I became an activist yesterday.
I didn't mean to.
I certainly didn't plan it.
But nonetheless it happened. And yesterday everyone across the city woke up to this. Me and my chicken on the front page of the paper in full colour. Above the fold. Clearly a slow news day. Had there been a sale on at the local Giant Tiger or a cat stuck in a tree I'm sure my story would have been relegated to somewhere in the depths of the paper.
As some of you know, I have chickens. As some of you know, whether this is legal or not in my municipality is questionable. When I first got my 4 chickens I let all my neighbours know and got a feel for whether they were O.K. with it or not. No one seemed to care and in fact as far as I could tell they were kind of excited about it. So I kept the chickens and started building a coop.
I have to admit, even I had reservations about keeping chickens. I really had no idea what to expect so I had the same concerns the people on city council probably have. And I had these concerns because I was both misinformed and uneducated on the matter. As the people on city council probably are. Who can blame them? They can't know everything about everything, right?
The people who argue against having backyard chickens cite disease, noise, smell and general hell breaking loose if people are lawfully allowed to own chickens. I would like to take this opportunity to address these points for the benefit of both city council and those who wonder about owning chickens themselves.
Table of Contents
1. Disease.
There are those who believe that backyard chickens are disease riddled incubators for Avian flu among other things. In truth, (as far as I have researched) there has never been any cases of Avian flu among North American backyard chickens. The Avian Flu rarely occurs, and when it does it shows up in either third world countries or most commonly chicken plants. Chickens get Avian flu from coming into contact with other chickens or the feces of chickens with Avian flu. In the case of third world countries, many people who own chickens feed their chickens scraps of raw chicken that are infected with the disease. These chickens are then allowed to roam around the village infecting other chickens. Since most backyard chicken farmers I know neither feed their chickens raw, disease filled chicken meat, nor take them out for play dates with other chickens ... I do not think the Avian flu is a threat to our community. In fact, large groups of chickens together in poor conditions harbour the best breeding ground for Avian Flu. So backyard chickens are actually the solution, not the problem.
Salmonella is another concern. Very, very few backyard chickens carry salmonella. It is extremely rare. Even rarer is contracting salmonella from your chickens. If you rub your hands in their poo and then put your fingers in your mouth before washing them there is a chance you'll get salmonella. If you eat unwashed fruits or vegetables, improperly prepared meat, own any kind of bird or reptile or eat a raw egg in any dressing, dessert or food ... there is also a chance you'll get salmonella. In fact, there is a much greater chance you'll get salmonella from any of these things. If you're still concerned, you could simply demand all backyard chickens be vaccinated for salmonella. Yup. There is such a thing and yup, it's possible.
2. Noise.
I would like to say chickens are silent and most have had their voice boxes removed at birth, but that isn't the case. They do make noise. About the same noise as a few pigeons. They cluck and make cooing sounds for a few minutes a day. It's inaudible unless you're right beside the chickens. Chickens have also been known to release a loud BUCKOCK when they've finished laying an egg. They're kindda proud. If you can hear the sound of it over the trucks, Harley Davidsons, leaf blowers and barking dogs in my neighbourhood I'll give you a free half dozen eggs. Roosters on the other hand, are loud. They really do cock-a-doodle-do at dawn. And they continue it all day long. I know this because one of the chickens I got turned out to be a Rooster. After his first sunrise cock-a-doodle-do I got on Kijiji, put up an ad and had given him away to a nice farm in the country within 2 hours. I believe it is best to ban Roosters in an urban setting.
3. Smell.
Yeah my chickens smell. They smell like chickens. They don't smell like a poultry farm because I only have 4 of them. Basically they smell like a dirt road mixed with pine shavings. Clearly not as appealing as dog crap on a damp day, but nice nonetheless. If I were to own 20 or 30 chickens I'm sure there would be smell associated with them. So I absolutely support a limit on the number of chickens allowed in an urban setting. Many municipalities cite 6 as an acceptable number. I would have to agree with this number as an appropriate number for an urban setting.
Finally I'd like to address a few points of concern that were made in my local paper. One fellow was genuinely concerned that if backyard chickens were allowed, even in a limited number, all hell would break loose. I mean, what if every person in a town got 4 chickens. What then?? There would be mayhem! Neighbourhoods would stink! The disease! The noise!! To that I say, um ... what if every person owned 4 dogs?
Cats, dogs, pigeons, and pigs. They're all allowed in the city of Hamilton, in unlimited numbers no less. Just not chickens. Not even one. New York, Vancouver and London are just 3 of the cities that allow backyard chickens. These are not hick towns, filled with people dropping from disease and tumbleweeds blowing down their streets. They are progressive, world class, influential cities.
These cities have done what make sense. What I propose should be done. Allow residents to own backyard chickens in a limited number. I love my chickens. My neighbours love my chickens. The only people who don't love my chickens are the people who know nothing about my chickens.
I became an activist yesterday.
I didn't mean to.
I certainly didn't plan it.
But nonetheless it happened.
Sources:
Excellent presentation for council in Springfield, Missouri where backyard chickens have proven to be a success.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:y6ooYeQTBdsJ:poultrykeeper.com/chickens/health/the-chicken-vet-talks-about-salmonella-in-backyard-chickens.html+how+many+chickens+carry+salmonella%3F&cd=8&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ca&client=safari
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/15/12/pdfs/09-0643.pdf
Footnote:
Rebecca
For your argument's sake, you may want to know that chickens are also legal in Chicago and Evanston, IL (home of Northwestern University). Good luck. This is a righteous cause, in my humble opinion.
Kaytie @ GardenKitchenHome
Good luck! We'll be supporting you from Philly!
Pati
Urban Chicken Owners UNITE !!!
erikka cox
We've been researching chicken ownership... & now I need to research the laws regarding it in my area! Thanks for the info & good luck to you & your chickens!
Sarah
Way to go! From my experience, the majority of 'chicken activists' are just as 'reclucktant' as you are.
You might enjoy a video I made to open the debate here in Winnipeg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xju2zS-vJNo
Karen
LOL! I *loved* that video! Loved it! :) ~ karen
karenagain
Good luck Karen. I really hope this all works out for you. It's very much in your favour that your neighbours are cool with them. I wish my neighbour on the east had chickens, but I'll call bylaw on the west neighbour if I so much as see chicken wire in her hands and a light bulb going off above her head.
erin hall {i can craft that}
I thought you lived more north of me but I guess not! Though I am Waterdown and Still dont know what area you live in.
I would love to have backyard chickens some day. This is just another point of proof on how messed up and old school Hamilton is. Maybe one day we can progress as a city into I dont know the twenty first century.
I can not make the meeting but I will facebook this for fellow hamiltonians. Also I am going to give my opinion to a local councilor who happens to be a friend of my parents and ex farmer.
Karen
Erin - I appreciate all the help I can get. I don't even know how to best prepare the 5 minute speech I would have to give! In my opinion, this is kind of useless. The recommendations have been made and I'm not convinced the councillors will actually be taking public opinion into considering. Which is kindda sad. :( ~ karen
Sandra Kikawa
You go girl! Do it for all the urban chickens everywhere!
Gig
My city, Apple Valley California, allows 6 chickens. Granted, we are not a hugh metropolis and there is other sillyness. All their rules & regs are on line if you need a starting place or an example.
Karen
Thanks Gig! ~ karen
nikki@kreative knack
BRAVO! I too have chickens in a semi-urban area...I hope noone ever gives me any problems. Very proud of you, someone who stands up for themselves...
kristin
I wish so much that Edmonton allowed backyard chickens! It's so important to know where your food comes from and it's so satisfying to produce your own. I've had chickens (when living on a farm) and they're the most mild-mannered of all farm animals. They talk to each other (as all birds do), but it's nothing that's as irritating as a neighbour's dog barking for an hour (and if we can live with that, we can live with chickens).
And as a side note, they're not roaming around the neighbourhood freely, digging and pooping wherever the heck they like as many cats do (which is apparently completely okay with everybody. People are a-okay with their neighbour accidentally grabbing a piece of cat poop while weeding. There's no disease or sick that could possibly come from that. That's OKAY with everybody. All the scratching and digging and peeing and pooping in someone else's yard. We're all FINE WITH THAT. But we don't want chickens around, being safely contained in one person's yard. Oh, heavens NO. (sorry; that got a little personal)
Julie shinnick
Can't help to wonder what the fella thinks of all of this....it was his doing in the first place.....lol.....
There is nothing wrong with having 6 chooks in the backyard. We had them when the kids were little and they loved them! And when they passed away from old age it was also a good lesson.
Education that is sorely needed for the people who have no education on this matter!
YOU .... GO ..... EDUCATE..... Chicken power!
Julie shinnick
Pinned!
Shauna
Awesome post! We're fighting this issue in our neighborhood too. Although we're not completely banned, the 50 foot set-back from any home including your own eliminates the majority of people who could own them. We live in a very progressive neighborhood and we're hoping to get this law re-written soon. It will happen, hopefully sooner than later.
Roxanne
Karen:
For what it's worth, I posted a comment after the online newspaper article in support of chickens (and you).
Good luck with this. Give the Feathery Girls scritches for me (or whatever it is that chickens like ...)
Karen
Thanks Roxanne! It actually helps a lot. - karen!
Natalie
I support you and your wonderful chickens! Good luck at the meeting!
Dionne
Step1. Fill a basket of eggs and put them out in the sun.
Step2. Leave them to rot perfectly for 7 days (Nov 15)
Step3. Take the basket to the meeting.
Step4. The rest ....will make the headlines (again)!
;) Good Luck CHIC!
Caitlyn Williams
Pigs are allowed in unlimited numbers? Now, I do think that could get smelly. . .
You should ta]k to whoever got the city on board with pigs and see what their plan of attack was.
There are backyard coups here in Phoenix, Arizona
BTLover2
I support you, Karen, and all those who wish to do a little backyard hen raising. I think it is important to have rules/guidelines/parameters for doing such a thing, but I don't believe it is any different from owning dogs/cats/etc. For example, in the last town I lived in, you were not allowed to own more than two dogs. There are licenses to be had, vaccinations to be given, etc. Meet these requirements and you're good to go -- same should be said of chickens. Keep a proper coop, keep it properly cleaned, follow whatever rules are in place (or should be in place) and we can all live happily ever after.
Karen
Thanks Sherry! From what I can gather, people aren't actually opposed to chickens. What they're opposed to is change. ~ karen
Susan
People are Stoopid.
Where do they think their food comes from?
What about Victory Gardens.
You go girl!!
GiniGL
Oh I SO agree with Tess, and you about the "Occupy" protesters (oh don't get me started...) taking a clue from the BofA issue. I am completely behind you in this, and if it would help to have a non-Hamilton-er write a letter, I will do it. Your link is on my FB page as we speak.
Karen
Thanks Gini! Does your community allow chickens? ~ karen