What came first, the recession or the chicken eggs?
Filed under: Budgets, Food, Home, Recession
Last week I blogged about the value of buying whole chickens at the supermarket
instead of the boneless, skinless breasts that come prepackaged and cost more. Turns out there's a growing movement of people who are taking it a whole step further by raising their own chickens in cities across the country.
The Urban Chicken Movement, the Kansas City Star reports, is gaining ground in places where it's legal to own chickens, like New York, Chicago, Portland, Seattle and Madison, Wisc. But even in spots with laws against it -- like Kansas City, where chickens must be kept at least 100 feet from the nearest home or business -- folks have hen-pecked their way above the law, raising the poultry for eggs, meat and pets. The website BackYardChickens.com has 30,000 members and adds 100 more every day. "There's nothing better than a fresh egg," an animal control worker told the Star.
In Miami, I haven't heard about many people raising city chickens for foodie or budgetary reasons. But urban chickens are such a nuisance here that the city has a whole team assigned to rounding them up. It's quaint to be awoken by the sound of a crowing rooster, if you live on a farm...in a city, not so much.
I wrote about Miami's Chicken Busters, a successful crew that has chased down and bagged about 10,000 chickens, selling them to local farms and giving the money to city charities. "To catch a chicken, you have to think like a chicken," the lead chicken catcher told me at the time. I always thought it should be profiled on the Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs.
Here's the video that ran with the Chicken Busters story -- it's one of my all-time favorites. Check it out. (All this chicken talk is making me think of Arrested Development's chicken-dance compilation.)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
5-14-2009 @ 9:39AM
Chicken Whisperer said...
Listen to the "Backyard Poultry with the Chicken Whisperer" radio show every Saturday at 9:00am EST. A nationally broadcast radio show all about keeping backyard poultry and living a self sustaining lifestyle! Listen weekly at www.americaswebradio.com
Thanks,
Chicken Whisperer
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5-14-2009 @ 6:00PM
jz said...
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5-15-2009 @ 12:50PM
Don Meeks said...
I got into the back yard chicken thing a year ago Easter. It's been a lot of fun & a little work & if you like country eggs your going to love back yard chickens. Rember this befor you start with your new hobby, at some point your going to get rats so be ready for them or it can cost you. Store feed in steel garbag can, set trap's never give them a chance to move in.
Chicken Dude
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5-30-2009 @ 4:36PM
MyKisa said...
...government man gonna stop this stuff soon enough...you will not become independent of the government man
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5-30-2009 @ 4:37PM
MyKisa said...
chickens...always
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5-30-2009 @ 4:38PM
MyKisa said...
long live the chicken, long live American independence!!!
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5-31-2009 @ 7:01PM
dick trout said...
Are they legal in Pasadena California ???
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6-01-2009 @ 1:42PM
G said...
I think people are forgetting that the law was put into place to keep chickens out of towns/cities because it brought rats. I for one do not want rats near my home. Please keep chickens out of the towns and cities.
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6-01-2009 @ 7:10PM
Sara B. said...
Cool chicken t-shirt at http://www.cafepress.com/chickenxing Good clean fun!
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6-02-2009 @ 10:47AM
Hawk said...
At least I can I can have fun picking off the rats at home. It's the ones in Washington I worry about. Hawk
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6-07-2009 @ 8:12AM
David said...
In the little town I live, there was a rooster , his girlfriend, and a batch of babies. They lived in the church yard near the post office. He would lead them out of the bushes, and herd them under a parked car. He then steps out into the street, and stops traffic. Then he herds them across the street. Traffic then resumes normally.
Some of the local business complained about the disruption of traffice, and the noise, so they came along and gathered them up and took them away.
The local Church has a school. The children brought back a rooster and a hen. Yesterday I saw the new guy with his family taking the family out for a Saturday stroll. Nobody seems to mind except the local businesses.
I am not telling where because those idiots from Miami might invade the town.
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6-07-2009 @ 6:29PM
Ann said...
Hmmmmm - let's see, would I rather have drug dealers and crack houses with the accompanying vicious dogs and weapons in my city - or would I rather have some harmless, beneficial, food-producing chickens???
Seems like a no brainer to me!!!
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6-08-2009 @ 11:00AM
nadia said...
Besides chickens even, many people that live in the city that are not able to raise chickens are raising Coturnix Quail. (myself included)
Quail are great as they actually produce more eggs by volume for less feed then any chicken. Good to eat, and mature at 6-8 weeks so turn over time is a lot quicker then chickens.
But the main things is that they need very little space, and are not loud like chickens. Most people don't know them over wild bird calls.
Great "City" intown bird to raise!
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6-15-2009 @ 2:14PM
moira said...
Thanks for the hot tip on the rat thing, Don (Meeks). And to G, people leave dog food and cat food outside, which can have the same result...and probably does...As long as you just have hens, you can have your own little chicken coop and no one is the wiser...we live in a neighborhood with covenants and restrictions, but no one knows there are a few who are raising chickens, and I plan to join them soon!...Like anything, be responsible, keep it clean...and have great fertilizer for your garden!
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6-15-2009 @ 4:50PM
scargeo said...
oh oh bird flu soup
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6-16-2009 @ 7:56AM
DAVE said...
LONG LIVE VEGETARIANISM!!
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6-16-2009 @ 11:45AM
BILL said...
I THINK ONE WILL FIND THE NUMBER OF CHICKENS IN ANY CITY IS RELATIVE TO THE NUMBER OF BLACKS. THIS IS ALSO TRUE WHEN COUNTING THE NUMBER OF WATERMELON PLANTS. THE PROBLEM STEMS FROM THOSE WHO GREW UP IN THE SOUTH AND MOVED NORTH.
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6-16-2009 @ 11:58AM
john said...
How many times is AOL going to run this story about urban chickens?,,,this is at least 5 times in a month...really who cares...isn't their any other news...
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7-26-2009 @ 4:46PM
Geri said...
I'm afraid that it will bring rats to the neighborhoods where there are chickens. That is why a law was put in the books in the first place. I don't want to take an evening walk in the neighborhood to see a rat or two or more running by me in the street. Ugh . . .
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7-26-2009 @ 4:16PM
BUB said...
HAVE YOU CHOKED YOUR CHICKEN TODAY?
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