Friday, July 09, 2010

Vicarious Chicken.


I can has chicken?

No, I cannot has chicken. But I had the best time meeting some friends' chickens tonight. They moved to my neighborhood, they got a bit of land & joined the growing urban chicken movement. I said I'd be happy to be on their caretaker list - I love animals, in my adult life I've never been in a situation where I felt like I could have a pet, but I've always been happy to take care of other people's animals. Chickens are a totally new one for me, but I went over to meet the birds tonight, they are really, really sweet, & plus I can't wait for breakfast. All the sudden the urban chicken movement makes total & complete sense!!

10 comments:

Baydog said...

Joining in on the "show your face" movement? Bonnie, as far as I know, you're not a vegetarian. You can love farm animals and still appreciate their contribution to the feeding of humans, right? Hopefully. Because eggs and Spam is still one of the great pleasures in life. Cute little chicken......BTW, you remind me of my sister. And I love my sister.

Baydog said...

I also love fried chicken.

bonnie said...

Oh, good heavens, I am definitely NOT a vegetarian! If this chicken knew what my usual relationship with chicken was (i.e., diner/dinner), she wouldn't be anywhere near as complacent about being held. Fortunately domestic animals aren't bred to think that way.

These guys really won the big lottery of chicken life.

moonstruck said...

Urban chicken movement??? Wow, I must be out of touch!! My son in law is building a coop, but they have 2 acres of land and back up to apilachian trail federal land. Chickens make a lot of "dirt" And where there are chickens, there will be rats.

Dennis G

bonnie said...

Oh, yeah, it's sort of the latest addition to people's increasing interest in reconnecting with where their food comes from, living sustainable lifestyles, all that! WNYC actually JUST did a piece on this -

http://www.wnyc.org/news/articles/156915

One could say that Brooklyn has become a hotbed of chickenery.

Most individuals & families do like my friends are doing & keep very small flocks - three or four. That keeps the cleanup that you DO have to do manageable.

Another thing that helps is that there are some really nice, compact, easy to clean coop designs now available to the urban chicken keeper. I had no idea chicken housing could be so spiffy.

I would bet that most people who own chickens in urban areas are also people who do urban gardening & urban composting, too - that's true of my friends, the manure goes straight into the compost bin. So it all sort of works together.



Breakfast was fabulous this morning! Helps that one of Carol Anne's relatives (brother? brother in law?) did a post a while back on how to make the perfect over-easy egg. I read that, got encouraged & started practicing!

bonnie said...

Link to WNYC article.

Carol Anne said...

Ah, so now you got the really perfect over-easy eggs!

And, yes, it's my brother who does the perfect over-easy eggs.

bonnie said...

Thanks, Carol Ann, I'd tried to find that but I couldn't track it down!

Pat said...

Roasted -- healthier than fried.

Now, since there's such a thing as the barkless dog (basinje), is their such a thing as a reduced-cock-a-doodle-do rooster?

Would the same municipalities that require low-flow toilets also mandate a low-crow rooster?

my2fish said...

baydog, I think you meant "spam, spam, spam and eggs".

I grew up raising chickens - but we lived out in the country. IMHO, chickens are boring and stink... but they do produce a LOT of eggs. every few years, though, we'd getting something new to keep in with the chickens - one year it was a pig. now that was fun! I remember being 10 years old or so, jumping off the chicken coop roof with my brothers, trying to land on the pigs back and see who could ride it around the chicken pen like we were cowboys on a horse! my folks now have 2 geese - they freely roam the 3 or 4 acre yard - and eat ALL of the dandelions! a nice little side benefit.

cheers, my2fish