Growing Number Of U.S. Urban Residents Turn To Chicken As Household Pets

AHN ^ | January 2, 2009

[george76]

While thousands of dogs and cats are being given up by pet owners across the U.S. as times become harder, chickens are gaining popularity as household pets...

The rising popularity of the feathered creature is due to the chicken's ability to provide eggs, pest control, fertilizer and eventually meat. To address zoning regulations, homeowners are working to amend local laws ...

Some cities like New York, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle already allow chicken to be raised by urban residents

[brytlea]

Hmmm...if they are using them for eggs and meat I don’t think you could truthfully say they were pets....

[Marie2]

I checked the website to see if chickens were allowed in San Francisco, but there seems to be no directory of that.

Anyone else know? I guess I could call the Humane Society.

[6SJ7]

Good luck training a chicken to use a litter box.

[Dr. Ursus]

I must have missed the headline that 93% of the workforce
still have jobs!

[brytlea]

?

[BGHater]

Your allowed to keep '4'.
Municipal Code, Article 1: Animals

[domenad]

My friend has a Serama hen. It’s the tiniest breed of chicken, some varieties as small as a single pound. I have heard a rooster Serama crow, and I assure you, it has no idea it is only one pound.

By the way, the hen’s name is Chicken Nugget.

[Revolting cat!]

Revolting chickens?!

[PowderMonkey]

Hmmm...I grew up in localities where that was common. There are plenty good reasons most municipalities zoned out “backyard poultry” in the first place. The least of which are noise, and the runoff from chicken poop. If your neighbor takes to raising ducks, the smell will peel the paint off your house. And, with the advent of avian flu, you really don't want a backyard full of chickens.

[Dr. Ursus]

We’re not at the point where we have to start having
Schezwan dog or cat.(pets)

[brytlea]

Yep, I had chickens as a kid. They are noisy and stinky. I had a hen who crowed like a rooster.

[HamiltonJay]

Welcome back to the third world.

While I personally don’t have an issue if a suburban family has a small coup in their back yard, provided they keep it clean, this has way more to do with 3rd worlders living in our cities than folks just deciding they want a chicken.

[WildcatClan]

You no want chicken. Chicken make lousy house pet.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

My uncle had a hen that resembled a high school classmate.

[Allegra]

There's a rooster around here somewhere.

People keep hearing it.

It crowed at midnight New Year's Eve.

Roosters are not supposed to crow at midnight.

[brytlea]

Frankly, in an urban setting, I’m not sure where they will keep them. Maybe in coops on the roof?

[Malacoda]

Great. Obamanomics will turn us in to tax serfs who live in our thrice-recycled cardboard hovels, lit by a single "green" light bulb, all of us huddled with our livestock to stay warm.

Dragging us down to third-world levels.

[TonyStark]

It’s due to the rising popularity of being a Mexican, Hatian, or Chinese national living (legally or illegally) in America, nothing more.

[kalee]

Up intil Halloween weekend, I had a small flock of ducks. Sadly some sicko came onto our property and cut their bills off. We had one survivor who has fled to the creek at the cemetary across the road behind our house. We go over and check on him every day or so. He won’t come to us, too frightened by what he witnnessed, we figure. He and a blue heron seem happy together at the creek, so we have allowed him to remain.

Duck eggs are wonderful for baking! I sure miss the eggs and my happy little flock, may they RIP.

[Allegra]

You no want chicken. Chicken make lousy house pet.

They make great soup, thougn. Especially during cold and flu season.

[clamper1797]

People who keep chickens as pets could run afoul of the law.

Actually I wrote a paper about chickens once ... won the pulletser prize for it

[mrs. a]

Your pet - it’s what’s for dinner.

[TonyStark]

People who keep chickens as pets could run afoul of the law. Actually I wrote a paper about chickens once ... won the pulletser prize for it

That's eggsactly what I was going to say.

[brytlea]

Every time I've lived in areas where there were chickens we would hear roosters crow at night.

Turns out the answer is simpler than you might think. First, roosters crow all the time. The connection with the sun coming up is a misconception. “They might, on occasion, crow right at dawn. But it’s just a coincidence,” Pete Alcorn (TransitionsAbroad.com) says. “Roosters crow whenever they feel like it: morning, noon and night, not to mention afternoon, evening and the parts of the day that don’t have names.”

Roosters crow because they hear other roosters crowing, to show that a certain place in the barnyard is their turf, to try and assert their authority over another rooster, or even to gloat when a hen cackles after laying an egg. Joe Faust, the Accidental Farmer (JoeCliffordFaust.com/chickens), says, “I think the general rule for this is that a rooster crows any time it wants to – or feels the need. For all I know, mine may crow on and off all night, but I just hear them in the morning.”

http://www.grit.com/Animals/Secret-of-the-Roosters-Crow.aspx

[listenhillary]

MP3 recording of a rooster crowing?

I’m not telling...

[Allegra]

I think this particular rooster was a bit tipsy.

[posterchild]

Sorry to read of your loss and to be reminded that there are some sick people out there. Any idea why would someone would do that?

[brytlea]

Maybe he met a pretty redhead!

[Allegra]

Actually I wrote a paper about chickens once ... won the pulletser prize for it

That's beak-cause of all of the feathery adjectives you used.

[listenhillary]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=duckbill+soup&spell=1

Results 1 - 10 of about 6,820 for duckbill soup.

[PowderMonkey]

"Actually I wrote a paper about chickens once ... won the pulletser prize for it
That's beak-cause of all of the feathery adjectives you used.

Omelet all that go, and not start something...must'n...egg...them on.

[steveo]

It’s due to the rising popularity of being a Mexican, Hatian, or Chinese national living (legally or illegally) in America, nothing more.

Not necessarily true. When I moved to our current house 25 years ago I raised chickens, rare breeds. We ate and sold the eggs, and excess roosters I took to the livestock auction and made some nice money. I bought my chicks every spring from Murray McMurray. We still have three or four neighbors who raise birds. No illegals here... I love the sound of a rooster crowing in the morning.

[george76]

LOL

I wrote a paper about chickens once ... won the pulletser prize for it

[george76]

Roosters are not supposed to crow at midnight.

8-)

[MPJackal]

“I checked the website to see if chickens were allowed in San Francisco, but there seems to be no directory of that.”

Chickens are an endangered species in San Francisco. Or at least they ought to be. Enough said.

[Op-Head]

When I lived in Costa Rica, the roosters crowed all day and sometimes as night too! But NEVER...NEVER at sunrise. I had to invest in an alarm clock.

[Revolting cat!]

Mmmmmmm... chicken milk!

[kalee]

No clue who or why. We wondered if it might have been a response to the McCain/Palin signs in our yard.

[potlatch]

Lol, and this is what the 'pulletser prize' looked like;

[andy58-in-nh]

I was down there this past summer and enjoyed seeing not only chickens wandering the streets and alleys, but iguanas as well, which I was told make splendid pets:

[PghBaldy]

That is horrible.

[Cloverfarm]

Our rooster crows in the middle of the night if somethign disturbs it, like fireworks outside, or a varmint inside.

The cackling hens make quite a racket when they are laying. More so than the rooster.

[PowderMonkey]

"I was told make splendid pets.",/i>

And they do taste just like chicken. I used to see them tied up and stacked like cordwood for sale on the streets of Managua, Nicaragua. Hmmm good eatin'.

[XenaLee]

Yeah, but they’re great at fetching the morning paper!

[Op-Head]

Iguanas do make fun pets (if you like reptiles), but one must be aware of those tails. They can be quit an effective defensive weapon!

Iguanas are kind of like the pigeons of the beaches in Costa Rica. Not to intimidated by people and always roaming around for a bit of food from your beach side picnic.

Great pic!

[dalereed]

The article is just disguising the culture of the illegal aliens!

Urban California is turning into a mexican ghetto!

[andy58-in-nh]

The iguanas in Costa Rica were much like the seagulls here in New England: always looking for a handout, only they were a good deal less messy. This guy would have eaten my entire empanada if I'd let him...

[BenLurkin]

While he and and Caroline Kennedy cruise past in armored limousines.

No joke.

[PistolPaknMama]

the chicken's ability to provide eggs, pest control, fertilizer and eventually meat.

We tried this when my kids were about 10-11 years old. The fresh eggs were really nice, but we named all the chickens. When hubby decided it was time to get out of the chicken business he had a plan to chop up about 15 chickens and put them in the freezer. The kids and I were so freaked out that several of our friends got some free chicken meat.

Footnote: If you plan to eat it at some point, don't give it a name! HA! :-)