the Internet. The podcasts can be downloaded by going to buckybuckaw.org.

In one program, he says that chickens “inspire lovability” and told his Astoria audience last week that most chickens are friendly and his three are especially so. “They need more care than a fish, but less than a cat,” McMinn added.

Chickens live about 12 years, if there are no predators, so they are a long-term commitment, but as McMinn said: “They are pretty sustainable and make us breakfast.”