Yuppie Chickens Invade Brooklyn
Over on the Brownstoner forum, one anonymous Clinton Hill resident is considering getting some chickens to keep in their backyard. And they’re not joking: “Fresh eggs are amazing, chickens are easy, and — as long as they’re female — not loud or problemtic. Also, it’s legal. Are we crazy?” Well, that’s up for grabs… others…
Over on the Brownstoner forum, one anonymous Clinton Hill resident is considering getting some chickens to keep in their backyard. And they’re not joking: “Fresh eggs are amazing, chickens are easy, and — as long as they’re female — not loud or problemtic. Also, it’s legal. Are we crazy?” Well, that’s up for grabs… others commented that they’ve seen backyard chickens in Sunset Park and South Slope, and mentioned that LeNell, the liquor store proprietor in Red Hook, has got a few of her own. One Carroll Gardens resident is thinking about getting a coop, too. But not everybody thinks these barnyard pets are a good idea…
Another anonymous commentor said:
“I grew up on a ranch, and I think this is the grossest thing I have ever heard of. I hate to pun about such a serious issue, but chickens are FOUL, FOUL creatures. They smell really bad. Oh, and straight chicken poo in your garden will burn your roots. It is quite acidic. GO TO THE COUNTRY!!!”
The original poster was unfazed: “I’m talking fancy chickens,” they write. “Those Aurancana jobs like Martha has, with the pretty blue eggs.” (We’re not sure if they’re joking, but those naturally blue Araucana eggs pictured above sure are pretty!) Any other urban chicken owners out there? Are the fresh eggs worth the work of cleaning poop out of the coop?
Keeping chickens in Clinton Hill [Brownstoner Forum]
Playing Chicken in Red Hook [Brooklyn Record]
Photo by In Praise of Sardines
here’s my personal pet peeve about new york city 2007:
too many people here don’t want to have to give up anything for their personal whim and desires. So what if a backyard isn’t really hospitable to chickens? I want a chicken and I’m going to have a chicken!
chickens are meant to be free to roam in wide open spaces.
Not in a tight cramped backyard.
Chicken Lover, save your money, move to the country and buy all the chickens you want.
In the meantime, accept that you live in an shared urban environment and deal.
Just last summer (seriously, 2006), I was apartment hunting in Ft. Greene… doing a tour of a garden apartment. When I walked outside to check out the garden I walked out the back door, and as I was surveying the grounds I glanced over at a neighbors yard…and I sware it took me a solid 15 seconds of staring at them before my brain registered that they were live chickens. The brownstone was gorgeous and all of the other surroundings seemed relatively normal – aside from that. I turned to the owner and said, “am I loosing my mind, or are those chickens over there”? I was stupidfied and repulsed, and did not take the apartment. I have nothing against chickens, or any other farm animal. They just have no business in close proximity of where I choose to call home (Ft. Greene’s resident piggy, excluded, of course).
When you keep a dozen or so chickens it is incredibly dirty. Their poop turns to “concrete” if not removed within a few days – you need to chip it off anything it is on.
But, on the other hand, I have kept several “decorative” chickens in Sunset Park and used newspapers for the bottom of the cage & in their perches and their was almost no odor (my dog’s gas is worse). But I didn’t use them for eggs. Be for warned the Jumbo eggs that we are accustomed to you will NOT see. You will get itty bitty tiny eggs.
My birds were great and I really enjoyed them, so if you do it, do it for a pet not for eggs
There’s a building in bushwick called The Chicken Coop. It belongs to a bicycle gang Black Label. They have chickens on their roof. Not gross, just work.
The NY Times had an article about people doing this.
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0D15FC3C540C728CDDA90994DE404482
I did not believe that it was legal to keep chickens, but Section 161.19(a) of the Health Code states, “No person shall keep a live rooster, duck, goose or turkey in a built-up portion of the City.” Since it explicitly says “rooster,” perhaps it is. But I grew up in the country and couldn’t agree more with the anonymous commentor above.
A few years ago when I lived on Ave C, there was a guy who lived in a little hut on the corner of something like 7th & C and had chickens. It was surreal.
As far as I can tell your entire enterprise is little more than a solitary man with a messy apartment which may or may not contain a chicken.
I knew a couple artists who kept a chicken in their Manhattan apartment. Ya it was funny but I don’t think the irony was worth all the bird crap.