Backyard Chickens, good idea or bad idea?

[Cowboy89]

http://www.calgarysun.com/news/colum...52641-sun.html

I can certainly see the benefits of raising chickens for eggs in terms of diet and fresh taste. I can also see how if raised properly chickens can be of little nuisence to neighbors. However, what's regulation and what ends up happening in practice can be two different things. I wouldn't really want to live next to someone who had them. I can only imagine how much money will be needed to hire more by-law officers to inspect chicken coups if the livestock ban gets repealed for chickens.

Seems as though this might not really be that much of a 'debate,' because the gauntlet has been dropped with city council when this has been mentioned as something 'progressive' that other 'progressive' cities do. Alderman like Joe Ceci with no principles other than to come down on the side of being 'progressive,' (Just see the point made that only three years ago he pushed to actually ban livestock from city making it seem as though it was backward) get off on passing these types of initiatives so it would seem likely to pass.

[chid]

do the chickens have large talons?

[jammies]

No, because people in general are morons. For every one person who has a couple quiet chickens that make little noise and smell, there will be five others who will stink up the neighborhood and cause problems.

[mykalberta]

1 dozen eggs are 1.98 at Superstore.

You can buy 1.5L of Simply Egg Whites fron Costco for 5.69

Why would you want to raise chickens. Who are these crazy nutjobs.

Remember, in Canada we have this thing called WINTER. Free range chickens dont work well in the WINTER. I know a producer who burns 2T of coal a day to heat their chicken barn. Wont someone please think of the Environment.

[Boblobla]

I was going to post something about this as well. I have concerns about smell having lived close to a chicken farm while I was growing up. Chicken waste one of the fowlest (heh) smelling things there is.

This should be a poll imo. MODS HOOOOOOOOO

[CaptainCrunch]

Well I guess it could give you some extra revenue by staging fights. And choking chickens can be a fun event that the whole neighbourhood can partake in.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

1 dozen eggs are 1.98 at Superstore.

You can buy 1.5L of Simply Egg Whites fron Costco for 5.89

Why would you want to raise chickens. Who are these crazy nutjobs.

Spoken like someone who hasn't eaten free range chicken eggs.

I buy my eggs from a neighbor of my parents who have free range chickens. I will not eat eggs from the store. The yolks in a store are light yellow and the yolks of a free range chicken are dark orange. The taste is unbelievable better.

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by jammies

No, because people in general are morons. For every one person who has a couple quiet chickens that make little noise and smell, there will be five others who will stink up the neighborhood and cause problems.

At first I thought the idea was crazy. It isn't something I would do myself. But I can't see chickens being any worse than dogs or cats in the neighborhood. Seriously though, I can't understand why anybody would want to do it? Unless they like the idea of farm fresh eggs right on their back door step.

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

I was going to post something about this as well. I have concerns about smell having lived close to a chicken farm while I was growing up. Chicken waste one of the fowlest (heh) smelling things there is.

This should be a poll imo. MODS HOOOOOOOOO

Worse than hogs?

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by jammies

No, because people in general are morons. For every one person who has a couple quiet chickens that make little noise and smell, there will be five others who will stink up the neighborhood and cause problems.

This describes pretty well everything.

Driving.
Any sort of pet.
Eating.
Putting on pants.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by jammies

No, because people in general are morons. For every one person who has a couple quiet chickens that make little noise and smell, there will be five others who will stink up the neighborhood and cause problems.

That's really what I have against this. Of course the next step to combat this would be to hire "Chicken Police." But at that point I think it becomes a huge waste of money and a pain for the city to deal with. But of course, don't let that get in the way of copying Vancouver, Seattle, Victoria, New York, and becoming 'Progressive' as well.

[octothorp]

Great, I'd love to move my ChickieNob operation out of the basement and into the backyard.

[mykalberta]

Taste isnt really the issue. Cost is. Also environment, they will have to use more electricity to heat the "barn" in winter. That just adds more CO2 to our atmosphere. Thanks but no thanks. There are farmers markets where you can buy the eggs if you want orange eggs.

The reason the yolks are yellow has nothing to do with free range. It has to do with once the egg is hatched in a barn its taken away from the hen and heated so that the hen can lay even more eggs. I have had eggs from a chicken barn and they have been orange so I dont think that free range has anyhting to do with the color. The diet and supplements used might have something to do with it.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Spoken like someone who hasn't eaten free range chicken eggs.

I buy my eggs from a neighbor of my parents who have free range chickens. I will not eat eggs from the store. The yolks in a store are light yellow and the yolks of a free range chicken are dark orange. The taste is unbelievable better.

+1,

Also on cost, if you eat eggs everyday I wouldn't imagine it would be all that more expensive.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

Chicken waste one of the fowlest (heh) smelling things there is.

This should be a poll imo. MODS HOOOOOOOOO

You really want this as a poll question?

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by burn_baby_burn

Worse than hogs?

A chicken operation smells worse than an equivalent sized hog operation, but a good operator with 6 chickens probably wouldn't been an issue. A family down the road (in a rural area) from me growing up raised chickens (20 or 30) and if you didn't know they were there you wouldn't have guessed. This was in a building in a 1/2 acre field.

But that is the problem, as has been mentioned I'd bet a solid chunk of people who get chickens won't be good operators.

Pretty soon there will be feral chickens roaming the streets in packs. It will be anarchy!

[jammies]

Originally Posted by burn_baby_burn

But I can't see chickens being any worse than dogs or cats in the neighborhood..

Have you ever been to a chicken farm? Chickens are the stupidest, smelliest birds on the planet. Every time I eat a chicken wing I am doing God's work by eliminating another one of these feathered vermin.

[Russic]

My vote is for no. My cat on the other hand thinks it would be a great idea.

[Burninator]

I've never heard of people doing this inside the city. How many people does this affect? 10? 100? 1000?

[peter12]

Laying hens are nice birds that have no noticable scent. Meat birds on the other hand are vicious, cannibalistic monsters that smell awful.