Seen Any Backyard Chicks in Your Neighborhood?

Not to long ago we blogged about neighbors raising backyard chickens.  Wow, did our e-mail box get jammed.  Seems like a fair number of readers were interested in making this legal as evidenced by the opinion poll that ran at the end of the blog, "The Neighborhood Chicks."

The City of Safety Harbor dealt with this issue at a recent city council meeting and decided to keep this door shut.  Just because an ordinance is on the books doesn't mean everyone complies and there are probably a few of your neighbors raising chickens near you.  The reasons vary from cultural ideology to becoming more self-sufficient to pursuing this as a hobby.

Our podcast team went to visit a backyard chicken farmer to find out more about this.  He does this to get healthier and more organic eggs.  He also uses the chicken droppings as organic compost for his garden.  He uses only a certain variety of hens to keep the noise to a minimum and keeps their wings clipped as a way to keep them from getting away.

You can listen to the podcast here and see the photo album here.

What do you think?  Is this for you and your family?  Should this be allowed in your neighborhood?  Is this just like any other pet bird that is permissible under most ordinances, or this different?

Our blog, "The Neighborhood Chicks," had a bunch of resources for farmers and potential farmers wishing to get more involved in backyard chicken raising.  This link to CraigsList with the search word "chickens" in Pinellas County looks like it's still going strong.  We do not advocate violating ordinances but we do consider options and we pursue legal methods of change.  Is this something that needs to be considered?

Please take some time to complete our survey to let us know what you think.

Link to Survey on Blog

Contact us to find out more about the Clearwater Neighborhoods Coalition.  You can comment about this blog below or you can take this to our forum.

Clearwater Neighborhoods Coalition