Thursday, March 26, 2009

Public Eggducation

Bonnie and I were at the "Kamloops' Seedy Saturday" community event (a seed exchange and garden seminar) last weekend with the new Chicken Booth which my husband and I made. We were overwhelmed by the interest and enthusiasm for the Urban Hens Movement! Bonnie had printed up a bunch of post cards for people to sign and send in to our City Council - we ran out in less than an hour. We had oodles of people give their names and info so that we could keep them updated with our progress. 
Since the rejection of our pilot project in January, we have decided to switch gears a bit and focus on educating the public about how chickens in the city can work and what it looks like. The major concerns that I hear from people are still about smell and noise. Interestingly, these concerns come from middle aged citizens who at one point lived with, or near chickens. When I ask them "how many chickens?" the answer is always "a lot!". 
Part of the effort to educate our city is to introduce the idea of small scale poultry farming, involving movable chicken coops for 2 - 4  hens (NO ROOSTERS) called chicken tractors - which I have mentioned before. These coops are easy to clean, mobile, small-predator proof, and allow the hens to be "free range" but not on the loose. It is completely unlike the farmhouse flocks of yesteryear. There is a family in town that have 2 chickens in their back yard and their neighbors didn't notice for almost two years! See: clean and quiet. 
Urban Hens will be at the downtown Farmer's Markets on Saturdays (starting April 18th) and at other community events as they pop up. Keep an eye out for our booth and keep checking "Omelette's for Everyone"(see link to Bonnie's new website) to stay up to date with our events and opportunities for activism. 
Ps, the hen related Kamloops newspaper letters and articles now number over 25. I ran out of fridge magnets!

Friday, March 6, 2009

Hurray for Vancouver!!!

Vancouver City Council just approved a motion to amend their bylaws to allow for backyard hens on properties smaller than 1 acre! Kamloops City Council (those coun. still opposed) eat crow. See for the Vancouver Sun article - http://www.cityfarmer.info/vancouver-city-council-votes-to-allow-chickens-in-yards/