Ultimate Way To Say, "I Love My Chickens"

It's very LA to show your love and devotion to your chickens by getting an incredible tattoo.  Artist, Mike DeVries, is in Northridge and has created this remarkable image.  Almost seems like he's going to peck you if you look at him the wrong way.

Children's Chicken Art

I was delighted to see some of the thank-you pictures that Erik and Kelly got after a school class visited their urban homestead.  Here's a sample of what the created after watching their chicken frolic in their coop and dust bathe.

Sprouting, Fermenting, Fodder and Kombucha Fun

Featured Chicken Enthusiasts:  Marcella, Dave, and Amanda

Last weekend Marcella hosted our meetup for Sprouting, Fermenting, Fodder and Kombucha.  She had a great set-up with an area to project our screen for a little Chicken Enthusiast Blog and seed/sprouting 101 science.  Dave discussed how to sprout the easy low tech way with upcycled nut containers.  What was even more creative was adding a step for inoculating the sprouts with a lactobacillus mixture to further boost the nutritional and health value of the sprouts.  Still writing will finish this up later today. Stay tuned, just need to run a chicken errand.

Chicken of the Day: Peanut

Featured Chicken Enthusiast:  Roberta, Long Beach

I'm a fun loving chicken  who just wants to run free to check out the yard.  I love to scratch in the moist soil and find insects to eat.  I ignore the dogs and they ignore me.  I was named because I turned out to be a girl after being a packing peanut for some of my sisters.  I my mommy's favorite. I'm 8 months old and am a Rhode Island Red.  I'm the first out of the coop every time.

Peanut

Chicken of the Day, Nugget

Featured Chicken Enthusiast:  Amanda, Brentwood

Hi, I'm Nugget.  My mommy gives me fermented food everyday because she loves me.  Mommy tells everyone I'm so sweet!  I'm a dainty eater but a fierce protector of my turf....  when you least expect it.

Nugget is 18 months old and is a black bantam cochin.

Nugget Just coming out of a molt so still looking a little ragged. Feathered Feet... 

We Love Our Granny Chickens

Featured Chicken Enthusiast:  Laura, Los Angeles and Andie, Los Angeles

Many of us consider our chickens as pets and not "live stock" or "farm animals", they are really family members.  And just like all of us, grow older and eventually retire and don't lay eggs as often or completely stop.  It's natural.  Their cute behavior and willingness to be hugged is all we ask for, oh and their poop for the garden.  Well I asked about Grannies on our message board, 3 of which I adopted from someone.  They hadn't laid at all since i got them and I was keeping them separated from the rest of the flock because I didn't want to bother them with the annoying antics of the younger ones.  Laura had a great response about her older hens.  This is what she posted.

My older birds, who are only about a year older than the younger ones, sometimes seem to be muttering under their breathes "Kids these days with their roller skates and their hula hoops...it wasn't like this when I was that age! We had respect, goldurnit!" and then they aim a vicious peck at the younger hens. 

And then Andie related her hen's story which was also great!

We just got a golden egg! One of our old ladies, Quark (4 yr old Golden Laced Wyandotte), just laid her third egg after a year and a half of nothing! My husband and I keep laughing because her comb has gotten so pink and plump that it's a miracle she can see out from underneath it! Her wattles are so bright red they glow from a distance. Our grannies range in age from 4 - 6 and they haven't pushed an egg out in ages. We assumed they were all in "hen-o-pause" but I can't tell you how amazing it was to taste one of their spectacular eggs again instead of store-bought. The girls are in for the shock of their lives, since we just ordered 6 babies for a June arrival! The thought of going through integration again is very stressful so wish us luck!

Quark, exhausted but self-satisfied after delivering an egg...relaxing on the lounge chair underneath the weight of her immense and glowing comb (and wattles)! 

Improving the City Codes for Backyard Hens

During out last legalization meeting we discussed contacting our council members to tell them that we support backyard hens.  Many times council members are unfamiliar with the benefits of backyard flocks and they want to be educated.  The recent paper by Jaime Bouvier is a well written and thorough review of the issue.  Neither pro nor con and is available on the web.  I suggest that everyone read it and email or print this information for their council members, friends and neighbors if there are concerns or they just want to become more educated on the top.

Illegal Fowl: A Survey of Municipal Laws Relating to Backyard Poultry and a Model Ordinance for Regulating City Chickens

September 2012

Citation: 42 ELR 10888

Issue: 9

Author: Jaime Bouvier

As the movement toward keeping backyard chickens continues to grow, many cities are facing the decision of whether to allow residents to keep chickens and, if so, how to effectively regulate the practice. A survey of municipal ordinances in the top 100 most populous cities in the United States that concern keeping and raising chickens offers lessons that may be applied to designing a model ordinance. This survey reveals that chickens are, perhaps surprisingly, legal in the vast majority of large cities. The survey also identifies regulatory norms and some effective and less effective ways to regulate the keeping of chickens. A proposed model ordinance, based on the background information and survey results, could be adopted by a city or easily modified to fit a city’s unique needs.

Jaime Bouvier is Visiting Legal Writing Professor, Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

The Contents include:

I. The Benefits of Backyard Chickens

II. Cities’ Concerns With Backyard Hens

III. Some Necessary Background on Hens for Developing Urban Hen-Keeping Ordinances

IV. The Current State of Municipal Ordinances Governing Backyard Chickens

V. Model Ordinance

We had a good legalization meeting which was well attended and at the same time we aren't speaking about hundreds of people wanting chickens, this is really about 10-20 people interested in any particular city who can't keep chickens based on current codes.