Posted on 06/17/2009 6:54:16 PM PDT by JoeProBono
If you hear the sound of clucking next door, you might just be hearing your neighbor's new pet.
Pet chickens are on the rise and they're making their home in city dwellers' backyards. More people are finding it attractive to keep chickens as pets, not only because they're cute, but because people want to produce their own eggs and retain a slice of rural life.
"People are turning to things that remind them of simpler times," Ron Kean, a poultry specialist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, told the Los Angeles Times . "If you're smart, you can save money doing this."
Rose and Harry Koppen of Dubuque County, Iowa, recently bought six adult chickens that produce one to five eggs a day. They told the Chicago Tribune that the eggs taste better and that they use them to make fried egg sandwiches and pastries.
More cities are taking up the issue to decide whether to allow backyard chickens. The Times reports that Traverse City, Mich., and Iowa City, Iowa, are among the cities considering whether to allow people to own poultry. Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago and Baltimore already allow up to four chickens per property.
Hatcheries say they are getting hit with orders around the country. Murray McMurray Hatchery , the world's largest supplier of rare-breed chicks, says there's a six-week backlog on orders for hens by urban dwellers.
"I tell people we're getting out of the country livestock business, and getting into the city backyard pet business," said Bud Wood, president of the Murray McMurray.
Yeah, but my dog will never become dinner.
When someone travels with one of these in the airplane cabin, I’ll know we’ve officially reached “Third Word” Status.
I wonder how many of the urban chicken owners choke their chickens when they want to eat them.
I suppose it would be better than using a knife, or beating the thing to death.
Got 42 of them in my backyard. Of course we do live in the country.
A few blocks away from my old apartment in the town that I live in North Carolina, a bunch of Mexicans were keeping chickens around their property.
Sure his name is Extra Crispy.....And I got some things to go along with him....biscuit...slaw.....MMMMMMMMM Delicious ...Delicious ...Extra Crispy. Matter of fact I think I’ll go pick up some tonight
It's not as if I live in the sticks --I live in the city and there's suddenly a Peacock roaming thru my yard big as you please and acting like he owns the place.
Third word? Are the first two words Kentucky Fried? =)
LOL!
There are a few pet peacocks near where I live.
A few summers ago a male peacock got loose and spent two weeks following a (wild) tom turkey. Eventually the peacock got bored and went home or was eaten by something.
Having cleaned a chicken coop in my time; I will pay the money.
With the increasing number of Coyotes in the urban environment chicken owners will have to be sure that they keep their chickens in the coop, especially at night.
Chickens are popular with La Raza.
Rabbits are easy to raise in hutches. They reproduce fast, are quiet, and taste delicious.
I suppose it would be better than using a knife, or beating the thing to death.
You don't "choke" them to death. You put your foot on their head and twist/jerk to behead them. I've done it before as a child. I've always understood the saying, "a chicken with its head cut off" because I've seen it myself. My grandmother kept chickens for eggs and meat. I preferred the killing to the dunking in boiling water and plucking feathers. That was really smelly and hard work. We all had to do our part for the meal (which was always delicious).
Got 14 in my backyard. Now if I could only keep them there . . . they like to come up on my porch and poop.
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