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.
ACK
(blaming keybroad)
< |:)~
My wife decided to get chickens so I built a coop (heated and insulated) so they would be more comfortable in the cold winters here. They will NEVER end up on the dinner table, they are pets.
The best way is to scald the chicken before plucking, but you don’t have to do that. It just makes it easier to get off all the pin feathers. I grew up with all kinds of farm animals including many hundreds of chickens and some ducks and geese. I probably picked thousands of eggs. We had automatic pluckers (LOL) to make the job go fast and whenever the chickens were past their laying days, they got turned into fryers or roasters.
Rabbit vs chicken ping!
A giant step BACKWARDS!
It seems that I’m always ahead of a trend, although I would not qualify as urban. Chickens are fun to watch and earn their keep well.
yea! They lay eggs you can EAT! Who knew?!
They make great property guards I hear. they alert to everything.
LMAO I have to steal that with out credit LOL
I get between 4 and 9 eggs a day from my little ladies.
Life is good.
Soon to become survival rations.
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