I was reading a while ago about people who raise backyard chickens in their cities. I thought this was such an awesome idea. It provides eggs, chickens are very quiet when compared to a dog or even a cat in heat (ugh…), they provide nitrogen rich manure which goes great in a compost, the scratch the soil making your grass grow thick if they have enough of it. I’ve heard of people growing food in their greenhouses in the winter using chickens body heat to heat the greenhouse. Lots of benefits.
Then I looked for people who raise chickens in Calgary and found out, Calgary has a bylaw making it illegal to raise chickens in the city. I couldn’t figure out why this was the case. They’re totally safe, they’re penned in, even if they get loose, who cares? It’s a chicken. What’s it going to do?
Here’s a cool site on urban chickens
Anyway, I’ll skip a 10 page rant that I could write about how stupid I think this bylaw is and talk about a super nice dude that’s actually trying to do something about it.
His name is David and he’s the president of “the AREA“. David is working on a pilot project to raise urban chickens the AREA’s yard so that the city can study and monitor any issues that might arise. I read about this about a year ago and just last week, I finally stopped in for a visit.
I don’t know why, but I felt embarrased about how much I knew about the place. After I read about the chicken thing, I also read quite a few more articles about how they put on art shows, concerts, parties, permaculture design courses, etc; so when David showed me around I was reluctant to tell him how much I had read. Seriously though, I don’t know why. He’s a super nice dude and would probably just be flattered.
Anyway, I wanted to give the place a shoutout and hope that tons of people will go there and meet David and his peeps and support the place. Like them on facebook and send them a tweet or an email. They really seem to have good hearts and from what I’ve seen they give back everything they receive.
Thanks for reading
Caleb
For some reason, people are still under the assumption that chickens are dirty, barnyard animals that do nothing but spread disease and stench. With the amount of dog waste that I regularly smell and find. along with the cats you mentioned I find myself at a loss for words when trying to explain to otherwise reasonable people why chickens are really the least of their worries. I hope people will adapt to a more sensible outlook in my lifetime.
I’ve read all sorts of arguments and I can’t think of any that didn’t make me roll my eyes with embarrassment for the people because their comments lack a shred of research to back it up. There is at least one group in Calgary dedicated to fighting backyard chickens. It’s as if they think that everyone in the city is going to have chickens in their yards.
I think it’s more of the slippery-slope argument that goes something like this:
1. We allow chickens in backyards.
2. We will then be obligated to allow goats as well.
3. Small-scale farming will begin taking place regularly within city limits.
4. Apocalypse.
It’s a shame because people used to be familiar with all of these things, but now it’s mysterious, dangerous, and unhealthy again. With all of the bird flu, swine flu, mad cow, and all sorts of other paranoia about, the moment I suggest “chicken”, people envision “pestilence”.
Exactly. In reality, it’s because of industrial farming and ranching that we have the horrible diseases contributed to by massive overpopulation of livestock being fed improper food in wretched “living” conditions etc.
That’s what draws me to permaculture. It’s a solution to the issues rather than a review of them.