Posted June 2, 2008
A small but expanding group of Lawrence residents are taking the next step in growing our own food: we’re raising chickens. Specifically, hens. And now the city is considering banning the practice.
In a May 5 memo, City Staff Attorney Scott J. Miller requested a change to the Lawrence city ordinance, which does not currently prohibit chickens within the city limits. (It does not specifically allow them, either, thus creating a legal gray area.) The memo cites concerns voiced by Midge Grinstead, director of the Lawrence Humane Society, and Gail R. Hansen, State epidemiologist and public health veterinarian, regarding the possibility of zoonotic diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans.
Hansen’s letter directly mentions salmonella infection. According to the CDC, most cases of salmonella poisoning transmitted from live chickens are from a baby chick to a child under 5. Careful parental supervision followed by responsible hand washing prevents the vast majority of these cases (which are not common to begin with). Same goes for campylobacter, another pathogen found in chickens.
In contrast, dogs are host to a bevy of transmissible diseases and parasites: campylobacter, leptospira, tapeworm, hookworm, ringworm, and roundworm. Ticks on dogs can carry lyme disease. The CDC lists the same precautions when living with dogs: wash your hands well and often. Yet dogs are not being considered in this ban.
It’s apparent the real issue is that urban chicken rearing is, well, weird. Fortunately, the sustainable food movement is buttressing a resurgence in urban chickens. In an age when salmonella poisoning is more common in conventionally raised chicken—where the disease can take over a flock like wildfire—being responsible for your own food sources is gaining popularity.
In addition to the more humane treatment of family-owned chickens, their eggs pack more nutrition than those that come from the mega-chicken compounds: two times as much vitamin E, two to six times more beta carotene, four times more omega-3 fatty acids, and half the cholesterol.
Many city governments are noticing this trend and are taking strides to protect residents’ rights to raise their own chickens within the city limits. The keeping of hens as pets and for eggs is allowed in Topeka, Kansas City, Madison, and Portland. Even the nation’s largest cities, like San Francisco, New York City, Seattle, and Houston, have ordinances specifically protecting the rights of chicken owners.
In general, urban chickens are well cared for and treated with the same respect and affection as other household pets. Many responsible Lawrence chicken owners welcome a new ordinance that protects the humane treatment of chickens within the city. It is now our job to educate the current members of the City Commission regarding the health benefits and safety of keeping chickens in Lawrence.
The Chad Lawhorn Lawrence Journal-World story on this subject spawned MANY comments from locals. Find all these comments and post your own at: http://lawrence.com/chickens.
Comments
Anonymous OtherJoel says...
I'm cool with hens in the backyard. We raised quail in my childhood home -- within the city limits. But I was a bit sad that we ate them. They were kinda cute.
But we had neighbors in Olathe with a rooster, and that shit's just wrong. People need food, but they also need sleep.
Posted 2 June 2008, 9:14 p.m. Suggest removal
Anonymous OtherJoel says...
Also, I find the term "urban chicken" amusing. Not sure why.
Posted 2 June 2008, 9:26 p.m. Suggest removal
Terry Bush ladylaw says...
I am all for survival mentality and behavior, and probably would be happy with bunnies or chickens as neighbors. Especially if I got a share in the eggs! However, I agree that roosters would be a problem (I don't want to be awake with the sun). And there could be other negative impacts - bad smells, snakes, (who love to eat eggs), noise (cluck cluck all day) etc.
And that brings up the real rub - people who live in a city live closer to each other then people who live in the country. In the city, what I do with or on my own property often has more of an immediate and/or direct impact upon my neighbor (and their use/enjoyment of their own property). And if the neighbors don't like the impacts resulting from my land uses, well then they try to get my land uses curtailed.
That is why there are typically more land use rules for people who live closer to each other (to make up for those who don't use common sense or care about negative impact on neighbors).
Thus, it would not be a bad idea if those folks who currently have chickens in town get ALL their nearby neighbors to sign something attesting to the fact that they do not care. If that is the case. If your neighbors DO care, in a negative way, your next option may be to plead "prior use" and promise to do whatever it takes to remedy or mitigate harm to others (i.e. the neighbors who don't like chickens).
Posted 2 June 2008, 10:17 p.m. Suggest removal
Bill Hoyt El_Borak says...
Trust me, once you eat a home-grown egg, you'll never, ever want to put that pale (literally) imitation they sell at the grocery store into your mouth.
It might even be worth moving out of the city just for the omelets.
Posted 2 June 2008, 11:16 p.m. Suggest removal
Bethany Jones BadEnglishMajor says...
We have wild chickens here and they drive me absolutely crazy, but if I had any amount of land or even a backyard, I would definitely own them. Chickens are delicious.
Posted 3 June 2008, 1:36 a.m. Suggest removal
Leslie vonHolten leslie says...
I agree with the rooster issue: they should not be within city limits. One of our chicks were mis-sexed and turned out to be male. Fortunately, we had farm friends who adopted him--he would have been in the stew pot otherwise.
As for snakes, we had gobs of them UNTIL we got chickens. They can put up a good fight, those hens. And the clucking doesn't compare to all the barking dogs currently in the hood.
I'm so happy people are empathetic to chickens in town. They truly are gentle, fun, entertaining, and productive pets. When owned responsibly, they make wonderful neighbors. And we enjoy sharing the bounty of our eggs.
Posted 3 June 2008, 9:57 a.m. Suggest removal
Anonymous DOTDOT says...
eastside bridgeburners' society!!!!
Posted 3 June 2008, 11:23 a.m. Suggest removal
Anonymous smerdyakov says...
It's good to see the LJW boards reflecting overwhelming support for chickens. The Lawrence I love would protect citizens' right to raise their own food within reason. The Lawrence I loathe is the bedroom community that threatens to turn town into another ShawneeOverlandOlatheMissionPark -- whatever "anti-chicken" movement there is out there feels distinctly like the latter.
Leslie, know who's behind this?
http://lawrencechickenfarmers.org/
Posted 3 June 2008, 11:34 a.m. Suggest removal
Leslie vonHolten leslie says...
Phil: yes, but I can't name names.
DOT: feelin' the love, man.
Posted 3 June 2008, 2:26 p.m. Suggest removal
Joel Mathis Joel says...
Legal gray area? If it's not outlawed, it's not outlawed. Seems pretty black and white to me.
Anyhoo, I have partaken of some urban eggs and I can confirm Bill's comments on the matter. Two "real" eggs will fill you up for the day in a way grocery store eggs will not.
Posted 3 June 2008, 3:38 p.m. Suggest removal
Anonymous DOTDOT says...
Smerd:
I live in the Lawrence you loathe, but I would love to raise chickens. I'm just too chicken. And have you been outed? Nevermind.
Posted 3 June 2008, 3:40 p.m. Suggest removal
Leslie vonHolten leslie says...
Add another town to the list: Ann Arbor just passed an ordinance last night.
http://blog.mlive.com/annarbornews/2008/...
Posted 3 June 2008, 7:59 p.m. Suggest removal
Anonymous Shelby says...
My dad and stepmother tried to do the chicken thing about 7 years ago and were met with city officials. They didn't put up a fight, but were disappointed when, as Leslie mentioned, the neighbors who complained (about the "noise"---there was no rooster, mind you) had pit bulls who were much, much louder than any other animal in the area.
And I don't want to sound contrarian here or anything, but I disagree with the "farm-fresh eggs are hands-down the best egg you'll ever taste" argument....on a personal level, I've never noticed much of a difference. But whatever.
Posted 3 June 2008, 9 p.m. Suggest removal
Joel Mathis Joel says...
It probably makes a difference what the chickens are eating, etc., but here's the difference I've noticed about real farm eggs vs. grocery eggs:
* The shells are much harder. Which has nothing to do with taste, but it's kind of amazing to me.
* The egg itself is -- how do I say this? -- much *denser.* The yolk, the white, everything. You feel like you're eating something of substance.
* And it just seems more flavorful to boot. But that might be psychological on my part.
Posted 3 June 2008, 10:10 p.m. Suggest removal
Anonymous Shelby says...
I wonder if the color of the egg shells has anything to do with it....I've had light blue shells, light green shells and light brown shells. Hmm...
Posted 3 June 2008, 10:27 p.m. Suggest removal
Anonymous kawryan says...
"Leslie, know who's behind this?
http://lawrencechickenfarmers.org/"
That would be me, it was kinda a rush job.
Posted 4 June 2008, 2:16 a.m. Suggest removal
Anonymous merrill says...
Dr.Michael Greger is one of the world's leading Bird Flu experts and the Director of Public Health and Animal Agriculture at the Humane Society of the United States. Dr. Greger tours the globe speaking on chicken disease, especially Avian Influenza.
According to Dr. Greger, keeping small flocks of backyard chickens that are allowed to be out in the sun and wind is the best way to have poultry. The highly pathogenic strands of Bird Flu like H5N1 have only been found to originate in commercial factory farm situations where chickens are kept in unnaturally high densities, with no access to the outdoors where the dehydrating elements of sun and wind would kill the virus before it had a chance to mutate.
Local folk who take on chickens as pets and a few eggs likely provide excellent care for these birds. With so few chickens at any urban location special attention comes easy. Always concerned about drinking water supply, diets and cleanliness. Seattle has approximately 1000 backyard “farms”.
With so much information available online,the library and bookstores local folks are smart enough to research the matter. Chickens are included in many petting zoos. Chickens are 4-H projects as well.
Face it many KU college students and/or local homeowners alike were raised on farms with chickens. Some locals are former zoo bird keepers with years of experience. Zoo bird keepers are educated about health concerns relating to fowl and learn to recognize symptoms. Good diets =healthy pets.
So I say leave well enough alone because there is no real problem. Why take up valuable city commission time with chickens when after all
there is a lady who needs to wheel chair on east 13th street because the sidewalks simply are difficult to navigate... wider sidewalks on 13th street please.
Posted 4 June 2008, 5:45 a.m. Suggest removal
Caterina Benalcazar Feents says...
I've been to a few local "chickenized" backyards. They do not stink at all. I can't imagine how many chickens you'd need to out stink a stalled cattle train. Or a neighbor's dogs. I do not expect any of my neighbors to ask me permission to get another labrador. I don't see why anyone would need to get permission from a Gladys Kravitz to raise a few hens. Besides, as I said in the comments to the ljworld article, if backyard chickens are a "good thing" for Martha Stewart, I think a few nay sayers in Lawrence should be able remove stick from butt far enough to leave the chickens alone.
Posted 4 June 2008, 2:35 p.m. Suggest removal
Nick Spacek Jester says...
My brother has chickens.
Here's the thing... chickens are no more irritating than yappy dogs that don't shut up. I'd rather something productive like chickens than dogs that just make noise.
Posted 4 June 2008, 3:17 p.m. Suggest removal
Joel Mathis Joel says...
And today Slate has "Notes on the urban chicken movement."
http://www.slate.com/id/2192934/?from=rs...
Posted 4 June 2008, 4:08 p.m. Suggest removal
Anonymous Weezy_Jefferson says...
That Doug Compton guy has peacocks at his place. I used to hear them at various times of the day and night. It sounded like I was in a frickin' rainforest.
Posted 4 June 2008, 9:38 p.m. Suggest removal
Emily Hadley emilyhadley says...
Chickens make great neighbors--if there wasn't a "Fresh Eggs for Sale" sign in my neighbor's driveway, I would have often forgotten that they were there.
I have also had peacocks and guinea hens as neighbors, and that was a very different story. Peacocks and guinea hens--still better neighbors than many human--much less predictable or civil. The late-night peacock noises freaked me out, and definitely woke me up a few times.
Posted 5 June 2008, 8:46 a.m. Suggest removal
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