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Revere has a fowl problem
By adamg on Wed, 03/06/2024 - 12:35pm
The Revere Journal reports the city Board of Health is at wit's end for what to do about one Augustus Street resident who insists on letting his chickens rule the roost and do whatever they pluckin' want:
Buck said that numerous complaints have been received about chickens roaming in the street, which she said she herself had witnessed, and which are a violation of the city’s health codes.
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Comments
Birds? In the *city*?
That sort of thing just doesn't happen!
(What is the actual health concern here, anyhow? And what makes it different from wild turkeys, pigeons, crows, and gulls?)
Chicken Shit
Chicken Shit is so toxic.
Think of it like a dog that shits on your lawn because the owner doesn't leash them. Same thing.
I know two sets of people in Chelsealand who have chickens. Perfectly legal. But they keep them penned. They also said they got around the whole rooster annoyance for the neighbors by offering them free eggs every day. (and god knows if you raise chickens, you can't rid of them fast enough)
Correction: Roosters are NOT legal
While Boston does permit up to six hens to be kept no roosters are allowed within city limits. We get confiscated roosters from time to time at the shelter.
Boston Chicken Laws at ChickenLaw.com
City of Boston Article 89 “Urban Agriculture” [PDF]
Chelsea is not part of Boston
So the law about roosters may be different there.
There's also...
... an ostensible concern that such birds would present a population vulnerable to the various circulating avian flu pathogens. This is in the view that such "uncontrolled" reservoirs would present an operational challenge to larger scale production efforts that underpin a large proportion of our overall chicken/egg supply ("uncontrolled" in a manner where more casual animal care might fail to recognize or respond to infections and thereby keep the pathogen in circulation longer). I don't have numbers to put to such a risk, but I imagine they're out there somewhere.
Adhering to local values?
They are cage-free.
kinda
Cage Free only means they are not kept in tight quarters and not basically a conduit for eggs.
They are allowed to wander as 'free range'. But free range does not mean they can go anywhere they please. They are pen'd up. Its a big pen, but a pen no less.
cage free < free range < pasture raised
All these terms only apply to commercial farms.
Cage free USDA defined. Doesn’t require birds have access to the outside. No individual cages but the area they’re kept in only has to be large enough for each bird to have less than 1 square foot apiece. Pretty tight quarters.
Free range USDA defined. Per-bird area about 2 square feet. Whoo-hoo. The birds may have limited access to outside, but it could just be a paved yard. Better but not great.
Pasture raised is not a USDA regulated term, but if you see a “Certified Humane” logo (org that advocates for farm animal treatment) it means individual hens have free access to at least 108 square feet each of outside space. They get to “forage, run, perch, bathe, and socialize” in a legit pasture during daylight hours. They are also provided with shade and water. To get the label, farms must be regularly and independently inspected.
Eggs from certified pasture raised hens are definitely more expensive but they also have documented better nutritional value and are (in my subjective opinion) much tastier.
Hearing roosters at daybreak J.P.
Very common as kid in J.P. 1980s