Friday, July 10, 2009
News / Urban Farming Hawkish on Chickens? Metro Reconsidering Livestock Laws
Posted by Carrington Fox on Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 6:42 AM
Just this morning, I was negotiating the possible purchase of a chicken coop from a friend of a guy in my office. The prospective seller is about halfway through the construction of a chicken house, but now he's moving from his East Nashville home and won't be able to use it. So he's trying to re-coop (sorry) his cost of materials by selling it.
I was thinking about buying it, but after seeing this story in The Tennessean, I might be--wait for it--chickening out.
Oddly enough, the effort to tighten Metro's livestock regulations comes at a time when the Metro Council is reviewing legislation to allow community gardens in the urban services district. While that legislation does not touch on livestock, many urban agriculture advocates argue that raising livestock (specifically chickens) should be allowed as part of a larger strategy to promote food security.
On one side of the ledger are fresh eggs, pretty birds and a strengthened connection to the food chain. On the other side are crowing roosters, predatory animals and an abundance of poop. Surely somewhere in the middle is a compromise that could satisfy urban farmers and the Anti-Chicken Lobby.
If either chickens or anti-chicken laws ruffle your feathers, tell Bites why.
Comments (11)
Showing 1-11 of 11
Time and time again I hear people complaining about the problems they think backyard chickens will bring if allowed into the backyards of their city. Some of the more common complaints that I hear are noise, smell, rodents, disease, and property values. I would like to address each and every one of these complaints one by one.
I don’t think I have ever been to a meeting about keeping backyard chickens where the noise issue has not been brought up at least once. I often hear people complaining about the potential early morning crow of a nearby rooster. This is a very valid point and I too would be complaining if a rooster were waking me up every morning at 4:30am, especially if I did not have to wake up until 7:00am or later. There are many advantages of keeping backyard chickens, but most urban chicken keepers want to keep backyard chickens for the benefits of having an endless supply of farm fresh eggs. Solution? You do not need a rooster to enjoy farm fresh eggs every morning. In fact, hens will lay better if there is no rooster around to disturb their routine. Roosters primarily have two jobs, which they do very well. They protect and fertilize. You only need a rooster if you want baby chicks running around in the backyard. I still hate to see cities ban roosters all together because there are ways to keep roosters in an urban area quietly and responsibly. I plan to share how this can be done at a later date.
Smell is another complaint that is often brought up when discussing chickens. Yes, chickens can smell just like dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, gerbils, and even people if not taken care of properly. We are not talking about a 300-foot commercial chicken house with 30,000 chickens next door. We are talking about six to twelve laying hens in a backyard setting. There are many ways to reduce the smell of your chicken coop and I will share how this can be done at a later date.
If you don’t think that you have mice and rats outside your home right now, then you are living in a fantasy world. Many claim that keeping chickens will attract mice and rats and think they don’t exist until the chickens arrive. One client of mine who is entertaining the idea of getting some backyard chickens lives in the most affluent city in Georgia. She told me that her cat leaves her little “presents” at the back door almost every day. These “presents” just happen to be mice and rats. She also said that she has seen mice and rats run across her backyard and up a honeysuckle vine to get over the fence and into her neighbor’s yard. Yes, if you have chickens there will be another food source in your backyard, but there are ways to keep the chicken feed put away in mice and rat proof containers. I will share how this can be done at a later date.
About three years ago many were asking questions about the risks of avian influenza and keeping backyard chickens. I would always refer them to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website where it addresses this issue. On the Q&A page the following is posted. Question: We have a small flock of chickens. Is it safe to keep them? Answer: In the United States there is no need at present to remove a flock of chickens because of concerns regarding avian influenza. The U.S. Department of Agriculture monitors potential infection of poultry and poultry products by avian influenza viruses and other infectious disease agents. Enough said!
Many people who oppose the keeping of backyard chickens often sound off during meetings about decreased property values if the city allows the keeping of backyard chickens. All I can say is show me the proof. No one has ever shown up at a backyard chicken meeting that I have ever attended with any valid proof that someone got $10,000 less for their home because a resident in their city keeps backyard chickens.
To put backyard chickens into perspective I often tell people the following. On any given day I have more dog poop in my front yard from other neighbor’s dogs then they have chicken poop in their front yard from my chickens. I have more cat prints on my car from other neighbor’s cats then they have chicken prints on their car from my chickens. And I’m awakened at 2:00am more from other neighbor’s dogs barking then they have ever been awakened at 2:00am from my sleeping hens.
I understand that keeping backyard chickens is not for everybody. Some people are dog lovers, some people are cat lovers, and some people are chicken lovers. However, it amazes me how far some people will go to do whatever they can to ban backyard chickens in their city when they have such little knowledge on the subject.
Keeping backyard chickens can be a fun and rewarding experience. If you would like to learn more about keeping backyard chickens I invite you to listen to the Backyard Poultry with the Chicken Whisperer radio show.
Monday through Friday at 12:00pm EST here: www.blogtalkradio.com/backyardpoultry
Saturday at 9:00am EST here: www.americaswebradio.com
You can also follow the Chicken Whisperer on Twitter here: www.twitter.com/backyardpoultry
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This is a great example of where some history can teach us how to create better futures. There obviously were plenty of issues on people's minds when livestock was allowed that made the laws banning same seem sensible. We're idiots if we don't take the time to learn those reasons and identify how the issues would be addressed now, one by one. Just because we think we're smarter now doesn't mean we are. People thought those old post-Depression regulations were just pesky nonsense until things unraveled last year.
Because we now have antibiotics that didn't even exist until the 40s, because we have plastic foam that can dampen sound, because we have fiber glass, aluminum, all sorts of materials and knowledge that wasn't present then, who knows what we can do to alleviate those issues. but we have to honestly list those issues and address them first.
A fresh egg, cheaply and easily accessed, the ultimate in local food, is a great ideal worth pursuing. In the name of the health we claim as its benefit, we need to approach it sensibly.
Obviously, now that crime and poverty has completely been eradicated, it's now time to take care of anything that smells funny.
It's just another case of the bureaucrats with nothing better to do.
My bizarre neighbors used to have chickens, several roosters, and even a couple geese at one time. (Note, I live in Sylvan Park area) I never had a problem with poop, smell, rodents. However, the roosters (and they had more than one) would crow. And roosters don't crow just in the morning, it's all the time. Fortunately they have a big yard and they were not right next to the house. I eventually grew accustomed to the sound actually.
The real problem was that they would fly/jump over their fence and end up in my yard pecking at my yard and garden. Chasing a chicken back into a neighbor's fence was no fun when you're trying to get to work in the morning.
Eventually the opossums got all of them and they didn't get any more.
My biggest problem wasn't really with the chickens, it was with my neighbors. They would always promise to clip the wings so the birds would stay in their yard, but they never did. I'm still running into that problem with their dogs who always get out of the fence, even though my neighbors swear they will fix the fence.
So, I don't really think that chickens can be a problem, as long as there is enough space for them. The biggest problem is really the owners of the chickens. If they are responsible pet/agriculture owners who take care of their animals are are considerate neighbors in the first place, it can actually be a good thing.
I completely agree with all of Chicken Whisperers arguments for keeping chickens. I have had dogs and cats (and other "legal" pets) all of my life and the chickens that I have kept over the past 2 years have by far been the easiest and least impactive to my neighbors. The pros are they provide eggs, compost and eat weeds and bugs. They also are hilarious to watch and are the first thing that everyone who comes to my house (especially kids) wants to see. And most importantly they reconnect me and my family with real food sources (like a backyard garden would) and the idea of self-sufficiency. People have no idea that we even have chickens unless they come in our backyard. Our next door neighbors have never had any complaints. Our hens do cluck loudly sometimes in short bursts a few times a day, but never at night like a dog would. Also, their poop has a slight smell when it's wet but it dries and decomposes quickly with no odor. It is only if it builds up and is not cleaned that it attracts flies and has that coop smell. But with only 3-4 hens, especially with access to free ranging in my yard most days, I rarely have to do much of anything except to throw some more pine shavings on the dirt floor of their coop and they scratch it all down. However, I can smell one of my dog's poops from across the yard and that smell will linger until I scoop it up. Who hasn't been by a neighbor's house that keeps several dogs in the yard and not noticed the noise and smell? Which is more of a nuisance? The current ordinance banning chickens is an outdated one that was established when this city was trying to grow from agrarian to urban. The same issues do not exist in the same way and we are missing out on the many rights and benefits that many other cities of our size and larger are enjoying today that allow chickens (Atlanta, Austin, St. Louis and Portland, for example). We are just your average, middle class family with two kids and both me and my husband work full-time. Owning chickens is not a weird thing to do and I hope this doesn't become some kind of big political fight of ignorance. Also, I am just as interested in my property values as the next person and can tell that there will always be those people who chain up their animals in the yard, leave junk lying around, etc. Property values go down around people who don't care whether or not they own chickens. I support having permits in that case to keep chickens but only if the same applies to owning other animals like dogs and cats. Maybe then we wouldn't have such a huge stray dog and cat population...
In quick reply to some of the posts above:
"Noise + poop = no thanks"
If you think chickens are bad, then don't ever have children. They are much noisier and their poop is much bigger. Also, a bark is much louder and more often than a cluck. I agree that roosters should not be allowed in the city. I'm assuming you have one of those little signs in your yard asking people to not let their dogs poop in your yard. My chickens keep theirs in mine.
Escaping chickens:
Yes, it can happen. Yes, it is easy to clip a chicken's wing feathers and it doesn't hurt them. Also, most hens are easily kept in enclosures, especially for their protection. But which is truly more common, more of a hassle and more scary? A hen pecking around your yard or a stray dog running up to you and your kids and you have no idea if it is friendly or not?
I was raised out a bit and we had chickens as well as other animals. I don't miss the roosters at the wee hours of the mornings. I hope if folks raise chickens that they study up on how to properly maintain animals as well as the coops. Hystoplasmosis is an awful disease to get if you improperly clean a coop,sweeping it out dry makes the airbourn spores ..well air bourne. Always wet any bird coops before cleaning,never sweep!!!
If you grill a mean chicken give us the recipe bock bock!
OK, i had neighbors that had chickens, geese, guineas, etc. it was a HUGE problem and not something that should be allowed in metro. i constantly had to deal with the smell, chase chickens out of my yard and deal with HUGE rats that came around because of the abundance of feed. chickens are meant for farms, not quarter acre lots in town. if you want chickens and other farm animals, go live on a farm.
Hi im getting 2 chickens and ive hurd thay can smell pritty bad,soo i was wanting to no was there anything i would be able to feed them or something i could use in their coop that would help the smell,something that wee would have around the house???
This ban seems to be too broad. Just because many of the parcels are quarter acres doesn't mean that all are. I have six hens that are so quiet my mom had to look for them. They don't smell because I am responsible for cleaning their coop just as I am responsible for keeping my dog in my yard and keeping her from barking non stop. My neighbors enjoy my hens because they produce such healthy and delicious eggs. Their children also enjoy petting them and learning about them. I also have an organic garden that the birds help to fertilize and keep the bugs down. I must say, I have NEVER seen a rodent around my shed or coop. This should be a case by case issue just as with any other animal. If it's a continual problem that can be verified then take the appropriate measures, but don't cut off the arm just because the finger hurts.
