The Chickens Came First . . .

You think of Van Nuys as many things: a polyglot community with everything from bustling carnicerias to Armenian bakeries, from lovingly tended tract houses to busy apartment complexes. What you don’t think of is a farm community.

But Ken Arno and his business and personal partner, Doreen Radogna, have run an egg farm--the only one in the San Fernando Valley--behind an ordinary-looking house on Vanowen Street near Louise Avenue since 1994.

Not far from the incessant whoosh of the San Diego Freeway, the couple have thousands of chickens, producing even more thousands of eggs, on three rented acres. Arno is a little vague about the exact number of fowl he and Radogna tend; he puts it at 2,000 to 5,000. And while the vast majority of their birds are chickens, they have other species as well, including tiny quail, clamorous geese, ostrich-like rheas and an imposing white turkey that struts around as if it never heard of sage stuffing or cranberry sauce.

Self-taught organic egg farmers, Arno and Radogna sell their eggs, home-grown rhubarb, backyard artichokes and other products at six Southern California farmers markets, including two they own in Eagle Rock and Brentwood. On Sundays, they have stands at the Encino, Hollywood and Palos Verdes markets.

Their most unusual offerings are live ladybugs that Radogna collects in the foothills during the winter and sells as a means of controlling aphids without chemicals.

KenDor’s chicken eggs sell for $2 to $4.50 a dozen, depending on size. A rhea egg, as big as a Nerf football, commands $30.

All of the birds eat only natural feed, a mix that includes millet and other grains, flaxseed and soy. The couple also say that none of the eggs they sell left the chicken more than three days earlier.

“It started out as a hobby,” said Arno, 49, who used to be a smog mechanic.

“I was the guy who told you you didn’t pass. . . . Remember me? It was a very high-stress job. I dealt with the stress by coming home and digging in the garden. I originally got four or five chickens for their manure for the garden.”

Now, he said, “I have some happy roosters here. There are about four of them for 500 chickens.”

Arno has so many roosters because the farm sells fertilized eggs to schools. Watching chicks emerge from their shells remains one of the most popular school projects.

“I never have enough of them,” he said.

But the roosters’ crowing in the morning doesn’t thrill some of the neighbors. The couple say a few families have complained to authorities about the farm. Some cite noise, some complain about odors, and some simply do not want a farm in their mostly residential neighborhood.

As a result, Arno and Radogna have been visited by representatives from animal regulation, building and safety, the Fire Department and the health department. “Someone told the police we were growing pot here,” Arno said.

So far, Radogna said, “They all came in and took a look and left.”

Arno and Radogna were fascinated with their birds from the start.

“When we first got chickens, we got chairs and we used to sit here and watch them,” she said. It was, he said, “better than TV.”

Even when work weeks are 80 hours long, Arno said, he loves what he does.

“I’m making real food,” Arno said. “You’ve been to the chicken factories. That’s not food. It’s chemicals in a shell.”