On Thursday, Ellen Anthony collected the eggs laid by six of her hens.
Anthony has kept hens - there are now 14 in all and no roosters - in her backyard in a 20-by-20-foot enclosure that includes a small wooden coop for the past 18 years. She's never had a complaint from a neighbor or the city. In fact, a neighbor two doors down keeps chickens as well.
But according to City Planner Harry Smith, keeping chickens is prohibited in New London.
"If it's not expressly provided for in the regulations, then it is prohibited," Smith said Thursday. "It's not provided for in the regulations."
On Thursday night, the Planning and Zoning Commission discussed a letter from Chelsea Ketner of Riverview Avenue, who expressed interest in keeping poultry but wants city approval before going forward.
She's not the only one. Christopher Droesch sent an email Tuesday to The Day to say he had begun collecting materials to keep chickens in the backyard of his New London home only to be rebuffed by someone in the city's Planning, Zoning and Wetlands Department. He attended Thursday's meeting.
Ketner did not attend the meeting, but commission Chairman Mark Christensen addressed her letter, which expressed confusion about the regulations and asked for a "definitive answer."
Christensen said the regulations prohibit the keeping of chickens in New London.
"If an individual is interested, they can apply for a regulation amendment and they can show why (the amendment) is consistent with other communities," he said. "We'll always look at an application and we have a right to say whether it meets the criteria."
Droesch said he had relied on section 4-3 of the city ordinance that states no person may keep chickens "in a manner to be injurious to health, create a menace, or offensive to the public."
When he went to get permits to build a coop, a zoning official directed him to section 410.4, subsection 6, of the zoning regulations: "Keeping of not more than three household pets over six months old; the commercial breeding or boarding of pets is prohibited."
Smith said at the meeting that "the commission determined previously that a chicken is not a household pet and therefore they are prohibited."
That's news to Anthony, who also cited the city's ordinance as her legal right to keep poultry.
On Thursday, Anthony's feathered friends didn't create a menace or appear to be offensive to the public. Quite the opposite: they clucked quietly as she approached. A neighbor, outside for some air, waved when she saw Anthony heading for the coop.
The chickens get a little skittish when Anthony enters the enclosure, but they lay white, brown and even green eggs - enough to provide for Anthony's family and some neighbors and friends.
"When it gets the right level of darkness, they put themselves to sleep," she said. "They don't need a heater in the winter; they just snuggle up close. The real hard part is getting a good house for them."
Her coop is rudimentary but includes laying boxes and rows of wooden dowels over 5-gallon plastic buckets. The chickens sit on the dowels at night and defecate into the buckets, she said, making cleaning easy.
Outside the coop, but within the fence, the ground is bare, picked over by the chickens. But Anthony stirs up the soil so the birds can eat worms and insects in addition to the 50 pounds of feed they eat every three weeks. She changes the water daily and comes out in the morning and at night to check on them, clean up and collect eggs.
Anthony tells of other neighbors who have brought scraps and created a "feeding frenzy" for the birds.
The chickens do have predators, she said, mostly raccoons, which she tries to keep out with the fenced-in enclosure that has a roof. Two or three years ago, she said, a raccoon got into the coop and "massacred" the chickens. One got away and ran into a neighbor's yard, where a Rottweiler roamed. Bird and 100-pound dog sized each other up, Anthony said, before they became friends of sorts. They kept watch of each other in the yard for about six months, she said, until one fateful day when the Rottweiler turned his back and a raccoon killed the chicken.
But the deaths haven't deterred Anthony, who said she's kept chickens for about 22 years. It's an easy way to have good, fresh food in a sustainable manner, she said.
"I like having homegrown eggs, and it makes me go outdoors every day," Anthony said. "I know the weather, the phase of the moon, and I have to take care of the chickens."
2012年2月19日星期日
2012年1月29日星期日
Fresh eggs and a view
Many would love to wake up each morning to the view outside Steve Dix and Marnie Vail's guest house.
And don't forget the sound of the chickens.
The small, one-bedroom guest house is just a few hundred yards from the walking trails at the foot of Mount Elden, and the dense thicket of trees backing up to their property regularly provides glimpses of deer, elk, foxes, raccoons and other wildlife.
Coupled with Vail's massive inventory of healthy, home-cooked meals sourced from their backyard garden and chicken coop, it is a ready-made vacation.
The retired pilot and doctor are both betting that ecotourists will be willing to spend a little more to stay in their new bed and breakfast after a long day of hiking and biking rather than a hotel.
The couple have spent several months and roughly $2,000 converting the former den in Elden Trails Bed and Breakfast.
The decision to turn their home into A bed and breakfast was in part a financial decision, Dix said.
"When you are over 60, there are not an abundance of jobs out there in the job market," Dix said. "So if you decide you want some income, well then you need to create a job."
Not that either are new to the industry.
"We lived in Vermont for three years and we have good friends there that had a B & B and we started taking overflow from their B & B," Vail said.
Still there were challenges to opening the business.
A massive 11-foot climbing wall behind the main house had to be torn down, primarily out of liability concerns. Vail had a hard time seeing it go.
"I loved the climbing wall. It was one of the perks of buying this place," Vail said.
Despite having the chickens as well as two dogs and a cat, the B&B allows their guests to bring their dogs. Dix said it just made good business sense.
"It is best to be pet-friendly rather than turning business away," Dix said.
In their backyard is a greenhouse and chicken coop where roughly a dozen chickens provide fresh eggs, along with a small outdoor garden.
"It doesn't look like much now, but this summer we'll have a ton of things growing here," Dix said.
A partial list includes: Carrots, kale, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, squash, zucchini, peas, green beans and some types of herbs.
Using foods from their "mountain micro-farm" is important to Vail.
"One of my big issues is food. What people are eating is not really helping them these days," the retired physician says. "What they sell in the grocery stores isn't very healthy."
She picks a piece of home-baked dessert bread on the kitchen table. The soft bread is coated in powdered sugar, but Vail has baked the bread from scratch, using locally sourced ingredients whenever possible.
"This might not be very healthy, but it won't hurt you," she adds.
Vail is still looking for local food growers in order to cut back even further on trips to the grocery store.
She concedes she has had trouble finding local sources of organic cow milk, pork and handmade soaps.
And don't forget the sound of the chickens.
The small, one-bedroom guest house is just a few hundred yards from the walking trails at the foot of Mount Elden, and the dense thicket of trees backing up to their property regularly provides glimpses of deer, elk, foxes, raccoons and other wildlife.
Coupled with Vail's massive inventory of healthy, home-cooked meals sourced from their backyard garden and chicken coop, it is a ready-made vacation.
The retired pilot and doctor are both betting that ecotourists will be willing to spend a little more to stay in their new bed and breakfast after a long day of hiking and biking rather than a hotel.
The couple have spent several months and roughly $2,000 converting the former den in Elden Trails Bed and Breakfast.
The decision to turn their home into A bed and breakfast was in part a financial decision, Dix said.
"When you are over 60, there are not an abundance of jobs out there in the job market," Dix said. "So if you decide you want some income, well then you need to create a job."
Not that either are new to the industry.
"We lived in Vermont for three years and we have good friends there that had a B & B and we started taking overflow from their B & B," Vail said.
Still there were challenges to opening the business.
A massive 11-foot climbing wall behind the main house had to be torn down, primarily out of liability concerns. Vail had a hard time seeing it go.
"I loved the climbing wall. It was one of the perks of buying this place," Vail said.
Despite having the chickens as well as two dogs and a cat, the B&B allows their guests to bring their dogs. Dix said it just made good business sense.
"It is best to be pet-friendly rather than turning business away," Dix said.
In their backyard is a greenhouse and chicken coop where roughly a dozen chickens provide fresh eggs, along with a small outdoor garden.
"It doesn't look like much now, but this summer we'll have a ton of things growing here," Dix said.
A partial list includes: Carrots, kale, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, squash, zucchini, peas, green beans and some types of herbs.
Using foods from their "mountain micro-farm" is important to Vail.
"One of my big issues is food. What people are eating is not really helping them these days," the retired physician says. "What they sell in the grocery stores isn't very healthy."
She picks a piece of home-baked dessert bread on the kitchen table. The soft bread is coated in powdered sugar, but Vail has baked the bread from scratch, using locally sourced ingredients whenever possible.
"This might not be very healthy, but it won't hurt you," she adds.
Vail is still looking for local food growers in order to cut back even further on trips to the grocery store.
She concedes she has had trouble finding local sources of organic cow milk, pork and handmade soaps.
2011年12月5日星期一
Chickens May Roost in Coronado
The days of clandestine chicken coops in Coronado may soon be over.
At 3 p.m. Tuesday the City Council will reconsider its ban on backyard chickens. If it elects to lift the ban, Rachel Hurst, the city's community development director, has recommended guidelines.
Because “Coronado is essentially an urban community with small lots, and little space between houses,” Hurst suggested that the city allow no more than three chickens per household and that coops are kept in backyards, well away from neighboring properties.
She noted that some cities restrict chickens to coops, but proposed “setbacks and quantity restrictions made this unnecessary.”
Chicken coops would not be allowed in commercial zones or in multi-family residential zones, such as the Coronado Shores.
Keeping hens has become more popular in recent years. Some credit the farm-to-table movement, while other point to the risk of salmonella from commercially produced eggs.
The ban has not stopped residents from keeping chickens. In September, one of them, Leslie Crawford, asked the council to lift the restriction. She is pleased with Hurst’s recommendations.
“They sound fair and reasonable to me,” she said. “All I ever wanted was for chickens to be treated the same way we treat other animals that live in our community.”
At 3 p.m. Tuesday the City Council will reconsider its ban on backyard chickens. If it elects to lift the ban, Rachel Hurst, the city's community development director, has recommended guidelines.
Because “Coronado is essentially an urban community with small lots, and little space between houses,” Hurst suggested that the city allow no more than three chickens per household and that coops are kept in backyards, well away from neighboring properties.
She noted that some cities restrict chickens to coops, but proposed “setbacks and quantity restrictions made this unnecessary.”
Chicken coops would not be allowed in commercial zones or in multi-family residential zones, such as the Coronado Shores.
Keeping hens has become more popular in recent years. Some credit the farm-to-table movement, while other point to the risk of salmonella from commercially produced eggs.
The ban has not stopped residents from keeping chickens. In September, one of them, Leslie Crawford, asked the council to lift the restriction. She is pleased with Hurst’s recommendations.
“They sound fair and reasonable to me,” she said. “All I ever wanted was for chickens to be treated the same way we treat other animals that live in our community.”
2011年10月10日星期一
Chooks poached from St James Primary School
BRAZEN thieves targeted a Ballarat school, hair salon, trout farm, bakery and a garden store at the weekend, in five separate incidents that cost business owners thousands of dollars in lost goods and equipment.
Six chickens were taken from St James’ Parish Primary School in Sebastopol on Saturday, upsetting pupils on their first day back after the holidays.
Deputy principal Peter Fahey said it was the second time thieves had targeted the school in the past 12 months.
Late last year six other chickens were taken from the school and never recovered.
After that incident, pupils installed a lock, sensor lights and heavy wire on the chicken coop, in an effort to deter thieves.
Grade five pupil Ella Kendall said her classmates were finding it hard to deal with losing the chickens for a second time.
“It’s pretty upsetting because we’ve taken all of these precautions and the chickens were almost ready to lay eggs,” she said.
Ballarat Garden Supplies owner Brendan Lovell said thieves made off with more than $5000 in tools and equipment from his business.
He said they also “went through” two offices at the Mount Clear site.
“It’s pretty hard to recover from something like this – it is a massive set-back,” he said.
Staff arrived at the Alfredton Bakery yesterday to find the building ransacked.
Thieves broke through two locked doors to steal a set of knives, an audio system and to ransack the building, casing a major headache for the owners.
A Mount Clear hairdressing salon was also hit, with thieves breaking in about 3.30am yesterday.
Upper Cutz Hair Studio owner Emily Tripp said the back door was forced open before thieves helped themselves to more than $1000 in cash and equipment.
“They’re pigdogs – I’d like to get my hands on them,” she said.
Ballarat Trout Hatchery president Dennis Ventley said his organisation’s Lake Wendouree office was trashed during the weekend break-in.
“Any break-in is always a set-back,” he said.
“We’ve been rolled quite a number of times actually – at least they didn’t take too much this time. We’re a volunteer organisation, all run by volunteers so something like this really hurts,” he said.
Ballarat Police Sergeant Jo Graham said police did not have reason to believe the thefts were linked.
Six chickens were taken from St James’ Parish Primary School in Sebastopol on Saturday, upsetting pupils on their first day back after the holidays.
Deputy principal Peter Fahey said it was the second time thieves had targeted the school in the past 12 months.
Late last year six other chickens were taken from the school and never recovered.
After that incident, pupils installed a lock, sensor lights and heavy wire on the chicken coop, in an effort to deter thieves.
Grade five pupil Ella Kendall said her classmates were finding it hard to deal with losing the chickens for a second time.
“It’s pretty upsetting because we’ve taken all of these precautions and the chickens were almost ready to lay eggs,” she said.
Ballarat Garden Supplies owner Brendan Lovell said thieves made off with more than $5000 in tools and equipment from his business.
He said they also “went through” two offices at the Mount Clear site.
“It’s pretty hard to recover from something like this – it is a massive set-back,” he said.
Staff arrived at the Alfredton Bakery yesterday to find the building ransacked.
Thieves broke through two locked doors to steal a set of knives, an audio system and to ransack the building, casing a major headache for the owners.
A Mount Clear hairdressing salon was also hit, with thieves breaking in about 3.30am yesterday.
Upper Cutz Hair Studio owner Emily Tripp said the back door was forced open before thieves helped themselves to more than $1000 in cash and equipment.
“They’re pigdogs – I’d like to get my hands on them,” she said.
Ballarat Trout Hatchery president Dennis Ventley said his organisation’s Lake Wendouree office was trashed during the weekend break-in.
“Any break-in is always a set-back,” he said.
“We’ve been rolled quite a number of times actually – at least they didn’t take too much this time. We’re a volunteer organisation, all run by volunteers so something like this really hurts,” he said.
Ballarat Police Sergeant Jo Graham said police did not have reason to believe the thefts were linked.
2011年10月9日星期日
Backyard coops produce great pets
Neal Brown has a chicken farm so tiny, the North Carolina Poultry Federation doesn’t even know it exists. The City of Greenville does, however, and that’s why Farmer Brown is not looking to expand.
Brown and his wife, Paula, have joined a growing number of urban dwellers cooping laying hens behind their homes. Raleigh has so many city chickens, coop owners organized the annual Tour d’Coop, which sells tickets for a first-hand look at keeping chickens in an urban environment.
Proceeds from the Tour d’Coop benefit a local food bank.
Greenville allows up to four hens per dwelling, but no roosters, for obvious reasons.
While the urban-coop movement is largely egged on by animal or environmental activism, that is not what inspired the Browns to raise chickens at their home in Westhaven subdivision.
“Our granddaughters said they wanted either a pony or chickens,” Brown said. “We went with chickens.”
The retired railroad conductor went to work last fall on building a playhouse for granddaughters Sarah Ruth, 3, and Caroline, 5. The structure’s bottom half became an indoor/outdoor chicken coop this spring.
Playing off the unique building’s dual purpose, an attached sign reads, “Chicks Over Chicks.”
Brown had never raised chickens, so he relied on the Internet for guidance.
“I went on Craigslist and found a guy in Hookerton with about 10 varieties of chicks,” he said. “I asked if he could determine their sex, and he said no.”
From an initial batch of 10 chicks, Brown ended up with four birds he could keep. He gave the roosters away.
Now, the hens have the run of the Browns’ backyard and allow the girls to pick them up and carry them. Holding a big brown hen, Caroline recited their names: “Holly, Heather, Calico and Crooked Neck.”
Crooked Neck was injured as a chick and cannot hold its head up straight.
“I found out that when that happens to them, they’re not supposed to survive,” Brown said. “They’ll either starve to death or the other chickens will kill them. Does that chicken look like it’s starving?”
Crooked Neck manages to strut around the yard and find plenty of chicken feed despite the condition. Besides feed, the birds will eat most any flowering plant. For meticulous landscapers such as the Browns, that can be a problem.
“They’ll eat everything but the weeds,” Brown said. “They love my hostas and every blooming plant I’ve got, but they won’t eat my weeds.”
Brown has had to wrap some of his more delicate plants in chicken wire. To reward him for his troubles, the chickens produce daily eggs.
“We started keeping egg cartons this summer,” Paula said, displaying a carton filled with brown eggs, “because we knew we were going to start getting eggs.”
“I love breakfast,” Neal Brown said. “It’s my favorite meal of the day.”
Brown and his wife, Paula, have joined a growing number of urban dwellers cooping laying hens behind their homes. Raleigh has so many city chickens, coop owners organized the annual Tour d’Coop, which sells tickets for a first-hand look at keeping chickens in an urban environment.
Proceeds from the Tour d’Coop benefit a local food bank.
Greenville allows up to four hens per dwelling, but no roosters, for obvious reasons.
While the urban-coop movement is largely egged on by animal or environmental activism, that is not what inspired the Browns to raise chickens at their home in Westhaven subdivision.
“Our granddaughters said they wanted either a pony or chickens,” Brown said. “We went with chickens.”
The retired railroad conductor went to work last fall on building a playhouse for granddaughters Sarah Ruth, 3, and Caroline, 5. The structure’s bottom half became an indoor/outdoor chicken coop this spring.
Playing off the unique building’s dual purpose, an attached sign reads, “Chicks Over Chicks.”
Brown had never raised chickens, so he relied on the Internet for guidance.
“I went on Craigslist and found a guy in Hookerton with about 10 varieties of chicks,” he said. “I asked if he could determine their sex, and he said no.”
From an initial batch of 10 chicks, Brown ended up with four birds he could keep. He gave the roosters away.
Now, the hens have the run of the Browns’ backyard and allow the girls to pick them up and carry them. Holding a big brown hen, Caroline recited their names: “Holly, Heather, Calico and Crooked Neck.”
Crooked Neck was injured as a chick and cannot hold its head up straight.
“I found out that when that happens to them, they’re not supposed to survive,” Brown said. “They’ll either starve to death or the other chickens will kill them. Does that chicken look like it’s starving?”
Crooked Neck manages to strut around the yard and find plenty of chicken feed despite the condition. Besides feed, the birds will eat most any flowering plant. For meticulous landscapers such as the Browns, that can be a problem.
“They’ll eat everything but the weeds,” Brown said. “They love my hostas and every blooming plant I’ve got, but they won’t eat my weeds.”
Brown has had to wrap some of his more delicate plants in chicken wire. To reward him for his troubles, the chickens produce daily eggs.
“We started keeping egg cartons this summer,” Paula said, displaying a carton filled with brown eggs, “because we knew we were going to start getting eggs.”
“I love breakfast,” Neal Brown said. “It’s my favorite meal of the day.”
2011年5月29日星期日
Coops du Jour
A dozen local chicken coop owners are hosting the second annual COOPS DU JOUR, the Southern Illinois Chicken Coop Tour on Sunday, June 5, 2011 from 1 to 5 p.m.
During this time coop "tourists" can look at different types of chicken coops and chicken breeds in Jackson, Union and Williamson counties. This free, self-guided tour will showcase funky, interesting and workable backyard coop models. Whether you're a chicken enthusiast, a chicken-owner-wannabe or a chicken and egg eater, this free tour is for you, said a spokesman.
The tour will kick off rain or shine, with event registration starting at 12:30 p.m. at Mulberry Hill Farm located at 5370 Springer Ridge Road, Carbondale. There will be an information table, a silent auction, event T-shirts and other on farm activities. The coop tour will conclude with a picnic social at Mulberry Hill Farm at 6 p.m., so coop "tourists" are invited to pack a meal for the evening and meet back up at the farm after the tour concludes.
Given the number of coops on the tour, it is unlikely coop tourists will be able to visit all the stops. They should plan their stops according to their needs and interests.
This year's tour is sponsored by MFA Feeds, Thomas Publishing, Leady's Feed Store and Mulberry Hill Farm.
During this time coop "tourists" can look at different types of chicken coops and chicken breeds in Jackson, Union and Williamson counties. This free, self-guided tour will showcase funky, interesting and workable backyard coop models. Whether you're a chicken enthusiast, a chicken-owner-wannabe or a chicken and egg eater, this free tour is for you, said a spokesman.
The tour will kick off rain or shine, with event registration starting at 12:30 p.m. at Mulberry Hill Farm located at 5370 Springer Ridge Road, Carbondale. There will be an information table, a silent auction, event T-shirts and other on farm activities. The coop tour will conclude with a picnic social at Mulberry Hill Farm at 6 p.m., so coop "tourists" are invited to pack a meal for the evening and meet back up at the farm after the tour concludes.
Given the number of coops on the tour, it is unlikely coop tourists will be able to visit all the stops. They should plan their stops according to their needs and interests.
This year's tour is sponsored by MFA Feeds, Thomas Publishing, Leady's Feed Store and Mulberry Hill Farm.
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