11 Responses to “Suburban Chickens”

1. Andrea Harris
   September 24th, 2009 - 10:30 am

   When I lived in Miami a lot of Cubans kept chickens. Later people from other Hispanic countries moved in and they started keeping chickens, and then the Haitians came in and not only did they keep chickens but goats as well.) And this was in city neighborhoods — single family homes, but not out in the country. It was quite against zoning regs but back in those days no one paid any attention to such things. (This is why Hurricane Andrew devastated so much of the city, by the way — not the chickens, but the lax attitude towards enforcing zoning and building regulations which resulted in shoddily-built homes and additions like that second story for grandma.)

   Anyway, I don’t recall a lot of noise and smell because of the chickens, though there was this rooster that used to go off at all hours — he was either retarded or confused by the street lights. And since a lot of Cubans practice Santeria, and later the Haitians came in and they practice voodoo, a common problem was (and still is, or so I’ve heard) having to clean up chicken sacrifices from the steps of the courthouse downtown. And my father once told a story about how when he was a teacher back in the Sixties, he angered some students once by failing them on a test, and he found a dead black rooster strung up with a red string over his car. (I think the curse worked too, if our life in Miami was any indication.) I don’t know if you have a lot of Santeria and voodoo practitioners in your area.

2. Richard
   September 24th, 2009 - 10:41 am

   I am just trying to get country (where I should move to have my chickens) defined as 0.5 acres or more with 4 hens (no roosters) and a coop at least 3 ft from the property line. Also there are restrictions on the obvious (but not to some people), no slaughtering, must keep property in an good state (which is covered by umpteen million other regulations). Only chickens are addressed, other farm animals can only be on lots of 1 acre or more.

   Back in the day my wife lived next to a person with 4 dogs kept in a 12′x12′ backyard and they didn’t clean up the poop. Smelly. The dogs also barked all the time so you knew exactly where the smell was coming from. Chickens aren’t dogs, thank goodness.

   I suppose the reason I want the ordinance eased is that excessive government regulation takes away people’s rights to do some things on their property. This must be balanced with the needs of society. That balance is seldom found. Saying that dogs (or any other nuisance) are a problem doesn’t really address whether chickens are appropriate. Many people in New castle County want the freedom to have chickens and be within the law for the eggs the chickens can give them. Not everyone is going to have them (though they once did many years ago).

   We shall see what the mighty council decides.

3. fillyjonk
   September 24th, 2009 - 11:07 am

   Chickens, I would not have quite so much issue with (provided they didn’t spread diseases or parasites). Roosters, now, that would be a problem.

   I understand in LA they are now limiting the number of roosters a person can own – trying to crack down on cockfighting. My concern with roosters is more pedestrian: the damn things CROW.

   I live in a neighborhood that has recently acquired approximately 300 yippy dogs whose owners unpredictably leave them out overnight, so I am not so much a fan of the dogs right now.

4. CGHill
   September 24th, 2009 - 11:25 am

   Nicoma Park, a suburb of Oklahoma City, isn’t all that suburban: it was built in the 1920s specifically as a poultry-farming community, a venture which lasted until the importation of some diseased birds from California pretty much destroyed the entire operation.

5. Ken Miner
   September 24th, 2009 - 11:38 am

   I’m for the chickens and goats. And laundry on clotheslines in the sun (remember that fresh smell?). They’ve already taken away burning leaves in the autumn; the next thing will be fireplaces. In my neighborhood you have to have a certain type of roofing and no chain fences are allowed.

   Sure, I can always move out to the country and wait for the city to gobble up and zone my area (in fact that’s what happened to my area…). I could move to Estes Park, CO, such a beautiful place, where your neighbors take a dim view of even parking an RV in the driveway for fear some disreputable person might be living in it.

   This is “bourgeoisy” at war with romance, as it has always been. *Sigh*

6. fillyjonk
   September 24th, 2009 - 11:45 am

   As an asthmatic, I can do without the burning leaves in the fall

   That said, I’d almost be willing to sacrifice breathing clearly for a few days if people would decide to stop using those infernal leaf-blowers.

7. Lynn
   September 24th, 2009 - 11:50 am

   I’ve never actually experienced living in a neighborhood where a lot of people have chickens so I could be wrong about the noise and the smell. Large commercial chicken houses smell really, really bad and it was that smell I was thinking about.

   My mother had a lot of chickens for a few years when I was kid (not in town) and I don’t remember those smelling bad. I suppose you just have to give them enough space.

   Roosters crow all through the day, not just first thing in the morning. It’s a territorial/dominance thing. They crow even more if there are other roosters around. They get into crowing contests.

8. Lynn
   September 24th, 2009 - 11:54 am

   And by the way, I’m a little bit snobbish about clotheslines. I live out in the country, far enough off the road and in the trees that no one can see what’s in my back yard and I still use a dryer. I guess associate clotheslines with poverty.

9. Peter
   September 24th, 2009 - 1:19 pm

   I don’t see the problem with a few chickens, as long as they’re not crowing roosters.

10. Cary
    September 25th, 2009 - 4:57 pm

    I love clotheslines.

    I have a good recipe for chicken crepes if you’d like it.

11. Andrea Harris
    September 26th, 2009 - 10:28 am

    I’ve never associated clotheslines with poverty. I guess that’s because we had one in the house I grew up in in Miami, and even though we never seemed to have any money I never thought of ourselves as poor — just broke, because my father was a teacher and teacher salaries in the 70s in Florida were rather low. Most people I knew hung their clothes on a line, though I knew some people who had dryers. I guess it’s because my parents grew up in the Depression and were pretty poor, I was taught that poverty was having no food, things like that.