A couple of weeks ago we were awakened around five in the morning by the cock’s crow. And again the morning after that, and the morning after that. I’m getting used to it now — I don’t think I’m noticing it at 5 AM anymore — but the rooster in the yard of the neighbor across the street crows from time to time all day long. I don’t mind it. Actually, it’s kind of cool, and the kids love it.
I don’t know if you knew this, but in Minneapolis it’s legal to raise chickens in your backyard. Here’s an April article from a local publication:
Growing up in New Prague, Minn., Willcütt kept not only chickens but rabbits, geese, and a pet goat. When he moved to Nicollet Island, he says, “I thought my chicken days are over.”
But what Willcütt didn’t know was that his new neighbors, Leslie Ball and Phyllis Kahn, had been talking for years, says Ball, about “how we wanted to use wind power and grow our own food, keep chickens for their eggs.” According to Ball, Willcütt overheard one of these conversations “and transformed our entire life.” The three of them (along with husbands and partners) now cooperatively keep a coop of 25 hens and one rooster. “I can’t say enough about how much it’s transformed my life,” says Ball. “I’m honored that I get to live with these gorgeous chickens.”
Willcütt, in fact, would like to see more people keep chickens. “If you’re a busy urban professional,” he says, “chickens can still come into your life.”
We’re pretty accustomed to buying eggs directly from a farm, a nice way to get them from free-range, organically-fed hens at a lower cost than the co-ops charge. I’ve thought often that it would be a fun project for the kids, when they’re older, to raise a few chickens for their eggs.
And we’d fit right into the neighborhood. In the Powderhorn area of South Minneapolis, where I live, it’s fairly common to see a hen or two scratching in someone’s backyard. I think that it’s grown more widespread as the neighborhood has become home to more and more Latino families. Fine by me: a chicken eating bugs in an urban backyard is probably a much happier chicken than a chicken living among thousands of others in a metal barn with a door at one end.
But this is the first time I’ve heard a rooster! I found out from another neighbor — the one who lives next door to the rooster-owning family — that they have three roosters and one hen, which seems like an odd ratio to me, but that explains why we hear quite so much crowing. She said she adopted one of the hens for herself, and that her son (who’s maybe four years old) really loves her. The hen I mean. I think their hen is the one that was pecking the dirt in our own back yard the other day. Since their family, and the hen, lives on the other side of the street, I keep wondering why.
(pause while that sinks in)
There are some legal hoops to jump through. You need a Small Animal Permit to keep chickens in your back yard. It’s not expensive — $10 per year — but to get it, you must pass an inspection of the premises and get the consent of 80% of the neighbors who live within 100 feet.
Hm. Nobody ever asked my permission. And Laura (the adoptive owner of the aforementioned hen) didn’t say anything about a permit. Could it be that my neighborhood is full of…. undocumented chickens?
Well, fault me if you will, but I won’t be turning them in, provided the chickens continue to appear fat, healthy, and well-cared for. My husband grew up among farmers. I like the sound of a rooster crowing in the morning. My kids, especially Milo-the-avian-obsessed, are absolutely thrilled when a hen appears in our yard. And who knows, maybe someday we’ll want to raise them ourselves. I wonder how many hens I would need to produce our two and a half dozen eggs a week?
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