You may have seen this bit of news from Belgium about a township giving out free chickens to its residents in a bid to reduce household waste:
Belgium Town Residents Offered Chickens
A refreshing change from cities which apparently think chickens (and goats) are the root of all evil.
Do you think anything like this could ever happen in your town?
Would you fall over?
Noooooooo, I don’t think so. Actually there are people here and there who have chickens in their yards and there is no city ordinance against them, unless that has happened since I last lived in town. But watch out for Homeowner’s Associations! Ours has a rule against any livestock and specifies chickens and goats, I think. Still, we don’t even have curbside recycling and I cannot imagine the city offering chickens as a waste reduction measure!
Oh, that last post reminds me why I am continually grateful we live in one of the few neighborhoods WITHOUT a Homeowner’s Association. LOL I think this would be awesome! I’d love to have chickens… not sure our property is big enough enough though. Oh, well. It will NEVER happen in our town. We’re in a silent competition with our neighboring “rich” city, and I don’t think chickens would help our cause.
It wouldn’t happen in my hometown (farm animals are against city laws–I looked), but I could definitely see it happening this one county half an hour from my college. The people there are very, VERY against city ordinances and freedom-limiting laws. Any time the county tries to impose some sort of zoning law, the people protest in the streets, yelling about communism and socialism and other freedom-imposing-isms. Thus, they have few to no zoning laws, so you can see a $200,000+ house next to a trailor next to a shack next to a business next to a farm. It’s pretty great.
I would. I would fall right over. There is just no way – but it would be wonderful!
My neighbor across the street has a few. I’m thinking of getting some. I’m the “weirdo” on the street {lol} so I don’t think it would surprise anyone.
I am currently in the city limits of a wide spot in the road town. I have chickens and goats and numerous people in town have chickens and other farm animals. However, the “city” really doesn’t care for it and the council has tried to get the farm critters out of town. They did pass an ordinance that there can only be five chickens per household and all kinds of other blah,blah,blah. Most everyone in town (me included) has ignored them and their silly ordinances. One day though, they are going to enforce those critters laws. Thankfully we will be moving out into the country soon.
I wish we could have chickens, apparently our small town of 1,500 people isn’t “country enough”. I think I’d have to get one just to see my neighbor’s reaction, concidering how much they hate my clothes line they’d just love a chicken coop!
How does having a chicken reduce household waste??
I believe that several generations back, our grandpa’s and grandma’s thought that getting rid of the chickens and goats meant moving up in the world, and so a stigma (poor, uneducated, etc.) was promoted in association with them. It will take a lot of education before we get back to a different perspective in the US. I’m encouraged by the local foods movement, and thankfully, our city doesn’t restrict chickens! But I don’t look for them to hand any out soon.
For Jaime, chickens reduce household waste by eating your table scraps, and turning it into great stuff for the compost bin and garden.
Naaaaaah. Too much common sense involved. Never catch on here.
LOVE IT!!! And yes I would fall right over. However, paying as you throw away would cause so much trouble.
Nope. We’ve got anti-critter laws on the books. No rabbits, no chickens, and I’m sure that there are to be none of the larger critters like goats. Funny, the state mandates recycling, but the city won’t let you keep a chicken or two to eat up your scrap and provide nice, organic compost. Silly people.
That is a smart thing to do. Too smart for many cities here on the left coast. Glad we moved out of town. I had chickens in town. Only hens and 8 at the most. Chicken consume kitchen scraps, eat up bugs, and give yummy eggs!
Would I fall over? Absolutely! I’d so love it! Would our town permit it? Now that I’m not sure of….in my part of the universe, folk are REAL conservative and a bit resistant to any change, even a universally beneficial change. But I love the idea…..might have to track down the town mayor and run it by him/her….HMMMMM….:).
Oh I wish…it would be so nice if councils realised that livestock would could down on household waste and landfill etc. I think my council would be too worried it would be like giving money to it’s residents!!!
I do declare that I would fall right over and faint if the city did that here, and I live in a modestly rural city of 11,000. They passed an ordinance last summer limiting us to 6 chickens in the city limits and no other farm animals. There went my hopes for two small nigerian dwarf dairy goats. Drats. I may buck the system though and order some meat chickens to raise ! I’d get them little chickens fattened up and probably IN my freezer before any one noticed. LOL I love how my chickens eat my scraps, and give me eggs, and provide for wonderful entertainment when you sit and watch them. Very theraputic, peaceful, and calming to watch them poking around the yard. The chicken coop litter ( pine shreds and poop) make perfect additions to my compost pile and will make this next year of gardening spectacular. My 5 chickens are NOT overwhellming to keep up with or to maintain as some might think. I fill the feeder and waterer once per week. I clean the coop out about once every other month but I do add a fresh layer of pine shred every two weeks. I check for eggs almost every day, if my kids don’t beat me to that fun chore !! LOL I get a thrill out of seeing what color egg I might get that day — a green one, or a white one, or some brown ones. They don’t all lay on the same rate so collection varies. Just don’t feed your chickens onions, potatoes, or tomatoes– so say the chicken raising books — because they don’t digest those well.
I find it hard to believe they’d ever do this in any major city in the states. I’d be all for it, but several potiticians right now are still trying to pass that silly cow and hog gas law where they charge you for the gas each animal passes. Now if they could find a way to tax you for the free chickens… that they would do in a second, lol. Perhaps though with more and more Americans getting back into a more simple and natural life style, things like backyard chickens will catch on and our lawmakers will at least be forced into allowing chickens in more places.
It wouldn’t happen in the USA in this day and age, I don’t imagine. But who knows, in the future, maybe? 😀
I think it is super cool! I am totally adding it to my facebook! HA! THX!
Not in my town, but I would love it!! (Me, I vote for ducks. Why is everyone anti-duck? Come on, they are cute, they lay eggs, they don’t scratch up the ground…) The chicks are out at the feed store. It was SO HARD to pass them by and not pick up a few this year. *sigh*
This could definitely happen in my town- everyone here is very like-minded and completely willing to get involved in sustainability as well as helping the community! Seattle is a great place to live 🙂