Urban Chickens
09/04/12 04:05
I think that the debate may have simmered down for a while. At least we haven’t seen another proposed ordinance brought before the city council. Last year, proposed ordinance 5714 failed to garner enough votes to pass. So, for now, chickens are banned from most backyards in the city. It isn’t that we don’t allow any livestock. Like most cities, dogs and cats are OK, an occasional rabbit or snake is found along with gerbils, hamsters and a variety of pet mice and rats. And you can raise chickens in our town, providing that you have at least 3 acres of land and that you keep your chickens at least 150 feet way from any buildings occupied by humans. That’s about half a block. Most homes in Rapid City don’t have enough space to legally raise chickens.
Of course there are still a few cows in town. The city grew up around a few existing ranches and their critters are “grandfathered” into the ordinances.
But chickens apparently pose some kind of threat to neighborliness and therefore are, for now, banned from Rapid City. I’m not sure if it was the fear of roosters or the fear of the smell of chicken coops that prompted the opposition. The proposed ordinance that did not pass put rather strict rules on those items, banning roosters and requiring the daily removal of droppings into a fireproof container.
I guess they hadn’t seen the fancy chicken coops that they have for sale at the new Runnings store. I was worried, recently, when the feed store that is closest to our home decided that they needed a bigger building. My first away from home job was sweeping the feed warehouse. I like shopping in a store that smells like a feed warehouse. I was afraid that the new bigger, bolder, better store would be too big to smell like a feed warehouse. It really is. They have more clothes than you can shake a stick at. And they’ve got a tool section that rivals the hardware store. And the sports and camping equipment makes you think you’re in a different store. But back in the corner they’ve still got feed. And it smells like feed. And they’ve got the chickens. So all is well.
Urban chickens are quite the rage in a lot of cities. Sioux Falls, the largest city in South Dakota allows them. They haven’t had any problems. You can raise chickens in your back yard in Fort Collins, CO; Laramie, WY; and Missoula, MT; but not in Rapid City.
Let’s be straight about one thing. I don’t want to raise chickens. Been there – done that. My dad was a kind of frustrated farm kid. He never earned his living from farming, but he had grown up on a farm and he had a soft spot in his heart for critters. So we had donkeys and we raised chickens in the summer. We didn’t go in for the eggs – though anybody who has ever eaten a fresh egg knows that they are far preferable to anything that you can get at the grocery store. We raised fryers. Which meant that in the fall they had to be butchered and have the feathers removed. I don’t need to go into details here, but it involves a smell that you never forget and, after you have butchered enough chickens, you lose your desire to be a chicken farmer.
We didn’t have a fancy chicken coop. We had an old shed, about 10 feet by 10 feet, with a leaky roof. We hauled in some straw and fixed up a few places for the chickens. Feeding chickens is easy. You just throw the feed on the ground and let them pick it up. Water is really important, especially for young chickens. They aren’t the best housekeepers; so keeping the water clean requires frequent changing. And little chicks are prone to all sorts of diseases, so clean water is a must. Cleaning the coop involves using a fork to remove the straw and putting down fresh straw. In the fall, you clean out what is left and allow the remains to dry over the winter before using a shovel to make the final cleaning. There is a little aroma, but nothing compared to the odor of removing feathers.
Still, I have no desire to raise chickens.
I am amazed at the fancy chicken coops that they sell at the store, however. And I do like this time of the year when the feed store is filled with chicks. And I am impressed with those fancy chicken coops they are selling at the store.
More importantly, I really don’t care if my neighbors want to raise chickens. I think having a neighbor with about six hens would be perfect. They would fall in love with their hens and pamper them and buy good feed for them and they would find that six eggs a day is more than they could eat. Being next door, I would graciously offer to buy the extra eggs and we would all be happy. Actually, I don’t care if they got a rooster. I’m an early morning person anyway and if the rooster got too annoying, I could always close the window. Our neighbors aren’t all that close anyway.
But you can’t raise chickens in town.
Actually, that’s not what has gotten me worried. What I’ve been wondering about is if they make the logical extension from chickens to other fowl. What if in addition to not allowing chickens the city council puts a ban on pigeons or turkeys? We seem to have an abundance of both kinds of birds hanging out at the church. They sometimes sleep on the roof and they love the crab apples in the fall. They make a daily run though the place and the back yard is a great space for the Toms to strut their stuff – they are really full of themselves this time of year.
We’d really be in trouble if the City Council banned turkeys. On the other hand, I’m not sure I want to make them legal, either. Imagine if I had to clean up after those turkeys every day. I might get to the point where I didn’t want to raise them either.
Of course there are still a few cows in town. The city grew up around a few existing ranches and their critters are “grandfathered” into the ordinances.
But chickens apparently pose some kind of threat to neighborliness and therefore are, for now, banned from Rapid City. I’m not sure if it was the fear of roosters or the fear of the smell of chicken coops that prompted the opposition. The proposed ordinance that did not pass put rather strict rules on those items, banning roosters and requiring the daily removal of droppings into a fireproof container.
Urban chickens are quite the rage in a lot of cities. Sioux Falls, the largest city in South Dakota allows them. They haven’t had any problems. You can raise chickens in your back yard in Fort Collins, CO; Laramie, WY; and Missoula, MT; but not in Rapid City.
We didn’t have a fancy chicken coop. We had an old shed, about 10 feet by 10 feet, with a leaky roof. We hauled in some straw and fixed up a few places for the chickens. Feeding chickens is easy. You just throw the feed on the ground and let them pick it up. Water is really important, especially for young chickens. They aren’t the best housekeepers; so keeping the water clean requires frequent changing. And little chicks are prone to all sorts of diseases, so clean water is a must. Cleaning the coop involves using a fork to remove the straw and putting down fresh straw. In the fall, you clean out what is left and allow the remains to dry over the winter before using a shovel to make the final cleaning. There is a little aroma, but nothing compared to the odor of removing feathers.
Still, I have no desire to raise chickens.
I am amazed at the fancy chicken coops that they sell at the store, however. And I do like this time of the year when the feed store is filled with chicks. And I am impressed with those fancy chicken coops they are selling at the store.
More importantly, I really don’t care if my neighbors want to raise chickens. I think having a neighbor with about six hens would be perfect. They would fall in love with their hens and pamper them and buy good feed for them and they would find that six eggs a day is more than they could eat. Being next door, I would graciously offer to buy the extra eggs and we would all be happy. Actually, I don’t care if they got a rooster. I’m an early morning person anyway and if the rooster got too annoying, I could always close the window. Our neighbors aren’t all that close anyway.
But you can’t raise chickens in town.
Actually, that’s not what has gotten me worried. What I’ve been wondering about is if they make the logical extension from chickens to other fowl. What if in addition to not allowing chickens the city council puts a ban on pigeons or turkeys? We seem to have an abundance of both kinds of birds hanging out at the church. They sometimes sleep on the roof and they love the crab apples in the fall. They make a daily run though the place and the back yard is a great space for the Toms to strut their stuff – they are really full of themselves this time of year.
We’d really be in trouble if the City Council banned turkeys. On the other hand, I’m not sure I want to make them legal, either. Imagine if I had to clean up after those turkeys every day. I might get to the point where I didn’t want to raise them either.