Poll
Question:
Would you be okay with your neighbour having backyard chickens?
Option 1: Yes
Option 2: No
Many Canadian cities are playing around with allowing backyard chickens in suburban and related zones.
For those living in suburban type lots - are you good with backyard chickens (hens, no roosters), would you be okay if your neighbours had them?
Pros & cons:
-Eggs.
-Probably going to be able to make some soup at some point.
-Chickens are savages when it comes to pests, bugs, mice, etc.
-Wildlife attractant - they do draw coyotes, bobcats, owls, crows & magpies, etc.
-Novelty factor. This will raise your profile in the neighbourhood.
-Chicken shit is high in nitrogen and good for gardens and composting.
-Need a coop, heated in Winter.
-Need secure fencing & gate.
-Lot's of cleanup.
-They can be noisy.
-Lot's of monitoring required - can't go away on a three week vacation without having someone capable deal with them.
-Bird flu, you could start the next pandemic.
I voted yes. Roosters obviously no. As a tip for those so inclined, but zoned out. People get around it by raising quail. All the pluses of chickens, plus easier to raise for meat.
Quote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:15:41 PMYou can get eggs without roosters. Just no chicks.
No shit. Did not know.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on March 15, 2024, 06:17:30 PMQuote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:15:41 PMYou can get eggs without roosters. Just no chicks.
No shit. Did not know.
Basically chicken menstrual cycle. . Egg pops out, but (on average) once a day. Think of that next time you eat an omelet :D
Not a fan of neighborhood chickens. They had them in my ex's family's neighborhood and those damn chickens were everywhere. Chickens can fly and they would be sitting in all the trees in the neighborhood. Keep your chickens in your yards people.
Quote from: Admiral Yi on March 15, 2024, 06:17:30 PMQuote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:15:41 PMYou can get eggs without roosters. Just no chicks.
No shit. Did not know.
Yeah the rooster goes up to the eggs and fertilizes them. It always made me wonder if bird porn would just be looking at eggs.
Yeah, clipping or cooping should be mandatory.
As an aside, chicken are evil and will kill the weak.
Quote from: Valmy on March 15, 2024, 06:22:28 PMQuote from: Admiral Yi on March 15, 2024, 06:17:30 PMQuote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:15:41 PMYou can get eggs without roosters. Just no chicks.
No shit. Did not know.
Yeah the rooster goes up to the eggs and fertilizes them. It always made me wonder if bird porn would just be looking at eggs.
:unsure:
Quote from: Admiral Yi on March 15, 2024, 06:17:30 PMQuote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:15:41 PMYou can get eggs without roosters. Just no chicks.
No shit. Did not know.
I knew that for many weeks now. :smarty:
Yeah I'd be okay with it. Some folks a few blocks over had chickens. Seemed okay.
We have plenty of coyotes and crows anyhow, so no real concern there.
Quote from: Valmy on March 15, 2024, 06:22:28 PMQuote from: Admiral Yi on March 15, 2024, 06:17:30 PMQuote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:15:41 PMYou can get eggs without roosters. Just no chicks.
No shit. Did not know.
Yeah the rooster goes up to the eggs and fertilizes them. It always made me wonder if bird porn would just be looking at eggs.
:lol: Stop messing with his over-urbanised head.
... but yeah, my yes was based on the chickens being kept in an enclosure in the yard, not roaming the neighbourhood. I think free roaming chickens would have a high mortality rate between cars and coyotes.
Quote from: Tamas on March 15, 2024, 06:29:23 PMQuote from: Valmy on March 15, 2024, 06:22:28 PMQuote from: Admiral Yi on March 15, 2024, 06:17:30 PMQuote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:15:41 PMYou can get eggs without roosters. Just no chicks.
No shit. Did not know.
Yeah the rooster goes up to the eggs and fertilizes them. It always made me wonder if bird porn would just be looking at eggs.
:lol: Stop messing with his over-urbanised head.
Those are the brown eggs in the grocery store.
Yes.
When it comes to municipal elections, I am a single issue voter; wether they are pro allow backyard chickens.
Quote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:23:08 PMQuote from: Valmy on March 15, 2024, 06:22:28 PMQuote from: Admiral Yi on March 15, 2024, 06:17:30 PMQuote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:15:41 PMYou can get eggs without roosters. Just no chicks.
No shit. Did not know.
Yeah the rooster goes up to the eggs and fertilizes them. It always made me wonder if bird porn would just be looking at eggs.
:unsure:
Hush! That is totally how it works :P
Quote from: PRC on March 15, 2024, 06:47:53 PMThose are the brown eggs in the grocery store.
Facts!
Quote from: Valmy on March 15, 2024, 07:09:24 PMQuote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:23:08 PMQuote from: Valmy on March 15, 2024, 06:22:28 PMQuote from: Admiral Yi on March 15, 2024, 06:17:30 PMQuote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:15:41 PMYou can get eggs without roosters. Just no chicks.
No shit. Did not know.
Yeah the rooster goes up to the eggs and fertilizes them. It always made me wonder if bird porn would just be looking at eggs.
:unsure:
Hush! That is totally how it works :P
Don't forget they need to swim up a stream too!
Quote from: Grey Fox on March 15, 2024, 06:48:39 PMYes.
When it comes to municipal elections, I am a single issue voter; wether they are pro allow backyard chickens.
Seriously quail. Plus they're delicious.
Around here, you can rent chickens for the summer and fall. It's not that expensive.
Quote from: Tamas on March 15, 2024, 06:29:23 PMQuote from: Valmy on March 15, 2024, 06:22:28 PMQuote from: Admiral Yi on March 15, 2024, 06:17:30 PMQuote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:15:41 PMYou can get eggs without roosters. Just no chicks.
No shit. Did not know.
Yeah the rooster goes up to the eggs and fertilizes them. It always made me wonder if bird porn would just be looking at eggs.
:lol: Stop messing with his over-urbanised head.
:lol:
Quote from: Grey Fox on March 15, 2024, 06:48:39 PMYes.
When it comes to municipal elections, I am a single issue voter; wether they are pro allow backyard chickens.
Until they wake you up at 4:30 every summer days :sleep:
I don't have a backyard.
We have some around here, clipped. They are free-range (cooping them seems cruel) and people have roosters to protect their chickens. They'll generally stop anything smaller than a coyote, except weasels, from what I am told.
Quote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:23:08 PMQuote from: Valmy on March 15, 2024, 06:22:28 PMQuote from: Admiral Yi on March 15, 2024, 06:17:30 PMQuote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:15:41 PMYou can get eggs without roosters. Just no chicks.
No shit. Did not know.
Yeah the rooster goes up to the eggs and fertilizes them. It always made me wonder if bird porn would just be looking at eggs.
:unsure:
(https://i.ibb.co/ts9VymW/Far-Side-Cartoons.jpg)
Absolutely yes. I'd pay to have such a neighbour. Beats the plastic loving trash I have now.
My grandmother used to keep chickens in her backyard (and she lived downtown) still can remember one of the roosters hurting me on the hand when I was little, the fucker.
She stopped doing it because she was growing too old to care after them, and supermarket poultry/eggs ultimately became so cheap.
I would like to get one for our back yard. But two things need to happen first. Our dog goes to doggie heaven and we don't take anymore lengthy trips.
So years away, and by that time I will have found another excuse not to do it.
Quote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:19:38 PMQuote from: Admiral Yi on March 15, 2024, 06:17:30 PMQuote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:15:41 PMYou can get eggs without roosters. Just no chicks.
No shit. Did not know.
Basically chicken menstrual cycle. . Egg pops out, but (on average) once a day. Think of that next time you eat an omelet :D
You know what I think about? How many chickens we slaughter a day. I thought about this once at a resort in Cuba. At lunch time they were roasting about 12 chickens on a spit. I figured they were doing this on all the resorts along the beach. One beach. Imagine all the beaches on all the resorts of the world. Then imagine all the restaurants and homes. Then think about how we also eat their means of reproduction. It's amazing we havent' driven them to extinction.
(note this is not a tree-hugging lefty post. I love meat. Just pointing out).
It's a relatively recent thing. Breeds like the Cornish Cross were developed in the late 50s. Still around now, but bigger. Genetic freaks with huge breasts (:perv: ) the reach slaughter age at 5 to 7 weeks old. Aren't meant to survive to full maturity, their hearts and legs can't take it. They don't breed true, so aren't a technical breed I guess. Ugly half naked things. Tasty though.
*edit* being raised on western chickens I don't like the less modified breeds. I had chicken in Vietnam. Small and tough. Apparently that's the popular tasty out there.
Quote from: HVC on March 16, 2024, 07:48:03 AM.
*edit* being raised on western chickens I don't like the less modified breeds. I had chicken in Vietnam. Small and tough. Apparently that's the popular tasty out there.
Yeah, that's a weird little east/west difference.
Go to a supermarket in Asia and chicken leg is the expensive one with breast seen as less desirable and cheaper.
Quote from: grumbler on March 15, 2024, 11:21:37 PMThey'll generally stop anything smaller than a coyote, except weasels, from what I am told.
I'm not certain they can stop foxes.
Usually, a farmer would have had a dog and the rooster would have alerted the dog who would have chased the fox.
Quote from: HVC on March 16, 2024, 07:48:03 AMIt's a relatively recent thing. Breeds like the Cornish Cross were developed in the late 50s. Still around now, but bigger. Genetic freaks with huge breasts (:perv: ) the reach slaughter age at 5 to 7 weeks old. Aren't meant to survive to full maturity, their hearts and legs can't take it. They don't breed true, so aren't a technical breed I guess. Ugly half naked things. Tasty though.
I remember seeing this supposed documentary on Super Channel about how they raised chickens for Kentucky Fried Chicken, where they feed them their excrements because most of the nutritious values in their food aren't digested.
Dad didn't want to eat anymore of that stuff afterward. Mom said she was certain Dixie Lee wasn't the same so she'd be safe. I wasn't impressed by any of this and refused to believe it could be all true. :ph34r:
Not sure about the excrement thing, I mean they're dumb but most animals won't eat their own shit (other animals shit is fine for some reason :D ) Everything is soy fed now anyway. If you can get chicken not raised on soy, even the genetic freak birds, they taste much better.
As for roosters, a spurred rooster is a dangerous thing. Foxes are rather timid, so it's possible. Plus they're crepuscular so the chickens are awake, weasels are weaselly and hunt mostly at night.plus they're small and can get into coops. A sleeping rooster isn't helpful. Most of what a rooster does though is warn the chickens to hide, so good against birds of prey.
Thankfully, there is a producer nearby, who raises chickens the old-fashioned way. Well almost old-fashioned. The area he has his farm has a lot of eagles so he needs to have a moveable chicken coop which he moves across a field every so often. The chickens eat insects in the section that he puts them in, leave their they're droppings for maneuver which helps the grass grow. Then he brings in the cows to eat the grass to leave the Dung which creates more bugs for the chickens with chickens come back.
The meat is a lot more dense than the factory farm chickens. I think it's also more tasty, but others disagree.
The chickens my grandparents used to raise definitely tasted better than the supermarket kind.
Quote from: HVC on March 17, 2024, 01:12:20 PMNot sure about the excrement thing, I mean they're dumb but most animals won't eat their own shit (other animals shit is fine for some reason :D )
Well, they will in the "wild", I mean, outside of industrial roosters. They shit everywhere, you throw grain and they eat the grain and everything around. They even eat on a pile of manure.
But that they will, in a controlled environment, be fed their own excrement, I wasn't and still ain't sure. But it's the US, everything is possible. :yuk:
Quote from: Tamas on March 17, 2024, 07:15:08 PMThe chickens my grandparents used to raise definitely tasted better than the supermarket kind.
Eating meat like that, without any standards or quality control? :yuk:
:lol: :P
Quote from: Josephus on March 16, 2024, 05:40:11 AMQuote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:19:38 PMQuote from: Admiral Yi on March 15, 2024, 06:17:30 PMQuote from: HVC on March 15, 2024, 06:15:41 PMYou can get eggs without roosters. Just no chicks.
No shit. Did not know.
Basically chicken menstrual cycle. . Egg pops out, but (on average) once a day. Think of that next time you eat an omelet :D
You know what I think about? How many chickens we slaughter a day. I thought about this once at a resort in Cuba. At lunch time they were roasting about 12 chickens on a spit. I figured they were doing this on all the resorts along the beach. One beach. Imagine all the beaches on all the resorts of the world. Then imagine all the restaurants and homes. Then think about how we also eat their means of reproduction. It's amazing we havent' driven them to extinction.
(note this is not a tree-hugging lefty post. I love meat. Just pointing out).
There are over 2 billion chickens in the US alone (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/07/llama-emu-ostrich-herds-down/, a little ways down). Worldwide, I'm sure they outnumber humans.
So really, we gotta eat them before they rise up and eat us.