Hurricane Isaac and Backyard Chickens

See our recommendations regarding hurricanes and hens. Click on the link below.

http://sarasotacluck.blogspot.com/p/hurricanes-and-hens.html

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 News: Can chickens cure cancer? The answer may surprise you.

Photo of Professor Jim Womack taken by Dave McDermand

There are plenty of books and articles of chicken diseases and maladies, but we don't read much about chicken cancer. Now there may be an explanation. JIm Womack, Texas A&M, Distinguished Professor of Veterinary Pathobiology used 115 leghorn and Cornish chickens while studying NK-lysin, which is a bacteria-killing peptide that chickens possess. In addition to killing bacteria, NK-lysin also can kill some cancers, and not only chicken cancers. Womack tested two chicken peptides that killed three different human cancers.

Click here to read the Monica S. Nagy online article posted on theeagle.

FOOD&WINE features Peter Burkard's fresh eggs and CLUCK

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune's FOOD & WINE supplement (May 30th 2012) features a Cooper Levey-Baker EAT NEAR story about Peter Burkard, the only remaining original vendor at the Sarasota Farmer's Market. On Saturday morning's Peter can be found at the west end of an alley running between Main and State and he is usually at the end of a line of people buying fresh greens, honey, cuttings, fruits, vegetables, etc. The photo accompanying the article shows lanky Peter holding two pullets and the article mentions that Peter "has nothing but great things to say about Sarasota CLUCK (Citizens Lobbying for Urban Chicken Keeping)".

Tampa Eases Up on Chicken Keeping

Chickens weren't illegal in Tampa, but onerous 200 foot setback requirements made keeping chickens impossible for all but the largest lot owners. Now, according to South Tampa-Hyde Park Patch, the City looks like it will be easing restrictions starting in 2013. According to the Tampa Bay Times, six of the seven council members voted to have staff draft an amendment for consideration early next year.

Sarasota CLUCK hits 50,000 pageviews!

Sometime over the past weekend at the end of April 2012, the Sarasota CLUCK website logged its fifty thousandth pageview - an impressive showing for what was ostensibly a local blog with a narrow goal (re-legalizing chickens in Sarasota).

Next CLUCK meeting Weds. April 25th

The next CLUCK meeting will be held Wednesday April 25, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. The location is the Florida House, 4454 Beneva Road, Sarasota FL 34233 (north of Proctor and SCTI on the west side of Beneva),Sarasota, FL.

We are picking up steam (and more supporters) in our efforts to legalize backyard hens in unincorporated Sarasota County. Right now we are living in a strange chicken sandwich -- they're legal in the rural, agricultural open use zones of the county and in the urban City of Sarasota, but not in-between! Please join us, we can do this!

In addition to getting to know each other, networking, and strategizing, there may a special surprise presentation. 

Florida House on the West Side of Beneva Road, north of Proctor