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on Urban Chickens
Paul- Thank you for all your efforts! I work with Pistils; keep chickens & Indian Runners myself. Many of us are indebted to you and your colleagues.
posted 2 years, 6 months ago
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on Urban Chickens
While I appreciate your concerns, the compromise of living in a populous city means that often we all have to put up with neighbours and proclivities that we don't enjoy.
Cities often have silent detriments to their inhabitants health in the form of pollution from traffic, chemical emissions, sewage, etc., that I feel are a much greater threat than those of organic origin that humans have lived with for centuries of our development.
The people I know who have relationships with animals that they find meaningful, whether a chicken or a dog are often responsible, caring folks that I would prefer as a neighbour.
I have had to live next door to raging alcoholics, people with domestic violence problems, and one fellow who insisted my dogs never stopped barking on days when they weren't even in my home (and this was a ''high end'' neighbourhood). These folks were definitely a hazard to my health and quality of life, not to mention an annoyance......
posted 2 years, 6 months ago
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on Urban Chickens
I work with a nursery that has sold chicks for seven years in Portland (& raised one hundred chickens of 15 different breeds in Sherwood this past year for fellow backyard enthusiasts). The nursery receives countless visitors who stop in simply to visit the flock we keep or to ogle the chicks. The level of joy the gentle art of chickenkeeping brings to the people is profound. Personally, I hear regularly from my own clients, unsolicited-- on how their birds are doing and how much they love them. Many of the coops I have seen are absolutely palatial!
Poultry keeping adds a dimension to the urban life that is lacking-- a closer connection to nature & the natural food cycle. The people I have encountered offer their birds veterinary care, and are thoughtful about hygiene. Anyone with common sense realizes that animal housing needs to be kept clean and handwashing is a constant practice after engaging with any animal-- even human ones.
Raising roosters is often an unfortunate outcome of chicken raising. I have met folks that ate their boys; rehomed them with farms, etc. Geren's feed store in Boring, Oregon offers a "Critter Corner" for placing roosters. While I am sure there are people who will dump them indiscriminately, there are always irresponsible people who dump dogs & cats (sometimes even children).
It's curious to me that cities discuss noise as a issue when the urban environment is rife with obnoxious sounds-- sirens blaring, traffic, garbage trucks at wee hours, dogs barking, etc. Concerns about smells, etc., in a setting that often has sewage overflows, excessive garbage, and other urban ills is rather comical. I have walked by homes where I can smell the fabric softener wafting out of their laundry rooms; walked by businesses that emit powerful chemical vapours, and find chickens are a pretty insignicant addition to the metropolitan fragrance cloud.
We forget as a culture that it has only been around the last hundred years or so that domestic livestock has been pushed out of the western urban landscape. Whenever I visit other countries that still include these creatures in the environment, it feels much more civilized.
Michelle, Phasian Farms
posted 2 years, 6 months ago
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