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NYers Keep Loving Their Chickens
By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 19, 2010
Modified Apr 19, 2010
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Apr 19, 2010
Modified Apr 19, 2010
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NYC is quietly succumbing to a terminal case of chicken scratch fever: we ride the subway with our chickens, we have runaway chickens, our liquor stores hold them hostage, some dude in the Bronx was giving away 75 of them, and it's part of our favorite catchphrase. If you participate in any of these chicken-related activities, then you're likely part of (or should be part of) the City Chicken Meetup NYC group, which the News profiles today.
According to Edible Brooklyn, "hens (but not roosters, their noise-polluting, sometimes belligerent menfolk) are considered pets under New York City law, and are therefore legal in any number, so long as they don't cause 'nuisance conditions.'" The group, which has over 280 members currently, helps new owners figure out urban coup design, provides workshops on hen-raising and offers bike tours of chicken hotspots like the South Bronx. It's the kind of website you can adopt Black Sex Link hens (who have been "spoiled rotten") from.
"It's almost like talking about your kids," one chicken enthusiast, Debbie Anderson, told the News. Others point to advantages over other pets, including fresh eggs every morning: "We always wanted to have a pet, and a dog was never an option. Our life is so totally stressful and demanding, and our days off are a continuation of that," Sharon Pachter, chef/co-owner of the Grocery, told Edible Brooklyn. They also point out the positive environmental impact of chicken-rearing: "If just 10 percent of the 930,000 New Yorkers with access to backyards kept three chickens (the minimum suggested flock size) for a year, that works out to almost 12 tons of organic waste that went from landfill to lunch, with the capacity to save the city over $11 million." And for the other 90 percent, there's KFC.
Tagged
brooklyn
chickens
pets
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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