CLUCK news: Coop Tours Celebrate Chickens

Not only are chickens being tolerated in many American cities, they are now being celebrated. The July 25th Dining section of the New York Times leads with an article "Where It All Comes Home to Roost" that features the Tour de Cluck in Davis, a California city of 65,000 as well as chicken coop tours in Seattle, Salem Oregon, Madison Wisconsin, Santa Fe, and Austin.

Poster for Coop Tour in Lexington Kentucky

Meanwhile, the latest issue (Vol. 7 No. 4) of Backyard Poultry magazine has an article on how to organize a coop tour. That article mentions tours in both Portland and Salem oregon, both Raleigh and Durham North Carolina, East Dallas Texas, Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Madison Wisconsin.


According to an idealized sequence proposed in 7 STAGES OF CHICKEN KEEPING IN THE U.S., Coop Tours represent the sixth stage of chicken keeping in the US: "Relaxation -- Celebration". In this phase cities that already allow chickens relax restrictions through reduced permitting requirements and/or allowing an increased number of birds. In addition "cities advertise coop tours and embrace their identity as being chicken-friendly. Allowing chickens now suggests a progressive community." 

CLUCK Advertising ?!#@*

Sarasota CLUCK Blog is rapidly approaching its 50,000th page view. We haven't had a month with less than 1,000 page views in more than a year and last month was over 2,500.

It is clear that readership has extended far beyond Sarasota (over 10,000 pageviews from outside the US!) and many of our pages (the constant offerings at the top, not the everchanging posts) are getting lots of views. Consider some of these pageview numbers:

• Annotated City Ordinance: 1,737 pageviews
• Quiz to see if people are ready for backyard chickens: 720 pageviews
• Coop design tips for Southwest Florida: 652 pageviews
• One Dozen Tips to Legalize Chickens in Your Community: 324 pageviews
      (this was first posted 41 days ago, so we are getting 8 pageviews a day)
• Our 25 Funky Chicken Facts, which appears as both a post and a page has received 2,789 pageviews!

CLUCK blog records 35,000 pageviews in less than a year

When the first Sarasota CLUCK blog posting went up on June 11 2009, it was assumed it would simply be vehicle for advocacy of passage of a local City of Sarasota backyard chicken ordinance.  Then, nearly a year and half later, on December 18th 2010, the blog recorded its 5,000th pageview (averaging 9 pageviews a day) and the ordinance was passed just a few months later on February 7th, 2011. Now, exactly fifty-one weeks after hitting 5,000, CLUCK has recorded its 40,000th pageview, an average of nearly 100 (97.49) pageviews a day, which is a ten-fold increase. That means the vast majority of pageviews have occurred after passage of the ordinance. This posting is a summary of some of the dimensions of this success. 

The most viewed post, (out of 187 posts) with over 1,800 pageviews is Sarasota CLUCK's Top 25 Funky Chicken Facts. Posted in mid-January, this posting (now with 30 funky facts) lists interesting, and sometimes nearly unbelievable, information about chickens and includes links to sources, a feature virtually all other chicken fact sites lack.

The second most popular, with nearly 1,400 pageviews is an annotated version of the City Ordinance. This document includes both the official language of the ordinance, and an accessible interpretation of what each section means and the intent behind it.

The third most popular, with about 1,200 pageviews is a discussion of treadle feeders, which are feeders that chickens activate to access food by standing on treadle. 

Other noteworthy posts include the Are You Ready for Backyard Chickens Quiz, which has over 550 pageviews and the reprint of the Backyard Poultry magazine article based on the Sarasota experience, which has been averaging six views per day and is expected to become one of the more popular posts. 


No doubt about it -- December 2011 has been a big month for local CLUCK: hitting 40,000 pageviews, an article published in Backyard Poultry Magazine and the first meeting of Manatee CLUCK. 


And clearly the blog has evolved from just a one-time, campaign-driven, local-focus resource to a site accessed all over the country and planet (over 2,000 pageviews from United Kingdom and Russia combined).


But one goal remains unmet, and that is relaxing restrictions on backyard chickens in unincorporated Sarasota County. That is a big target for the coming year. If you are interested in changing the county rules, please write to us at SarasotaCLUCK@ gmail.com or join the Facebook Group. 

Sarasota CLUCK Campaign gets National Attention in Backyard Poultry Magazine

The December 2011/January2012 Issue of Backyard Poultry features an article based on the lessons learned from the 18 month campaign to legalize backyard hens in the City of Sarasota. The article, One Dozen Tips to Legalize Chickens in Your Community, summarizes some of the successful strategies and setbacks experienced during the campaign. Backyard Poultry has now placed an online version on its website so that backyard chicken supporters will be able to access the tips for free without having to buy the magazine or find Sarasota CLUCK.

The One Dozen Tips Article is Based on the Experience in the City of Sarasota

The article features photographs by local artist Jean Blackburn. Two of the three photographs include Sarah the Buff Brahma (seen below). Sarah has already been featured in SRQ Magazine and in an earlier posting.

And one new (British) book characterizes Brahmas as "magnificently large, good natured and docile hens that make an excellent pet, as it is extremely ease to tame if handled gently". If you are looking for a mid-sized coffee table book for a chicken lover, consider The Illustrated Guide to Chickens by Celia Lewis. Beautiful watercolors accompany descriptions of 100 different breeds (and there is a forward by the Prince of Wales).

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There are several meanings of the word chicken and one is cowardly. We're not sure how cows feel about that, but shortly after the posting above went live, CLUCK received the following critical and anonymous email message and comment regarding the Backyard Poultry article: 

The first paragraph has an error. The vote was not 5-0 to legalize backyard hens, but 4-0. One commissioner was absent due to illness. Another mis-fact from CLUCK! 

It is true that the first unanimous vote was 4-0, but the second reading on the consent agenda (February 7th) was recorded as follows:

SCREEN SHOT OF CITY COMMISSION MINUTES DOCUMENTING
A 5-0 VOTE IN FAVOR OF THE ORDINANCE

So CLUCK stands by the article that the final vote to adopt was 5-0 and encourages those who take issue with chickens to have the courage of their convictions to identify themselves.