2012-12-04 P & Z Handouts - Laserfiche WebLink

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• does most commercial fertilizer come from? Think oil. Can chickens' services and products help us decrease our dependence on oil? Yes, in many ways and on many levels. Myth 4. Chickens Attract Predators, Pests & Rodents. Fact: Predators and rodents are already living in urban areas. Wild bird feeders, pet food, gardens, fish ponds, bird baths, trash waiting to be collected all attract raccoons, foxes, rodents and flies. Modern micro -flock coops, such as chicken tractors arks, and other pens are ways of keeping, and managing, family flocks that eliminate concerns about predators, rodents and other pests. Indeed, chickens are part of the solution to pesky problems. Chickens are voracious carnivores and will seek and eat just about anything that moves including ticks (think Lymes disease), fleas, mosquitoes, grasshoppers, stink bugs, slugs, and even mice, baby rats and small snakes. Myth 5. Property Values Will Decrease. Fact: there is not one single documented case that we know of about a next door family flock that has decreased the value of real estate. On the contrary, local foods and living green is so fashionable, that some Realtors and home sellers are offering a free chicken coop with every sale. An example of this at www.GreenWayNews.com. Myth 6. Coops are Ugly. Fact: micro -flock coop designs can be totally charming, upscale and even whimsical. Some of them are architect designed and cost thousands of dollars. Common design features include blending in with the local architectural style, matching the slope of the roof and complementing color schemes. For examples go to www.MyPetChicken.com. Myth 7. What Will Neighbors Think? Fact: you can't control what anyone thinks, much less your neighbor. Once folks gain more experience with the advantages and charms of chickens, most prejudice and fear evaporates; especially when you share some of those fresh, heart - healthy, good- for -you eggs from your family flock. There is one huge advantage to family flocks that is often overlooked during chicken debates. That is their role and value in solid waste management systems. Chickens, as clucking civic workers, are biomass recyclers and can divert tons of organic matter from the trash collection and landfills. Chickens will eat just about all kitchen "waste ". They love people food, even those "gone -by" leftovers that have seasoned in the refrigerator. Combine their manure with grass clippings, fallen leaves and garden waste, and you create compost. Composting with chicken helpers keeps tons of biomass out of municipal trash collection systems. All this can save BIG TIME taxpayer dollars, which is especially valuable in these times of stressed municipal budgets. There is precedence for employing family flocks as part of trash management. It is being done very successfully in some European towns. One example is the town of Deist in Flanders, Belgian. The city buys laying hens to give to residents who want them. The chickens' job is to divert food waste from the trash stream and not having to be pickup by workers, transported, and then disposed. The savings are significant. You can learn more about employing family flocks as both civic and garden workers in City Chicks: Keeping Micro flocks of Chickens as Garden Helpers, Compost Creators, Biomass Recyclers and Local Food Suppliers. May the flock be with you! ...and to quoth the Chicken: "evermore ". Patricia Foreman