By Peter Schworm and Sydney Lupkin
September 8, 2010
They lose sleep to crack-of-dawn cackles. They catch grief from neighbors who assumed the block was a chicken-free zone.
But with a large recall of potentially tainted eggs raising concerns about food-borne illness, the growing number of people who raise their own chickens believe they are sitting pretty, with a steady supply of homegrown eggs they contend are safer, tastier, and more natural than their factory-farm counterparts.
“There’s something very wonderful and earthy about picking up a warm egg and going inside and cooking it for breakfast,’’ said Debbie Lewis of Brookline, who owns a flock of chickens. And homegrown eggs have far more flavor than their commercial cousins, she said.
CLICK HERE to read entire story
Showing posts with label backyard chickens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label backyard chickens. Show all posts
4/18/10
Cool New book
"is ashley’s (informative) love letter to keeping your own chickens...ashley covers all the basics for caring for a happy, healthy flock, including breed selection, purchasing, housing, feeding, and hatching. but my favorite part of the book is a delicious recipe section for making the most of your home farm-fresh eggs. the book really goes into great, but easy-to-understand, detail about the process, so if you’ve ever been curious about keeping your own flock at home, this is the perfect place to start."
2/11/10
Waltham, MA may soon allow a chicken in every garage.
Brodie Hawkes hopes Waltham’s, MA City Council will pass an ordinance that will allow her family to keep Plucky, a chicken who literally wandered into their lives a year and a half ago. CLICK HERE
2/10/10
Save the Ducks, Cambridge MA
"Since March 2009, we have been keeping three Cayuga ducks and two Wyandotte chickens in the backyard of our Cambridge, MA residence.The ducks are named Potassium, Ferdinand, and Penelope, and the chickens are Henrietta and Frances. We really like them. We put this site together because the city of Cambridge is in the process of determining whether to allow us (and all Cambridge residents) to keep birds in a safe and regulated manner—or make the whole thing illegal. Obviously we would like it to be legal and regulated—as it is in many Massachusetts communities, including Arlington, Belmont, Brockton, Concord, Lexington, Northampton, and in many cities around the country such as Baltimore, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco, Denver, etc. We think we have a strong case and some good allies, but some of our neighbors allege that it is impossible to keep birds without attracting rats, causing the area to smell bad, and increasing our risk of contracting bird flu.""
1/18/10
The hard work of raising chickens from civileats.com
January 18th, 2010 By Heidi Kooy
This past May, we began our urban chicken experiment with three birds purchased from a lady near Petaluma, the egg capital of the world. She had the best variety of rare, heritage breeds around and I wanted “pretty” chickens, not those run-of-the-mill feed store varieties. Hey, don’t judge! I live in a tragically hip city and need to keep up appearances. But seriously, once I was made aware of the splendid array of chicken breeds–the beautiful colors, the crazy assortment of combs, the mohawks, the feathery hats, ones with five toes, ones that laid green eggs, ones with feathers on their feet–I knew I had to get myself some of that backyard eye candy.
CLICK HERE for rest of article
10/15/09
The return of backyard poultry. YAH.
Backyard poultry. New Yorker writer Susan Orlean and why the humble hen is making a big comeback.
CLICK HERE TO SEE SHOW
9/30/09
8/19/09
Time Magazine - Urban Farming
There have been lots of stories lately about chicken coops' becoming a new urban and suburban accessory. But Carpenter considers the squawking hen "the urban-farming gateway animal," the first occupant of a big metropolitan menagerie. Among eco-foodies, the hottest urban livestock bleat, quack, gobble, oink, buzz and ... well, whatever noise rabbits make. Just ask the folks at Seattle Tilth, a composting and gardening nonprofit that this summer added goat sheds and pens to its long-standing local chicken-coop tour. Or ask the participants in Detroit's Garden Resource Program, which recently launched beekeeping classes and saw them fill up immediately. Even the so-called Chicken Whisperer, a.k.a. Andy Schneider, who hosts an urbane chicken radio show six days a week from suburban Atlanta, is branching out. He is planning an episode on turkeys after fielding so many questions about them from listeners.
CLICK HERE for entire article
Backyard Poultry - Setting the record straight
From Andy Schnieder
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.
CLICK HERE FOR Article
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.
CLICK HERE FOR Article
8/18/09
@backyardpoulty rocks !
Hey @HappyChickens, My publicist is contacting the mayor of Newburyport, MA to invite him on my radio show! I will keep you posted!
Twitter Petitions - Backyard Poultry in 01950
Please sign this petition to show support for a kid in my town who might have to get rid of his hens, because of an angry neighbor.
CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE
Are you legal? - From Boston Backyard Poultry Meetup
Here is a great way to find out! Click Here!
Click on your state,
Click on your city... your local ordinances (all of them) will come up.
In the search box at the top of the page, type in words like: chicken, fowl, poultry... The laws that include these words will pop up.
Look for the way it is written, requirements, etc. If you have any questions post the ordinance here and ask. We can give you our opinion on what exactly it says.
Backyard chickens cause fuss in Port
I went to visit this boy last night. I hope I can help him out.
Boy crushed by city's order to remove 35 birds
By Katie Curley
Staff writer
NEWBURYPORT — Ian Engelstein is passionate about caring for animals and one day hopes to become a farmer.
Over the past two years, his mother Jodi, father Dan and brother Evan have helped him acquire and care for 38 chickens in the backyard of his Curzon Mill Road home as training for his future career.
"He has always loved animals since he was a child," Jodi Engelstein said, noting she has been home schooling Ian for years and keeping the pets was part of the learning process. "When he was little at school, he was always the first one to volunteer and take the baby chicks home."
Engelstein, 15, is now at the center of a neighbor dispute after a neighbor complained to the city.
"On Monday we got a card stuck to our door from Building Inspector Gary Calderwood saying we had to get rid of our chickens," Engelstein said.
Since then, the Engelsteins have tried to speak with Calderwood and come to some compromise, but the city says the ordinance must be enforced.
"They live in a residential area and that doesn't allow for agricultural animals," Mayor John Moak said Friday. "There was a ruling done a number of years ago which centered around City Councilor Tom Jones and involved horses. You are allowed to keep a small number of animals as pets but more than that few number and you are running a farm."
In 2003 after five years of legal battles that pitted Low Street residents Tom Jones and Terry Berns against their neighbors, the state Appeals Court decided that Jones and Berns could keep their four horses as pets.
"Gary told (the Engelsteins) they can have three chickens," Moak said. "He has begun to go above the pet stage and he is running a farm. He lives in a residential neighborhood not zoned as a farm."
Moak said the city does not typically go into people's backyards looking for ordinance violations but instead waits for neighbors to complain.
"We don't make a point of going into people's backyards; it is on a matter on complaints," Moak said.
Raising poultry in residential and urban neighborhoods has become a fast-growing phenomenon across the nation. Many cities have passed rules allowing residents to have them, while in others the battle to change zoning laws continues.
The Engelsteins say the chickens are kept in a 15-foot-square cage and are far away from neighbors. They live on a half-acre parcel next to Interstate 95, in a neighborhood with similarly sized lots.
"The neighbors on our left don't mind them," Engelstein said. "We don't have a neighbor on the other side, it's just the ones in the back and they have always had a problem with what we're doing."
Engelstein noted other disputes over baseballs being hit into their backyards over the years has increased the tension.
Jodi Engelstein believes the complaint stemmed from when her son Ian was away at camp and she and her husband were taking care of the chickens.
"We have two roosters," Engelstein said. "Roosters crow, that's nature. We would have gotten rid of the roosters if they had talked to us rather than file a compliant."
The Engelsteins have no idea what they will do with their chickens, and say what hurts the most is that the neighbors decided to complain to the city rather than speak to them directly.
"We would have compromised," Engelstein said. "People are just desensitized, they build fences rather than talk. It is just a kid who loves chickens."
Meanwhile, Ian Engelstein says he will continue to work at a Seabrook pet store and hopes to somehow continue raising his chickens.
He has started a petition that he planned to circulate throughout the city. The petition asks people to sign who feel strongly that Newburyport residents should be able to keep more than three chickens in their yards.
"We'll wait and see," Ian Engelstein said. "I was hoping to sell eggs and watch them grow. I don't know what we are going to do with them. We have to find them good homes."
Boy crushed by city's order to remove 35 birds
By Katie Curley
Staff writer
NEWBURYPORT — Ian Engelstein is passionate about caring for animals and one day hopes to become a farmer.
Over the past two years, his mother Jodi, father Dan and brother Evan have helped him acquire and care for 38 chickens in the backyard of his Curzon Mill Road home as training for his future career.
"He has always loved animals since he was a child," Jodi Engelstein said, noting she has been home schooling Ian for years and keeping the pets was part of the learning process. "When he was little at school, he was always the first one to volunteer and take the baby chicks home."
Engelstein, 15, is now at the center of a neighbor dispute after a neighbor complained to the city.
"On Monday we got a card stuck to our door from Building Inspector Gary Calderwood saying we had to get rid of our chickens," Engelstein said.
Since then, the Engelsteins have tried to speak with Calderwood and come to some compromise, but the city says the ordinance must be enforced.
"They live in a residential area and that doesn't allow for agricultural animals," Mayor John Moak said Friday. "There was a ruling done a number of years ago which centered around City Councilor Tom Jones and involved horses. You are allowed to keep a small number of animals as pets but more than that few number and you are running a farm."
In 2003 after five years of legal battles that pitted Low Street residents Tom Jones and Terry Berns against their neighbors, the state Appeals Court decided that Jones and Berns could keep their four horses as pets.
"Gary told (the Engelsteins) they can have three chickens," Moak said. "He has begun to go above the pet stage and he is running a farm. He lives in a residential neighborhood not zoned as a farm."
Moak said the city does not typically go into people's backyards looking for ordinance violations but instead waits for neighbors to complain.
"We don't make a point of going into people's backyards; it is on a matter on complaints," Moak said.
Raising poultry in residential and urban neighborhoods has become a fast-growing phenomenon across the nation. Many cities have passed rules allowing residents to have them, while in others the battle to change zoning laws continues.
The Engelsteins say the chickens are kept in a 15-foot-square cage and are far away from neighbors. They live on a half-acre parcel next to Interstate 95, in a neighborhood with similarly sized lots.
"The neighbors on our left don't mind them," Engelstein said. "We don't have a neighbor on the other side, it's just the ones in the back and they have always had a problem with what we're doing."
Engelstein noted other disputes over baseballs being hit into their backyards over the years has increased the tension.
Jodi Engelstein believes the complaint stemmed from when her son Ian was away at camp and she and her husband were taking care of the chickens.
"We have two roosters," Engelstein said. "Roosters crow, that's nature. We would have gotten rid of the roosters if they had talked to us rather than file a compliant."
The Engelsteins have no idea what they will do with their chickens, and say what hurts the most is that the neighbors decided to complain to the city rather than speak to them directly.
"We would have compromised," Engelstein said. "People are just desensitized, they build fences rather than talk. It is just a kid who loves chickens."
Meanwhile, Ian Engelstein says he will continue to work at a Seabrook pet store and hopes to somehow continue raising his chickens.
He has started a petition that he planned to circulate throughout the city. The petition asks people to sign who feel strongly that Newburyport residents should be able to keep more than three chickens in their yards.
"We'll wait and see," Ian Engelstein said. "I was hoping to sell eggs and watch them grow. I don't know what we are going to do with them. We have to find them good homes."
8/4/09
Keeping Their Eggs in Their Backyard Nests (Chickens are a trend!)
By WILLIAM NEUMAN
Published: August 3, 2009
As Americans struggle through a dismal recession, many are trying to safeguard themselves from what they fear will be even worse times ahead. They eat out less often. They take vacations closer to home. They put off buying new cars.
And some raise chickens. Lloyd Romriell, a married father of four in Annis, Idaho, recently received seven grown chickens and a coop from a relative. The hens lay a total of about two dozen eggs a week.
“It’s because times are tough. You never know what’s going to happen,” Mr. Romriell said. Although he manages a feed store, he had not kept chickens since he was a child. “If you lose your job tomorrow, you’ve still got food.”
As a backyard chicken trend sweeps the country, hatcheries that supply baby chicks say they can barely keep up with demand. Do-it-yourself coops have popped up in places as disparate as Brooklyn, suburban Chicago and the rural West.
In some cities, the chicken craze has met with resistance, as neighbors demand that local officials enforce no-poultry laws. In others, including Fort Collins, Colo., enthusiasts have worked to change laws to allow small flocks (without noisy roosters).
For some, especially in cities, where raising chickens has become an emblem of extreme foodie street cred, the interest is spurred by a preference for organic and locally grown foods. It may also stem in part from fear, after several prominent recalls, that the food in the supermarket is no longer safe.
But for many others, a deep current of economic distress underlies the chicken boomlet, as people seek ways to fend for themselves in tough times. Even if spreadsheets can demonstrate that raising chickens at home is not cost-effective, it may instill an invaluable sense of self-reliance.
“I’m not into that organic stuff,” Mr. Romriell said. “I think people in bigger cities want to see where their food comes from, whereas us out here in the West and in small towns, we know the concept of losing jobs and want to be able to be self-sustained. That’s why I do it.”
Commercial hatcheries, which typically ship baby chicks around the country by airmail, say they are having one of their best years, on top of exceptionally strong sales last year. Most of the birds go to farm supply stores, but many hatcheries are increasingly making small shipments directly to people who want just a few birds for a backyard flock. The postal service said that in the first six months of this year, it shipped 1.2 million pounds of packages containing chicks (mostly chickens but also baby ducks and turkeys), a 7 percent increase from the comparable period last year. That volume equals millions of birds, as the average chick weighs slightly more than an ounce.
Read more here
6/25/09
Backyard Chickens: Setting the Record Straight
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An article written by my friend
Andy Schneider
Atlanta Backyard Poultry Examiner
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.
CLICK HERE for rest of article
6/23/09
6/11/09
Woman's Old Advice Relevant to a New Set of Chicken Farmers - from Kitsapsun News
BAINBRIDGE ISLAND —
Shortly before her death, longtime islander Minnie Rose Lovgreen confided to a friend at her bedside that she'd long wanted pass on her recipe for raising chickens.
Stored in her head were 60 years' worth of observations and know-how about how to care for brooding hens, raise baby chicks, build coops, promote quality egg production and calm irate roosters.
Lovgreen's friend Nancy Rekow was quick with a solution and a tape recorder.
"Minnie was always talking about writing a book about chickens, but she was always running around doing things," Rekow said. "I said, 'OK Minnie, we're going to do your book.' So, while she laid there in the hospital bed, we talked about all things chicken."
MORE of story
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