Food Editor Judy Walker has quite the long story about the ubiquity of urban chickens in New Orleans over on The Times-Picayune's NOLA blog.
Enjoy local views on why to keep urban chickens (we know them by heart now, don't we?) and be sure to scroll to the end for three great recipes for urban chicken eggs: migas, nepalese egg curry and a frittata.
The video below can also be found on the NOLA blog (but I'll save you the click).
Chalk another progressive big city in the pro-chicken category.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
urban chickens now legal in Gulfport, FL
The St. Petersburg Times reports residents in Gulfport, Florida, a "funky Pinellas County city" (pop 12,500; map are now allowed to keep up to 10 chickens per household!
The City Council voted this week to allow urban chickens after months of debate.
The origin of the effort was a loud-squawking hen laying an egg within earshot of a cop. Said cop cited the owners for violating city code, and the owners took the issue up with the Council.
So, if you're in the throes of trying to convince your own city government to allow urban chickens, know that the process is long, but if you're persistent, you'll prevail.
The City Council voted this week to allow urban chickens after months of debate.
The origin of the effort was a loud-squawking hen laying an egg within earshot of a cop. Said cop cited the owners for violating city code, and the owners took the issue up with the Council.
So, if you're in the throes of trying to convince your own city government to allow urban chickens, know that the process is long, but if you're persistent, you'll prevail.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
what to do with urban chicken poop?
I was having a conversation with someone who's looking to convince their city council to allow urban chickens, and she said one of the council's concerns was the phosphorous runoff from all these incoming urban chickens.
Yes, it would easy to dismiss these concerns as folly (poppycock?), but to do so won't help get urban chicken ordinances passed. While we've got our own two hens in the back yard, I don't want to be measuring and weighing every piece of excrement that drops out their backside (we simply put it all in the compost bin).
So I did a little research to see just how much poop a chicken produces and what effect it has on the environment.
How much poop per chicken?
The University of Missouri Extension reports six commercial laying hens will generate approx 11 pounds of manure every week (1.5 gallons). The Fisheries and Aquatics Department cites 40g of excretia per chicken per day (that's 1.4 oz/day or 9oz/week which means six hens would put out 54 ounces in a week or just over 4 pounds).
For the sake of argument, let's go with the Mizzou stats of 11 pounds from six chickens each week. If the average urban chicken flock is 3 hens, we can cut that total in half to 5.5 pounds per week.
This seems to be the perfect amount for composting or including with the regular waste disposal at the curb or what have you (I dare say this quantity is comparable to what a cat owner puts into their trash each week?).
So, thoughts of being over-run by chicken poop seem a bit fantastical.
What about phosphorous run-off?
But let's go back to our six chicken flock and look at the phosphorus run-off concerns (a real concern when considering industrial chicken farming).
According to PoultryOne.com website, the average percentages (per total weight) of chicken manure is as follows: 1.8 nitrogen, 1.5 phosphate, and 0.8 for potash.
So, we've got six chickens producing 2.5 OUNCES of phosphate each week which makes ~8 pounds (2.5 x 52 weeks/ 16 oz per pound) of phosphate PER YEAR. Even if dumped directly into the nearest pond/lake, you're looking at miniscule changes to the phosphorous content of a lake for six birds.
If every household in medium-sized city (20,000 households) owned six birds each, you're still looking at a little over 160,000 pounds of phosphorous spread out across an entire city. Compare this to the industrial chicken industry practice of housing 150,000 birds in a single 500-ft long chicken house (that's 200,000 pounds of phosphorous from one chicken house), and you see it's an apples-to-oranges comparison regarding the concentration/disposal of the poop.
No wonder the industrial chicken houses stink to high heaven!
Mind you, all this build up of phosphorous in the urban chicken poop assumes there's no collection/composting/etc AT ALL from the backyard chicken coop (which I hope would signal neighbors to call animal control for cruelty charges to the owners). But that's another post entirely.
How much urban chicken poop are you dealing with and what do you do with it? Composting like me? setting it at the curb each week? throwing it under the shrubs? Please share!
Yes, it would easy to dismiss these concerns as folly (poppycock?), but to do so won't help get urban chicken ordinances passed. While we've got our own two hens in the back yard, I don't want to be measuring and weighing every piece of excrement that drops out their backside (we simply put it all in the compost bin).
So I did a little research to see just how much poop a chicken produces and what effect it has on the environment.
How much poop per chicken?
The University of Missouri Extension reports six commercial laying hens will generate approx 11 pounds of manure every week (1.5 gallons). The Fisheries and Aquatics Department cites 40g of excretia per chicken per day (that's 1.4 oz/day or 9oz/week which means six hens would put out 54 ounces in a week or just over 4 pounds).
For the sake of argument, let's go with the Mizzou stats of 11 pounds from six chickens each week. If the average urban chicken flock is 3 hens, we can cut that total in half to 5.5 pounds per week.
This seems to be the perfect amount for composting or including with the regular waste disposal at the curb or what have you (I dare say this quantity is comparable to what a cat owner puts into their trash each week?).
So, thoughts of being over-run by chicken poop seem a bit fantastical.
What about phosphorous run-off?
But let's go back to our six chicken flock and look at the phosphorus run-off concerns (a real concern when considering industrial chicken farming).
According to PoultryOne.com website, the average percentages (per total weight) of chicken manure is as follows: 1.8 nitrogen, 1.5 phosphate, and 0.8 for potash.
So, we've got six chickens producing 2.5 OUNCES of phosphate each week which makes ~8 pounds (2.5 x 52 weeks/ 16 oz per pound) of phosphate PER YEAR. Even if dumped directly into the nearest pond/lake, you're looking at miniscule changes to the phosphorous content of a lake for six birds.
If every household in medium-sized city (20,000 households) owned six birds each, you're still looking at a little over 160,000 pounds of phosphorous spread out across an entire city. Compare this to the industrial chicken industry practice of housing 150,000 birds in a single 500-ft long chicken house (that's 200,000 pounds of phosphorous from one chicken house), and you see it's an apples-to-oranges comparison regarding the concentration/disposal of the poop.
No wonder the industrial chicken houses stink to high heaven!
Mind you, all this build up of phosphorous in the urban chicken poop assumes there's no collection/composting/etc AT ALL from the backyard chicken coop (which I hope would signal neighbors to call animal control for cruelty charges to the owners). But that's another post entirely.
How much urban chicken poop are you dealing with and what do you do with it? Composting like me? setting it at the curb each week? throwing it under the shrubs? Please share!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Durham, NC, urban chickens efforts (update)
The News & Observer reports the Durham City Council voted on Monday (Feb 1) to postpone, yet again, the matter of legalizing chickens in city limits.
Seventeen people spoke in favor of urban chickens in Durham. It appears councilman Howard Clement's desire to hear from a more socioeconomically diverse crowd was honored as...
On top of that, the proposed Durham ordinance seems very stringent, with measures to govern how people keep their urban chickens: one would need to obtain a "limited agriculture permit" and get a building permit for the coop. Flocks would be limited to 10 hens (no roosters), and, my favorite clause: "the amount of chicken manure kept on site would be limited to two cubic feet and kept in a waterproof container."
Hmmm... not sure how this collect-and-contain process would work exactly in our own backyard. All our manure gets composted regularly in our (non-waterproof) compost bin. And I realize my math skills are weak on this, but how many marble-sized droppings would it take to make two cubic feet of manure? I don't think our two hens create that much manure in two weeks!
UPDATE: Bull City Rising has a great detailed blog post about what transpired in the council meeting.
Seventeen people spoke in favor of urban chickens in Durham. It appears councilman Howard Clement's desire to hear from a more socioeconomically diverse crowd was honored as...
Activist Victoria Peterson and Lavonia Allison, president of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People made impassioned statements against changing the law to permit chickens.I'd really love to know why Peterson and others do not want to legalize chickens. What kind of stereotypes are they carrying with them to this argument? I wish the reporting was more comprehensive on listing out the details of the opposition as I think common sense could help defang their concerns (if we knew them).
"We do not need chickens in our backyards," Peterson said.Proponents of backyard chickens included Raleigh City Councilman Rodger Koopman, who has three of his own and said Raleigh has heard no complaints since allowing the practice.
On top of that, the proposed Durham ordinance seems very stringent, with measures to govern how people keep their urban chickens: one would need to obtain a "limited agriculture permit" and get a building permit for the coop. Flocks would be limited to 10 hens (no roosters), and, my favorite clause: "the amount of chicken manure kept on site would be limited to two cubic feet and kept in a waterproof container."
Hmmm... not sure how this collect-and-contain process would work exactly in our own backyard. All our manure gets composted regularly in our (non-waterproof) compost bin. And I realize my math skills are weak on this, but how many marble-sized droppings would it take to make two cubic feet of manure? I don't think our two hens create that much manure in two weeks!
UPDATE: Bull City Rising has a great detailed blog post about what transpired in the council meeting.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
tuesday morning urban chicken video
In case you thought chickens and cats would never get along, take a look at this YouTube video of a broody hen keeping some kittens warm.
Now to find that lions and lambs video...
Now to find that lions and lambs video...
Monday, February 2, 2009
where can I keep urban chickens?
I've been looking for a good, comprehensive list of cities that allow for urban chickens, and of all the lists I've seen (like this one on Mother Earth News), Katy has the biggest list of laws over on her site: The City Chicken.
Now, it's not a perfect list, mind you (I've been able to spot some discrepancies just in the few laws I already know by heart), but it's the best thing we have going. She recently sorted the laws by state (they used to be in a largely unordered list), and it's made for a great leap forward in usability
My ideas for improving it?
I ask because I'm working on a side project re: urban chicken laws and am trying to get a sense of what folks most find useful in researching existing or planned urban chicken ordinances.
Thanks for the input!
Now, it's not a perfect list, mind you (I've been able to spot some discrepancies just in the few laws I already know by heart), but it's the best thing we have going. She recently sorted the laws by state (they used to be in a largely unordered list), and it's made for a great leap forward in usability
My ideas for improving it?
- Include a link to the city on a map
- Include population info for the city
- Include a link to the municipality's ordinance to see the actual law
- Datestamp the law to show when it was added to the list
I ask because I'm working on a side project re: urban chicken laws and am trying to get a sense of what folks most find useful in researching existing or planned urban chicken ordinances.
Thanks for the input!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
get your urban chickens on in Seattle
Seattle Tilth, a fantastic nonprofit dedicated to cultivating a sustainable community, one garden at a time, has published their 2009 schedule of classes and workshops.
If you're lucky enough to live in the area and want to get to know more about raising your own urban chickens, you'd do well to attend one of their upcoming chicken classes:
And tell 'em UrbanChickens.net sent you (and wishes we were local, too)!
If you're lucky enough to live in the area and want to get to know more about raising your own urban chickens, you'd do well to attend one of their upcoming chicken classes:
- Feb 21: City Chicks - Starting with Baby Chicks
- Mar 07: City Chickens 101
- Jun 20: City Chickens 201: Advanced Poultry Keeping
And tell 'em UrbanChickens.net sent you (and wishes we were local, too)!
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