Last week, the News Journal had an article on a small New Castle County issue – raising chickens on “residential” property (The original article can be found here). Republican Councilman, Bill Tansey, has introduced an ordinance to allow chickens for egg-laying. Some members of council expressed concern. To quote from Democrat and ethics-embattled Paul Clark, who serves as New Castle County President, “We can take that logic of the whole food-healthy and what’s to say the next person won’t want, say, fresh milk.”
I think that it is fair to say that the honorable Mr. Clark is worried about cows or, more importantly, what comes out of the back-end of cows. Perhaps Mr. Clark just doesn’t want competition, because most of the cow-excrement that I have seen in Delaware has occurred within legislative and executive branch offices, and New Castle County is a leader in its production.
Anyway, Mr. Clark and the other “concerned” members of council must have missed the article in Time magazine from three weeks ago regarding the new interest in “Urban Animal Husbandry” (The original article can be found here).
Nigerian dwarf goats grow to only 21 in. tall, about equal to a medium-size dog. “But they have giant udders,” says Novella Carpenter. She should know: she has six goats that together provide a quart of milk a day, which she drinks and uses to make cheese and butter. And when the bleating beauties are not grazing in her 1,000-sq.-ft. yard, they’re hanging out on the porch of her second-floor apartment in the middle of Oakland, Calif.
So, Mr. Clark, there you have it — Milk, in an apartment in Oakland California without cattle. From an environmental perspective, there are no chemicals, no fossil fuels used. From an economic perspective and over 8% unemployment (in Wilmington unemployment is almost 13%), people without a job can raise their own food and perhaps start a business providing fresh foods to others, locally.
I understand that there would need to be regulations around this (and the continued banning of animals of certain size and odor), but as we continue to restrict private property rights, we continue to take away people’s ability to take care of themselves, and force government to take care of them – something that we and they can ill-afford to do.
Great post, Charlie. Also completely stupid was a claim that this ordinance would cause entire neighborhoods to be created around half-acre lots for the sole purpose of urban farming.
The bad, bad representatives we have on council is actively creating changes in land use code to promote urban high density-sprawl for the remainder of the county’s open lands.
Nothing they say can be taken seriously.
a word of advice for you city slickers,
Chicken [manure] stinks
Rooster are loud and do not limit their crowing to dawn.
Heavy metal is more consistently loud and played at poor hours of the day, too. Loud motorcycle engines, low flying aircraft. As to smells, mushroom farms have a certain redolence.
There are always good reasons to take away someone else’s freedom.
My cow is grazing as we speak on my neighbor’s back yard.
Laying chickens ARE NOT ROOSTERS and do not crow. Wall Street may be doin’ ok now that the US cash is flowing to ’em but the Main Streets and Side Streets are going to be hurting for some time to come.
In a jobless recovery we are talking some serious hurt.
If people want to have free eggs so they can afford some protein in their diet along with their noodle, then who is the county to say no?
We aren’t talking a meat processing plant here. How much could a few chickens smell? Any way, people can CLEAN the coop!!
“How much could a few chickens smell? ”
thanks for confirming the need for my first statement.
without a rooster around, layers stop laying.
as for the “subsistance in hard times” argument…
eggs cost less than $2 a dozen.
you will be lucky to break even.
ps, nancy, if you buy the chickens, buy the chicken feed, buy a chicken coop… then the eggs are not “free”
You must know! I say if the county feels free to place a huge animal habitat on the public lands in Glasgow and didn’t give a thought to the smells and sounds at the regional park then they should lighten up on whether people can have a few chickens for fresh eggs.
My nephew just finished making a home (in his backyard in SC)for some chickens over labor day. He calls it hobby farming.
Great post, Clark’s got it all wrong. Urban farming is a great supplement for sustainable agriculture. As for the cost, don’t forget that you save on gas, too – and the freshness of the produce can’t be beat.
My only concern? Avian flu – but I imagine this is far more dangerous in large factory farms than among backyard chickens.
How about the neighbors? My house is about five feet from the property line of my neighbor. He has a small yard and at least a dozen chickens. They stink and they make lots of noise. What about my rights?
I have had chickens in the past and I am planing on getting some for our house in Bear. Some breeds of laying chickens do not require a rooster and only a few chickens do not produce enough poop to smell that much. Also even if you do need a rooster you get used to the sound, just like if you live near railroad tracks you don’t notice the train. I would also love to get a goat. Living in Bear we are at least 5-10 miles away from the nearest grocery store and with a large lot the goat could really cut down on how much mowing we need to do.
Can you have Mini/micro pigs pygmy goats or fainting goats
Stop baning animals some people cant have cays or dogs so they go to a snake instead ball pythons are harmless or goats pigs rodents ect
chickens dont stink if you clean tgere koop and take care of them
Horses and cows shouldn’t be in your back yard unless you have enough acress
Wolf dogs are just like huskies but they require a more experienced dog handler in my opinion (depends on the wolf dogs line of breeding high content to low content)they make great pets loyal and protective but do have a high pray drive
Savannah cats and other wild cat hybrids are tge best cats in the world there more active and kind of like dogs
Ban people from getting pets unless they done there reserch and in order to know if there willing to take care of it no matter haw big it gets
The only snakes that should be band are venomous and retics burmese and anacondas and yes peopls do buy then
I know this post is old but I have been researching keeping backyard chickens now for over two years. A great source of info is a blogger that goes by the Chicken Chick. I am not surprised by Paul Clark’s response. You can tell that he did not even research the issue. You can tell that some people who responded previously to this post are uneducated on the topics of chickens. There are many cities (Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle, Pittsburgh) throughout this country that allow backyard chickens with limitations. These are cities with much larger populations as well as neighbors living in closer proximity. That makes sense of placing limitations. The county also lost an opportunity of applying a fee just like getting a dog license. Chickens, especially hens, are far quieter than dogs barking at 4 am or even normal hours. Chickens produce far less waste than dogs do in a yard. Chickens waste can also be used for fertilizer. Dog waste cannot be used as fertilizer. Also, chickens meaning hens do not need a rooster to produce eggs. Hens are born with a certain amount of eggs in which these eggs develop into the egg that some of us humans eat. I would like to keep a small group of chickens (4) which I would enjoy eating their eggs and also using their droppings as supplementing my compost to enrich my garden soil. I like the thought of knowing how my food is taken care of and that it would be safe to eat. I have been gardening for over 40 years and know that chickens (hens) would be a great addition to my garden. They are enjoyable to watch as well. If I have to live in a neighborhood that has to accept barking dogs during all hours of the day, or hip hop music playing at 1 am, or motorcycles racing around until 4 am; then I think I have the right to have 4 hens in my backyard that are quietly asleep in their coop as soon as the sun goes down. Hens don’t crow and are very quiet. A study on hens found that when they do lay an egg they will cackle for a few seconds but is the noise is less than 50 decibels. Think about a noisy dishwasher which can be 55 decibels. Let me know if you neighbor calls to complain about your dishwasher running during the day. People really need to educate themselves.
I meant to also mention that chickens do not smell. It is their housing than can smell if it is not properly cleaned. Using sand and floor bedding and a product that I believed is called PDV that is used in horse stalls helps keep odor to a minimum. Researching proper raising of chickens, being a responsible person will help eliminate the vast majority of concerns of having chickens in the backyard. Also the individual that stated that their neighbor has chickens which smell; did you ever have a civil conversation with that neighbor? An open non confrontational dialogue usually get things mutually resolved.