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Chickens Becoming Urban Pets
myfoxny ^ | LILY FU

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.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: chickens
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To: JoeProBono

21 posted on 06/17/2009 7:21:28 PM PDT by Aglooka (Posting from New Hampshachusetts (Formerly New Hampshire))
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To: Alice in Wonderland

Don’t chickens poop everywhere? It seems like keeping chickens in an urban environment would create a sanitary problem ...


22 posted on 06/17/2009 7:23:20 PM PDT by Ken522
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To: JoeProBono

In San Francisco, it is legal to have a chicken as a SERVICE ANIMAL, and your condition can be bipolar disorder, anxiety, panic attacks, and MANY other things.

They have to permit you into restaurants, busses, BART trains, etc. WITH THE CHICKEN.

They are scared to death to even ASK you ANYTHING about it.

One illegal alien dude walks around with an IGUANA. You think I just made that up, right?

His appartment must be kept at 90 degrees to keep the iguana of the illegal alien happy —I’m serious.


23 posted on 06/17/2009 7:25:28 PM PDT by gaijin
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To: JoeProBono

Raising rabbits are much cheaper, more efficient, and more productive than raising chickens.

1) A doe can produce up to 1000% her body weight in food per year.
2) Rabbits can be raised in confinement, whereas chickens need much more space.
3) Chicken reproduction is “light sensitive”, whereas rabbit reproduction is opportunity sensitive.
4) It is much easier to raise food for rabbits than it is food for chickens.
5) Since rabbits are raised in confinement, it drastically reduces the threat to your herd from predators.
6) You can skin and butcher 5 rabbits to every chicken given the same amount of time.
7) Rabbit fur can be a separate barter item.

http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/lib2/rabbits.htm


24 posted on 06/17/2009 7:28:59 PM PDT by Kirkwood
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To: martin_fierro; Redcitizen; JoeProBono; Slings and Arrows; Tijeras_Slim; aculeus; dighton; ...
martin: When someone travels with one of these in the airplane cabin, I’ll know we’ve officially reached “Third Word” Status.

Redcitizen: Third word? Are the first two words Kentucky Fried? =)

A-well-a don't you know about the bird?
Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word!

25 posted on 06/17/2009 7:30:48 PM PDT by Constitution Day (Now that song is in your head. Good luck getting it out. HA!)
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To: JoeProBono

Well done. Way to go! Keep getting more self-sufficient, and remember to start a hobby at making any sort of useful hardware, furniture, etc. Decreases in tax revenues will follow decreases in purchases. Then we’ll see smaller government, and eventually, better leaders in business (favored constituents) and government.


26 posted on 06/17/2009 7:32:39 PM PDT by familyop (cbt. engr. (cbt), NG, '89-' 96, Duncan Hunter or no-vote)
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Arise chicken. Arise!

27 posted on 06/17/2009 7:37:14 PM PDT by Constitution Day
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To: DejaJude

Grab by head and twirl the body and they are immediately dead. The way you learned was probably because you were too young to do it the right way.


28 posted on 06/17/2009 7:39:15 PM PDT by Kirkwood
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To: Dysart

Wow, and peacocks ARE noisy!


29 posted on 06/17/2009 7:39:20 PM PDT by brytlea (Jesus loves me, this I know.)
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To: gaijin

I think they should require that any service animal be housebroken. That would pretty much leave out chickens.


30 posted on 06/17/2009 7:41:15 PM PDT by brytlea (Jesus loves me, this I know.)
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To: Ken522

Chicken guano can be used as fertilizer, but it needs to “cook” a bit on a separate pile. The fresh stuff can burn your plants.


31 posted on 06/17/2009 7:41:52 PM PDT by Kirkwood
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To: Kirkwood

32 posted on 06/17/2009 7:44:22 PM PDT by JoeProBono (A closed mouth gathers no feet)
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To: JoeProBono

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T_ObCMStU0


33 posted on 06/17/2009 7:45:47 PM PDT by Petronski (In Germany they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist...)
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To: MaxMax; cyborg
I said it's either bees or a Rooster.

Thirty years ago, we called that brinksmanship.

LOL   Well played.

34 posted on 06/17/2009 7:46:42 PM PDT by Petronski (In Germany they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist...)
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To: Kirkwood
Rabbits are easy to raise in hutches. They reproduce fast, are quiet, and taste delicious.

Next on my list.

A buck and two does can provide a fryer a week, and it's delicious in the hands of a knowledgeable cook.

35 posted on 06/17/2009 7:48:44 PM PDT by Petronski (In Germany they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist...)
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To: JoeProBono

mmmm....


36 posted on 06/17/2009 7:53:00 PM PDT by darkangel82 (I don't have a superiority complex, I'm just better than you.)
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To: Petronski

My mother raised rabbits and that helped keep her family fed all through the depression. The same hutches and offspring of the original rabbits were still there when I was a young kid in the 1950s.


37 posted on 06/17/2009 7:57:00 PM PDT by Kirkwood
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To: JoeProBono

LOL! Throw a saddle on it and ride it to town.


38 posted on 06/17/2009 7:58:53 PM PDT by Kirkwood
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To: JoeProBono

That chicken has Charles Manson eyes.


39 posted on 06/17/2009 7:59:07 PM PDT by afnamvet (I see stupid people.)
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To: Kirkwood
Grab by head and twirl the body and they are immediately dead. The way you learned was probably because you were too young to do it the right way.

That could be possible. I only remember that the whole family was involved. Someone had to kill the chicken and someone had to prepare it for cooking. I always took the easy task. It took much longer to pluck that chicken than to kill it.

40 posted on 06/17/2009 7:59:38 PM PDT by DejaJude
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